Tamara TalanskyKatelyn Uehling

The following is a record of the treatment of over 750 postcards completed at the Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts in 2009.

Courtesy: http://maps.pomocnik.com/photo/statue-of-liberty-new-your-liberty-island-usa

In 2007 The Statue of Liberty National Monument and Ellis Island contacted the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts after a flood damaged their exhibit of Statue of Liberty Postcards, which were displayed on six large wooden panels at the base of the Statue of Liberty. Originally adhered to the panels with pressure sensitive adhesives, many of the cards were vintage, dating from approximately 1900 through the 20th century.

on 6 Panels

There were a total of 797 postcards, including 42 cards which had detached from the panels during the flood. They came to The Center already dry. Conservator Joan Irving wrote the condition report, treatment proposal, and project estimate for the project. Treatment began on the project in 2009.

The postcards were printed using a variety of printing and photographic processes. Some had

embossed or stamped designs while others were embellished with glitter. Twenty-four postcards were

silver gelatin photographs and one had a tintype set into a printed image. The collection had many

postcards which had been written on and mailed with postage, while others had no inscription or

postage. Some postcards were adhered with the text side up, while others were pasted face down.

Viewed as a simple mass treatment project at first, we found that many of the cards had their own

unique challenges. The primary condition problems were related directly to exposure to water and

high relative humidity. Some of the more extreme problems found included cupping, liquid stains, and

discoloration.

Fading of printing inks was also evident in several cards, caused by prolonged exposure to light during exhibition. Most cards also had mechanical damages including creasing at the corners, abrasions, and delaminating at the edges. Some severely damaged postcards required special treatment. Our goal was to remove the cards safely from the panels, stabilize them, and return them to the Statue of Liberty National Monument individually sleeved and in boxes.

When the panels arrived at CCAHA in 2007, they were assigned numbers “1” through “6”. The loose

box of detached postcards was assigned the letter “L.” Once treatment began, we assigned each

card a number based on their location on the panel. The project was overseen by Senior

Photograph Conservator Barbara Lemmen and Senior Conservation Assistant Anna Yates Krain.

Senior Conservation Assistant Jilliann Wilcox was involved early on in the project to help determine

some of the treatment methods, which were carried out by Conservation Technicians Jennifer

Blomberg, Tamara Talansky, and Katelyn Uehling.

It was requested that we photograph a subset of the cards throughout the treatment process as there were so many cards in the collection and photographing each card would be impractical. Before we began to remove the postcards, an overall shot of each panel was taken. We selected a representative grouping of 12 postcards from panel 3 to be our “target group.” This group was photographed at every stage of treatment.

Our first step was to consolidate areas that were detaching or unstable, (such as flaking media, tears,

cracks, and glitter) using local applications of dilute methyl cellulose. This was completed prior to their

removal from the panels. Four additional postcards with extremely flaking binders were consolidated

after removal from the panels.

Loosened cards with metal spatula

Removed cards with Teflon spatula

We removed the postcards from the wood panels mechanically. Originally, a piece of mat board was

adhered to the back of each object with a white tape. This board was slightly smaller than each card,

ensuring that only a small portion of the white tape would actually touch each object. A pressure-

sensitive adhesive was then used to attach this mat board firmly to the panel. We separated the mat

board support from the wood panel with metal and Teflon spatulas.

This left the adhesive on the mat board exposed on the back of each card. We then divided the postcards

into boxes according to their panel numbers, placing a sheet of glassine between each card to prevent

them from sticking together while in the boxes.

After we removed the postcards from the panels, we used a scalpel to remove the mat board, leaving

behind a portion of the white tape. The tape holding the mat board to the postcards turned out to be

two different types of white linen tape: pressure-sensitive and gummed.

We removed the carrier for the pressure-sensitive tape using a hot air tool and a micro spatula. This

process took up the predominant amount of treatment hours, as most cards had this type of pressure

sensitive tape.

When skinning occurred during the removal of the carrier, we reattached it with dilute methyl

cellulose before attempting to remove the carrier a second time. Most cards in the collection

exhibited no skinning, while on some cards it was evident on almost the entire perimeter. With the

tackiness of the adhesive and the heavy bond holding the cards to the panels, in some cases skinning

was hard to avoid when removing the cards from the panels.

The residual adhesive was reduced with a crepe eraser and local applications of Ethanol when

necessary. Since the adhesive permeated the coating and sometimes the top paper layer of the card,

the tape was very difficult to remove.

Both types of tape adhesive created brown and pink staining, or in some cases caused inks and images

to bleed. The staining was only evident on a portion of the cards.

To remove the carrier and residual adhesive for the gummed tape we used deionized water or methyl

cellulose poultices. We left the adhesive on postcards with gummed tape if it proved too sensitive to

detach while damp. Due to the extreme tackiness of the adhesive, skinning was hard to avoid on all

but modern glossy cards.

Panel4

Surfaceclean

Consol. Mend Wash H+F Other

1 tear x

11 x x

29 After H+F x

42 After H+F x

33 tears X last

50 last accretion

71 tear last

75 photo

83 photo

89 photo sc

114 photo

140 photo sc

141 photo sc

Due to the diversity of printing methods, several postcards required extra attention. After the tape and

adhesive was removed, Barbara Lemmen checked the boxes to determine which postcards needed

further treatment and created a log for each box documenting the necessary steps. This slide shows

the log for Panel 4. Representative groupings of postcards were documented photographically before

and after each of these additional treatment steps.

•Aqueous Cleaning

•Dry Cleaning

•Adhesive/Accretion Reduction

•Humidification and Flattening

We began our additional treatments with surface cleaning. Some of the postcards which required

further treatment were 24 photographic cards. These showed signs of minor silver mirroring and

cracking of the gelatin binder at the comers. We separated them into four groups: Aqueous Cleaning

(with solvents); Dry Cleaning (with grated and sold white vinyl erasers); Adhesive/Accretion Reduction;

and Humidification and Flattening.

Adhesive/Accretion Reduction:

1:1 Solution of Deionized Water & Ethanol

The gelatin emulsion of each was surface cleaned using swabs with a 1:1 solution of deionized water and

Ethanol. They were then immediately placed in a humidity chamber, and dried between mat board and

non-woven fabric.

Adhesive Reduction Using Heptane

Testing with Ethanol and Water

When the photographs exhibited a sticky residue on the gelatin binder, the adhesives and other

accretions were removed with dry swabs and local applications of Heptane. Surface cleaning was tested

with grated and solid white vinyl erasers on many cards in the collection, but carried out on only a small

percentage of them. Since the dirt was embedded, dry cleaning could not reduce the grime in most

cases. Six representative postcards were documented before and after treatment.

Next we addressed cards which required additional tape removal and mending. Small pieces of older,

pressure-sensitive clear tape were removed from several postcards with heat and mechanical methods.

We mended tears and creases with methyl cellulose and wheat starch paste, reinforcing weak spots in

non-image areas when necessary.

Approximately 10% of the collection had local discoloration and liquid stains. Prior to immersion these

postcards were surface cleaned with grated white vinyl eraser crumbs, and then humidified between

Gore Tex fabric, under Plexiglas. We performed spot tests on many cards using water and/or 4% methyl

cellulose to determine their stability to immersion, resulting in a group of 14 stained postcards to wash

in calcium-enriched deionized water.

They were dried between non-woven fabric and blotters. Stain reduction was moderate to very

successful. Twelve representative postcards were documented before and after treatment.

•Photos

•Stable/Easy

•Unstable/Clay-coated

•Embossed/Glitter

Our next step was to humidify and flatten approximately 20% of the entire collection (150 cards). These

were postcards with significant planar distortions. This was the case for almost all of Panel 6. We

separated all cards needing humidification into piles or groupings according to their condition: Photos;

Stable/Easy; Unstable or Clay-coated cards; Those with Embossing or Glitter.

These groups were relaxed in humidity chambers with wet blotters and flattened between non-woven

fabric and mat boards. Cards with the most extreme distortions were pressed in felts. This also included

cards which were embossed or embellished with glitter.

We had to re-humidify and flatten two batches, or two chambers worth, of those cards which were

extremely distorted. Some of the most misshapen cards still retained some distortion after

humidification and flattening. Twenty-four representative postcards were documented before and

after treatment: 12 with glitter or embossing, and 12 without.

The final treatment dealt with the additional consolidation of four postcards. Two of these cards

exhibited extreme flaking on the surface, which required more aggressive techniques. When these cards

had arrived at CCAHA, they were already fully fractured and had suffered substantial losses.

•2% Methyl Cellulose•Burnished with Teflon-tipped Tool

The first postcard was a photographic tintype which was consolidated with a 2% solution of methyl

cellulose, followed by using a Teflon-tipped burnishing tool.

•5% B-72 in Acetone •10% B-72 in Acetone/Ethanol•Burnished with Teflon spatula

The printing inks of a second postcard were severely flaking and cracking due to its contact with high

relative humidity and the drying that followed while at the Ellis Island Museum. With the help of

Senior Conservator Soyeon Choi and the stereo microscope, we were able to work toward the proper

treatment. After several attempts to consolidate the card using various binders and application

techniques, it was determined that the appropriate method was to consolidate by coating the surface

with 5% B-72 in Acetone and 10% B-72 in a 1:1 solution of Acetone and Ethanol. It was then burnished

with a Teflon spatula. This ensured that the media would stay in place.

•Humidification & Flattening•Sizing with 1% Methyl Cellulose

Finally, after being humidified and flattened, two additional postcards were consolidated overall with

dilute methyl cellulose since their printed surfaces were slightly friable.

Once we had completed all treatment on the postcards, we housed the collection in clear polyester sleeves and archival boxes. Using a permanent black marker we wrote the location number of each card on the upper right corner of the enclosure. The location number was then erased from the postcard before it was inserted into the sleeve. Once sleeved, the cards were placed into two alkaline postcard boxes with archival corrugated dividers every few inches to keep the postcards upright. Additional boards were added to the back of each box to ensure a secure fit. The cards were shipped back to the Statue of Liberty National Monument and Ellis Island on March 15, 2010.

Barbara LemmenAnna Yates KrainJennifer Blomberg

Soyeon ChoiJoan Irving

Mary Anne ManherzMia Moffett

Jilliann Wilcox

Thank you to the Conservation Center and to everyone else who helped!