No subject


Thu Nov 19 13:17:21 EST 2015


=20
who heads the  =E2=80=9CNew England Hidden Histories=E2=80=9D project and=
 has been working=20
with records  throughout New England for the last several years:




I recently heard about an issue concerning the preservation of ancient =20
town records that I found shocking: Companies hired to preserve the record=
s =20
were instructing towns that the leather covers and bindings from their  ol=
dest=20
(eighteenth-century) records had to be removed to properly conserve  them.

=20




That advice seems, on the surface, laughable, but apparently some towns =
=20
have done this.  Have you encountered this in your town? =20

=20




There are cases in which ledgers need to be taken apart to preserve the =
=20
pages. But this should almost always be a last resort. Moreover, if old =
=20
records are digitized, as they ought to be, there's little reason for peop=
le  to=20
handle the originals--interested parties can just examine the digital =20
copies. Therefore there's even less justification for tearing the old  led=
gers=20
apart to put the pages in plastic/Mylar.

=20










Lee Wright  |  Marlborough  |  History Camp Boston 2016 is March 26


=3D

******************************
For administrative  questions regarding this list, please contact=20
Christopher.Skelly at state.ma.us  directly.  PLEASE DO NOT "REPLY" TO THE WH=
OLE LIST.
MassHistPres  mailing  list
MassHistPres at cs.umb.edu
http://mailman.cs.umb.edu/mailman/listinfo/masshistpres
********************************


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<HTML><HEAD>
<META content=3D"text/html; charset=3DUTF-8" http-equiv=3DContent-Type>
<META name=3DGENERATOR content=3D"MSHTML 11.00.9600.18163"></HEAD>
<BODY id=3Drole_body style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR:=
 #000000"=20
bottomMargin=3D7 leftMargin=3D7 rightMargin=3D7 topMargin=3D7><FONT id=3Dr=
ole_document=20
color=3D#000000 size=3D2 face=3DArial><FONT id=3Drole_document color=3D#00=
0000 size=3D3=20
face=3DArial>
<DIV><FONT size=3D4><FONT face=3DCambria><FONT size=3D3>Westport used the=
 services=20
of</FONT> <SPAN=20
style=3D'FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Cambria","serif"; mso-fareast-font=
-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-langua=
ge: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA'><EM>Nort=
heast=20
Document Conservation Center (NEDCC)</EM></SPAN><SPAN=20
style=3D'FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Cambria","serif"; mso-fareast-font=
-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-langua=
ge: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA'>=20
to preserve&nbsp;three early books.&nbsp; They found that it was necessary=
 to=20
remove the leather cover for each of the books because there has been exte=
nsive=20
use of silk tape in an earlier attempt to preserve the books and they indi=
cated=20
they needed to remove that tape to protect the pages&nbsp;from further=20
deterioration.&nbsp; Pages were not placed in plastic.&nbsp; The books=20
were&nbsp;microfilmed and digitized and&nbsp;the books were put into archi=
val=20
boxes for protection in a vault with the proper environmental conditions.=
=20
&nbsp;The books will not be accessed except&nbsp;in&nbsp;very special=20
circumstances.&nbsp; NEDCC can rebind and reattach the=20
covers.</SPAN></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D4><FONT face=3DCambria><SPAN=20
style=3D'FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Cambria","serif"; mso-fareast-font=
-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-langua=
ge: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA'></SPAN><=
/FONT></FONT>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D4><FONT face=3DCambria><SPAN=20
style=3D'FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Cambria","serif"; mso-fareast-font=
-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-langua=
ge: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA'>Betty=20
Slade</SPAN></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D4><FONT face=3DCambria><SPAN=20
style=3D'FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Cambria","serif"; mso-fareast-font=
-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-langua=
ge: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA'>Westport=
</SPAN></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DCambria></FONT>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>In a message dated 2/4/2016 11:39:59 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,=20
lee at leewright.net writes:</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE=20
style=3D"PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"=
><FONT=20
  style=3D"BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=3D#000000 size=3D2 face=3D=
Arial>
  <DIV>While I realize we usually focus on structures, I assume some of us=
 are=20
  involved with the preservation of the earliest records for our communiti=
es, so=20
  I thought this would be relevant. &nbsp;It=E2=80=99s certainly concernin=
g.</DIV>
  <DIV><BR></DIV>
  <DIV>From Jeff Cooper (&nbsp;<A title=3Dmailto:jcooper at 14beacon.org=20
  href=3D"mailto:jcooper at 14beacon.org">jcooper at 14beacon.org</A>), who head=
s the=20
  =E2=80=9CNew England Hidden Histories=E2=80=9D project and has been work=
ing with records=20
  throughout New England for the last several years:</DIV>
  <DIV><BR></DIV>
  <BLOCKQUOTE=20
  style=3D"BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-BOTT=
OM: medium none; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px;=
 MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 40px; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px">
    <DIV>
    <DIV>I recently heard about an issue concerning the preservation of an=
cient=20
    town records that I found shocking: Companies hired to preserve the re=
cords=20
    were instructing towns that the leather covers and bindings from their=
=20
    oldest (eighteenth-century) records had to be removed to properly cons=
erve=20
    them.</DIV></DIV>
    <DIV>
    <DIV><BR></DIV></DIV>
    <DIV>
    <DIV>That advice seems, on the surface, laughable, but apparently some=
 towns=20
    have done this. &nbsp;Have you encountered this in your town?=20
    &nbsp;</DIV></DIV>
    <DIV>
    <DIV><BR></DIV></DIV>
    <DIV>
    <DIV>There are cases in which ledgers need to be taken apart to preser=
ve the=20
    pages. But this should almost always be a last resort. Moreover, if ol=
d=20
    records are digitized, as they ought to be, there's little reason for=
 people=20
    to handle the originals--interested parties can just examine the digit=
al=20
    copies. Therefore there's even less justification for tearing the old=
=20
    ledgers apart to put the pages in plastic/Mylar.</DIV></DIV>
    <DIV>
    <DIV><BR></DIV></DIV>
    <DIV>
    <DIV><BR></DIV></DIV>
    <DIV><BR></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE>Lee Wright &nbsp;| &nbsp;Marlborough &nbsp=
;|=20
  &nbsp;History Camp Boston 2016 is March 26<BR>
  <DIV><BR></DIV>=3D<BR><BR>******************************<BR>For administ=
rative=20
  questions regarding this list, please contact Christopher.Skelly at state.m=
a.us=20
  directly.&nbsp; PLEASE DO NOT "REPLY" TO THE WHOLE LIST.<BR>MassHistPres=
=20
  mailing=20
  list<BR>MassHistPres at cs.umb.edu<BR>http://mailman.cs.umb.edu/mailman/lis=
tinfo/masshistpres<BR>********************************<BR></FONT></BLOCKQU=
OTE></DIV></FONT></FONT></BODY></HTML>
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