Masonic Charter
19th Century; Manuscript ink on parchment
This parchment charter had been adhered overall to an acidic board using rubber cement as an old repair due to tears, losses and creasing. Over time the rubber cement oxidized and the parchment started to release itself unevenly from the backing board. After surface cleaning to reduce a heavy layer of surface soil/grime, the remainder of the the adhered areas were carefully released with a thin spatula and mechanical reduction. After testing for solubility, the parchment was immersed in multiple solvent baths to reduce the residual adhesive which had made the parchment very brittle. Tears and weakened creases were mended and reinforced as needed. Larger losses were filled with toned Japanese paper. Then the parchment was carefully humidified and stretch dried to reduce distortions. This process was repeated several times until the parchment was flat as possible. It was edge mounted with Japanese paper to matboard and then framed.
