Documentary heritage

The character of these documents can be of interest to the collective memory of a limited audience, such as a map of a 17th or 18th century region or city, or can be testamentary to a level of human creative genius with outstanding universal value, such as a collection of literature which exemplifies the humanist spirit of the European renaissance or the architectural drawings of a structure which influenced the spatial arrangements of buildings across multiple cultures and time periods.

[3] In etching, an acid chemically bites into a ground mixture on the plate to form the recesses instead of mechanical carving with the burin, allowing for colored images to be applied to the media with the aid of hard and soft ground mixtures and multiple etching plates, each carved with different recesses to accommodate lines of varying colors applied to different locations on the media.

Manuscripts are documents which can consist of bound volumes or individual leaves, in which each example was copied or drawn without the aid of mechanical processes such as printing presses or printmaking techniques.

Fluctuations in climatic conditions associated with attics, basements, and restrooms can facilitate a poor state of preservation due to the chemical and physical weaknesses of the media, such as expansion and contraction of joints, leaves, and attachment points.

Additionally, more important collection items may warrant consideration of an investment in a UV glass frame when on display, which filters out many of the more harmful forms of radiation which can cause fading and chemical damages to the work.

Protective enclosures, such as four-flap folders and phase boxes, can assist with the conservation of documentary heritage by reducing exposure between documents and their surrounding environments, such as risks of worn edges, mold, red rot, and rapid changes in relative humidity.

Dry mounting, or the practice of permanently gluing a work to the backboard of a frame, can often be irreversible through conservation treatments, especially if the document was printed on wove paper.

Documentary heritage on laid paper which has been dry mounted to the back of a frame can sometimes be conserved by immersing the work in a mild solution in order to dissolve the affixing glue without excessive warping or dissolution of the media.

Library, archive, and museum professionals recommend consulting a conservator before undertaking any significant restoration projects on documentary heritage materials in order to avoid any excessive risks to the integrity of the works.

[14] The despoilation and repatriation of cultural property looted during times of armed conflict has formed the basis for reconstituting many dispersed collections of heritage interest.