Keeping Up with the Changes in Conservation Techniques

By Steven Picazio

Edward Goddard, then new to his position as the Librarian of the Vermont Historical Society, reported in the 1902 Proceedings of the Vermont Historical Society: “I have brought together several manuscripts and papers... relating to the early history of the State. These documents have been carefully and neatly mounted on silk and bound in a substantial manner by the Emery Record Preserving Company of Taunton, Mass.” 

Goddard named this collection of fourteen documents the Vermont Acts of Conventions and State Papers, 1775 – 1791. Discerningly chosen, they reveal key details about the early history of Vermont and its transition from disputed colonial territory to state. They expose the political tensions of the time, the actions of the state’s early leaders, and the resolutions they made. They include the words and signatures of such notable figures as Ira Allen, Thomas Chittenden, John Hancock, and Thomas Jefferson and are instrumental in telling the story of Vermont. 

For many years, VHS made this collection readily accessible to historians and school groups alike. Goddard chose a then state-of-the-art preservation method known as the “Emery Process” to keep the fragile papers safe from further tearing or creasing. 

Patented in 1894, the process was a method of paper conservation. A document was coated in adhesive, before having sheets of silk fabric laid on both sides and pressed under high pressure. Next came an application of paraffin wax, which stiffened the paper and protected it from external damage. Once silked, the documents were mounted onto larger papers to make them uniform in size and then bound together. 

Paper conservation has evolved in the intervening years, and the “Emery Process” has begun to show its faults. While the papers are protected from external threats, they were still vulnerable to acidification and other chemical threats that can cause documents to discolor and fade over time. In addition, the silk that was so crucial to the process can darken and fray, obscuring the text underneath. 

Seeing that these documents were slowly degrading and becoming less readable, the staff at VHS’s Leahy Library took action to prevent them from deteriorating further. We contracted Works on Paper, a conservation studio in Bellows Falls, to completely undo the Emory Process and apply modern paper conservation techniques. To do this, they unbound and cut the documents from their paper mounts. From there, they carefully removed the wax, silk, and adhesive, leaving the original documents as they were in 1902. Then, the studio cleaned and deacidified the papers, stabilized the inks, and deftly mended the tears. Finally, the papers were rehoused in an archival storage box – still together, but no longer bound to each other. 

In the roughly 250 years since these crucial historical documents were first written, they have passed through many hands and been read and interpreted by many readers, and the need to access them remains constant. Keeping up with the changes in conservation techniques ensures that students and historians can continue to read them for the next 250 years in order to continue contemplate Vermont’s founding.  

This article originally appeared in the Winter 2024 issue of our member magazine, History Connections. To get it and support the Vermont Historical Society, sign up as a member.