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Archiver > VAROOTS > 2005-01 > 1106387955


From: "Carolyn Bruce" <>
Subject: Re: [VAROOTS] Re: documentation and proof ??
Date: Sat, 22 Jan 2005 04:59:37 -0500
References: <e8.b29a5c6.2f226ddc@aol.com> <03ae01c4ffce$8df05420$6400a8c0@oemcomputer> <001601c4ffd4$dc8a0940$6401a8c0@hr.cox.net> <000201c5004e$3c10a4e0$0300a8c0@Jiallco.local>


The Gutenberg Bible was definitely not printed on the kind of paper we use
today. I don't know what kind it was printed on, could even be sheepskin,
but the paper we mostly use nowadays was only developed about the time of
the Civil War. It is made from wood pulp, bleached to be white, and there's
the rub. The acid that the bleaching process uses remains in the paper and
gradually causes the paper to "eat" itself up. The more acid remains, i.e.
the cheaper the paper... like newsprint... the faster it decays. Archival
paper has been through processing to remove the remains of the acid, or it's
made by a different method.

In the old days all paper was made of rag, actual cloth fibers, and lasted
much longer. That's one reason the dollar is printed on rag paper...

There is a way to remove some of the acid from paper documents, but I can't
remember the formula. It's really simple... dissolving Tums in soda water
and soaking the document in it for a while... BUT FIRST check to see if the
ink or whatever is going to wash away or bleed. Anybody remember that
recipe?

Carolyn HALE BRUCE
Co-author of Rebel King, Hammer of the Scots
and Rebel King, The Har'ships
See our site at www.RebelKing.com
Coming Soon: VIRGINIANA, A Tourist's Guide to Virginia History & Other Stuff
See our site at www.virginianabooks.com

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