Dear Anna, I read your reply about trying to get creases and folds out of old newspapers with great interest. You seem so knowledgeable about that topic, I wonder if you might have some other ideas about preservation. I have a very old autograph book with the handwriting of several of my ancestors in them, but the old ink is fading so that some of the signatures are almost illegible. Do you or does anyone know of any way to preserve this old ink script? The book is not in bad shape, but the ink is what is disappearing. I keep the book out of the light, but that does not seem to make any difference. The gook is over 100 years old. Thanks, Marilyn in NH On Wed, 30 May 2001 17:30:10 -0500 "Anna Marie Hayes" <[email protected]> writes: > You might try building a frame of small strips of wood and stretch > some > fabric netting or vinyl screening over the frame you build and tack > it. You > can put some legs on the frame or just put something in the water > for the > frame to rest on. Place this frame over water that is in the bottom > of a > container that has a tight fitting lid (such as a covered garbage > can with > locking lid or a large square Tupperware type container). Place > the > newspaper on the screen/netting and tightly cover this for several > days to > get moisture back into the paper. Keep in a cool place such as in > your > living area. The paper should relax so that you can unfold it. > > If this does not work, you might want to submerge your newspaper > clipping > into water but only with them lying on the screen/netting for > support. > Don't try to wet the paper and handle it with your hands it will > fall apart. > > It might fall apart anyway even by using the screen/netting so if > you have > the names of the newspapers written on the clippings and the dates, > record > this before doing anything, so that you could reproduce the articles > from > newspaper microfilm. > > Once the paper is hydrated enough that you can unfold it, place it > between > some waxed paper and place heavy books on top of them to flatten the > moisten > paper. > > I hope this helps. This procedure can be used to relax rolled > photos as > well. > > Anna > > > > ==== GARDNER Mailing List ==== > Missed a message? Go to: > RootsWeb: GARDNER-L Archives > http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/GARDNER > > ============================== > Create a FREE family website at MyFamily.com! > http://www.myfamily.com/banner.asp?ID=RWLIST2 > > ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.