On Thu, 5 Jun 2003, Roots Webmaster wrote: > > > (an archivist would completely dismantle the album, but that may > > not be your next step at this point.) > > I'm pretty sure a professional archivist would recoil in horror at > the thought. An album disassembled loses its value as an artifact > and as a historical source. Have you tried shining a bright light > (say, a flashlight) though the pages to see if you can make out the > writing on the back? Cynthia is more than correct. Speaking as an archivist, more archivists would never dismantle an album unless it was already in very, very horrible condition. Something people should always keep in mind is to never do anything to an original document that is not reversible and if it something that you truly value get yea to a conservator so that you can make an intelligent decision about the treatment of the item based on what is truly possible and what you can afford. To conveniently locate a conservator in your locale and learn how what to expect from these very specialized professional go to http://aic.stanford.edu/select/select.html. Mary ************************* Mary K. Mannix Maryland Room Manager C. Burr Artz Central Library Frederick County Public Libraries Frederick, MD Mary Mannix <mm0028@mail.pratt.lib.md.us>