The Art of Chemistry: Restoring a 19th Century Book of Catalogues

The field of Art Conservation aims to use chemistry and art history to preserve, clean, and restore works of art on paper, sculptures, and paintings. This project focuses on a 19th century collection of catalogues loaned from Union College's Special Collections department. Each catalogue represents a different year of the Mid-1800s, outlining information such as each student in the graduating classes and where they are from. The book's pages exhibit a large amount of foxing, a visible fungal infection in the paper caused by an oxidation reaction between the fungus and the cellulose in the paper. The goal of this project is to explore the degree of foxing-related degradation and explore methods to reverse the visible fungal foxing in the paper through solvent/laser treatments. In order to define the best route of cleaning the paper, chemical methods such as FTIR, SEM, Raman, and microscopy were used to identify the fungus and understand the extent of the degradation of the paper, and will continue to be used to assess the effectiveness of various treatment options in restoring it. In parallel, historical research was conducted into the history of this book of catalogues. Looking into the history of paper, understanding paper types, and who bound the book is integral in discerning how to treat it.