Connecting to Collections Care

We had an ironing board donated a couple months ago, there is an advert glued to the front middle. Lists the brand/model and all that, but the issue is that top right corner is damaged (torn, adhesive is dried out, advert is pulling away from the board). 

My question is how should I go about preserving it?

Should I lay down some DST and Mylar and seal it over the whole piece?

Do I just leave it be and let it naturally fall off?

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Megan Hansen
Curator of Collections
Mead Museum
Yankton County Historical Society
Yankton, South Dakota
research@meadbuilding.org
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Hi Megan, 

Thanks for writing in to C2C Care! I've reached out to one of our experts for advice:

The adhesive on the label is most likely either water or rubber based. If it is water based, you may be able to reactivate the glue with a lightly wet brush (not sopping, but more than damp) and then gently press the paper down onto the reactivated glue. To see if your adhesive is water based, you can take a q-tip or other swab, wet it with water, then roll on an area of exposed adhesive. If the area becomes sticky, then your adhesive is water based and you can follow the advice above. If it is rubber based, then the old glue won't become tacky. 

Personally (Liz the moderator), I've used wheat starch paste to readhere lifting paper labels since it has good tacking properties without being too wet to apply. The University of Virginia has instructions on how to make wheat starch paste in the microwave: Wheat Starch Paste in the Microwave

I hope that helps, please reach back out if you need any clarification!

All the best,

Liz

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Elizabeth Peirce
C2C Care Community Monitor 7/21-8/3
Conservator (Objects)
Library of Congress
Washington DC
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