What is it?
- An historic map of the Lane Cove district was mounted onto plywood decades ago and subsequently placed on display in an historic house.
What’s happened?
- The chemicals in the plywood have darkened and stained the paper, which has become desiccated and brittle.
Can the damage be repaired?
- In this case, the damage was felt to be beyond actual restoration and instead a retouched copy image was created for future display.
What could have been used instead?
- Conservation framing, using acid-free mounting materials, would have extended the display life of this unique artefact.
From Bernard West, Australian Photo Restoration Service.