The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-03-25

library, ana are not permitted to pass
beyond the walls of the restoring room.
but the greater number of manuscripts
are restored under his direction in the
simplest manner possible.
The manuscript comes to the restorer's
hands wrinkled, yellow, dogeared at the
edges and worn and torn in the folds The
nrst thing that is done to ii is to give it
bath in warm water. Modern manu-
script, written with aniline ink on ma
chine made paper would assuredly "a
ruined by being soaked in water but oiIr
reat-grandfathers and their great-grand-
fathers wrote with different ink on hand
made paper that was meant to last The
warm water does not make the old ink
run. 1t seems, rather, to make it sink
deeper INTO the fiber of the paper. The
dust and many of the stains and finger
marks are washed off in the bath. After
1t Is taken from the water the manuscript
is carefully dried and pressed for twentX~
-FOUR hours. AT the end of that time the
real work of restoration begins There is
OF course, no attempt to Fill out the miss
ing words or letters When a hole in the
manuscript is patched the patch is allow
ed TO remain blank. The manuscript il
really not SO much restored as ii is put i'm
good condition for preservation. The dos
cared edges are pieced out square again.
and the torn folds reinforced. When
ever possible the paper of the manuscrinf
is exactly matched in patches and addi-
tons. The blank sheets of old letters
otherwise worthless, are used for this. Wa
ter mark is Joined to water mark so pre-
cisely that when the whole is pressed the
work of restoration can in many cases be
detected only after careful strutiny
When manuscript is in many piec7s
and the bits very fragile it is pasted be-
tween two sheets of almost Transparent
but very strong paper. DR.. Friedenwald
prefers the use of a certain kind of cloth
the however 81.
manuscripts are now repaired with crere-
line Crepeline is a thin silken fabric.
very much like yelling or a coarse quality
of silk muslin and costs the library eleven
and fourth cents a yard, Wholesale 1t
is not an eXorbitant price, to be sure, but
so many yards of 1t are used, that this
process of repairing is considered some
what expensive. When pasted tightly on
both sides of letter the crepeline can
hardly be seen,and merely gives the papec
the look of the modern modish paper
pressed in imitation of linen. 1t is made
in France, and its use was first adopted
in the library Of the Vatican.
DIR. FriedenwaId's Charge.
The collection under Dr. F,riedenwald's
charge is made up for the most part of
papers relating to colonial and revolu-
tionary history, though very recently
manuscript of modern interest has been
added. DIR. Friedenwald has personally
visited Porto Rico within the year, ana
has brought back mass Of papers relat-
ing to Spanish occupancy of the West In
dies and to the Spanish-Ameri war. A
collection made by him of the autographs
of Spanish Governor Generals of Porto
Rico from 1913 to 1896 has recently been
placed on show in one of the exhibit
rooms of the library, but the
greater part of the manuscript he sue
ceeded in collecting is still unpacked.
The official record of the Ayunamiento
or council, of the city of Manila has been
added to the exhibit within the last few
months, as has also the fac smile of the
conditional agreement between Brig. Gen.
Bates and the Sultan of Jolo, most in
teresting and unusual document
Dr. Friedenwald says that the valuable
manuscripts to be added to collections like
the one under his charge, hereafter, will
consist almost wholly of typewriter pa
pers. Most of the letters written to-
day, he says, cannot be preserved half
century The ink will fade and the paper
drop in pieces. In typewriter manu-
scripts, those which have been press
copied, will outlast all the rest as the
moistening of the ink in the copying pro
cess seems to make it's color more perma-
nent.
A Great Map Collection.
In the map and chart division of the
library, the largest collection Of maps in
"
somewhat different, and the superinten-
dent of that division, Mr.. p. Lee Phil
lips, has solved the problem of arranging
maps in such way that they can readily
be referred to- Maps have heretofore
been a stumbling block to Librarians, and
most collections are practically worthless
for reference purposes, owing to the dill
Guilty in arranging and handling them. Mr..
Phillips has done away with the roller
system, and of all the 10000 maps in his
division only those on exhibition still re-
tain the old-fashioned rod.
Perhaps the gem of the map collection
is Bernard Romans map of Florida, dated
IVA, which is so rare that no other Is
known to be in existence and many bibli-
ographers insist that no such map was
ever engraved. Another map of inestima-
BILE value which has never been consult
ed by historians is a map of military oper-
ations in America from Aug, IL, l776. TO
1873 1t is manuscript map, and with
the wording in French. 1t shows the po-
sitions of the British and American forces
in the battles fought during that time
Only recently the restorer has been busy
with a map made in 1774 by Washington
own hand of lands granted to him along
the Great Kanawha river 1t contains SIN
plats and numerous annotations by WASH
ington.
The map, like every other In the cor
lection, has been treated according to Mr'
Phillips own method. which makes 1t pos
sible to refer to any map as easily as IL II
were a book. The bath that is given 10
manuscript is obviously impossible In tne
case of maps, the most valuable of when
are drawn with ink and colored with cray
on and water color. No cleaning prepare
ton can be used, and the restorer tens
with righteous horror of one priceless map
which was ruined by a government Worh
man, who cleaned 1t with acid, and wiped
the entire drawing off the face of the pa
per. Every map is taken from its roiieI
and cut into pieces about the size OF
large atlas A sheet of white cotton cloln
is Stretched on a big table and tackeu
tightly down about its edges. The pieces
of the map are pasted upon It, LEAVING
narrow strip of muslin between them lor
folding. The paste used here as IN inc
manuscript division, is made of Simple
flour and water. The map restorers recipe
is pound of -four to gallon of WAFER.
After the mixture has boiled until II
stiff a tablespoonful of pulverized alum Is
added and the paste is Trimmed with wafer
.l..fna