The Laboratory of Document Conservation and Restoration (LKRD) of the USSR Academy of Sciences as a specialized body for the physical preservation of documents was established in 1934 as part of the Department of Social Sciences on the basis of the decree of the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences of May 22, 1934. The initiator of its creation and the first director was N. P. Tikhonov, a specialist in the field of archaeological and photographic technology. As an employee of the Institute of Historical Technology of the State Academy of the History of Material Culture, he understood the need for an institution that could comprehensively solve the problem of ensuring the long-term preservation of documents. In fact, the laboratory began to function in 1935, after, in addition to the director, it was allocated two more full-time units-scientific and scientific-technical workers-and the first necessary equipment was purchased. In addition, three more employees were invited for employment (contract).
Already in the first years of the laboratory's existence, the main areas of work on the preservation of documents and books were identified: storage mode and control of biological damage factors; restoration and conservation; photo analysis and photo documentation; creation of documents for "eternal" storage. In 1936, advanced training courses for laboratory restorers of Moscow and Leningrad institutions began to operate. Since this type of laboratory was created in the country for the first time, special attention was paid to getting acquainted with foreign experience and the feasibility of its application. Two qualified translators (V. A. Petrov and E. I. Hessen) supervised the relatively small literature on archival and museum affairs at that time and prepared special issues of translations.
From the very beginning, the problem of physical security of documents was solved in two ways: research and practical. As experience has shown, the combination of scientific and applied developments and the restoration itself turned out to be fruitful. On the one hand, the theoretical questions generated by the practice of storing documents were raised and solved, and on the other - thanks to scientifically based technological techniques
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documents from the funds of academic (primarily) institutions were saved and returned to scientific use after conservation and restoration.
At the initiative of N. P. Tikhonov, supported by Academician M. B. Mitin, a Commission for the Development of methods for Long-term preservation of documents was created at the Department of Chemical Sciences of the USSR Academy of Sciences (its composition was approved by the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences on August 26, 1939). It included prominent scientists and specialists N. P. Tikhonov (Chairman), E. Tishchenko, corresponding member. Academy of Sciences of the USSR N. I. Nikitin, Professors Ya. G. Khingin and F. F. Bobrov, S. A. Zaitsev. Later, professors M. V. Formakovsky and S. A. Fotiev, V. V. Danilevsky, and I. I. Zhukov were involved in its work. The Commission approved the main provisions of long-term storage of valuable documents (by sections: storage, storage location, storage mode, conservation and restoration measures) and outlined the most important topics on which priority work should be carried out1 .
Along with this, practical restoration of birch bark manuscripts of the XIII - XIV centuries was carried out. (State Hermitage Museum), a Chinese scroll and other documents from the collection of S. F. Oldenburg (Institute of Oriental Studies of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR), Babylonian and Sumerian clay tablets (Institute of Books, Documents and Letters), silk engravings by I. Zubov in 1714 (Library of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR), papyrus scrolls (State Hermitage, State Museum of Fine Arts named after M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin), manuscripts of George Amartol (Institute of History of the USSR Academy of Sciences), "Nordenskjold Post" (Archive of the USSR Academy of Sciences), etc. It was a period of searching for the most rational and progressive restoration solutions, trying to cover the maximum range of urgent issues related to the preservation of documents (funds).
Interesting work was carried out to create a document of "eternal" storage. The idea was to significantly miniaturize the text (graphic information) and use inert ultra-long-lived materials as writing tools and media. Thus, the text of the USSR Constitution of 1936 was photomechanically reduced and transferred to a small quartz plate in the form of platinum letters fused into it. Acad. S. I. Vavilov and I. V. Grebenshchikov were very helpful in carrying out this work. In general, at that time, the laboratory paid considerable attention to microfilming as an indirect method of improving the physical safety of documents. N. P. Tikhonov was opposed to the widespread, direct use of unique documents by researchers, he considered it necessary to replace the originals with microfilms and printing reproductions. In this regard, the laboratory put forward the idea of creating long-lasting types of paper for documents of our time. Work has begun on the first stage-a technological study of papers of the XVIII and XIX centuries in order to identify material and technological features that ensure a long period of physical preservation of the document.
In the first years of the laboratory's activity, a lot of attention was paid to the storage conditions - premises, equipment, climatic conditions, protection of documents from bio-damage. The study of the species composition of mold fungi that damage books and documents, as well as the features of their biology, was conducted. These works were carried out by mycologist M. M. Samutsevich from the end of 1936. Taking into account the obtained data, the most dangerous temperature and humidity zone for the destruction of documents by mold fungi was established. In this regard, natural and chemical preparations and some physical factors were investigated. As a result, the basic rules for preventing the destruction of documents by mold fungi were developed, which have not lost their significance to this day. The creation of an autonomous dedusting chamber with a closed cycle for direct operation in storage facilities 2 has begun .
The events of the Great Patriotic War suspended the work of the laboratory. Some of its employees were killed during the siege of Leningrad, including N. P.
1 Library of the USSR Academy of Sciences( BAN), PO, 13/2, N 53.
2 Part of these works has been published (see Proceedings of the LKRD Academy of Sciences of the USSR, M.-L. 1939, vol. I); the other part is the unpublished volume II of the LKRD proceedings (BAN PO, 13/4, NN 55-64).
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Tikhonov, others-changed their place of work. In addition, the laboratory's premises and equipment were badly damaged.
After the war, the laboratory was essentially created anew. Only by the end of the 40s was it possible to select personnel and purchase new equipment. Academician S. I. Vavilov, President of the USSR Academy of Sciences, played a major role in the restoration of the laboratory. He helped provide the laboratory with the necessary equipment, including for luminescence analysis, and contributed to the allocation of additional staff units. His interest in the laboratory is also indicated by the book by A. Gallo "Diseases of books, treatment and restoration" 3 with a donation inscription dated November 11, 1950. By the early 1950s, most of the pre-war areas of work had been restored. There are four specialized groups: restoration, biology, chemistry, and photoanalysis. In each of them there were from one to four people.
In the post-war period, two events significantly changed the future fate of the laboratory. In 1954, its Academic Council was formed, which was headed by a corresponding member. N. I. Nikitin of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR is a major expert in the field of cellulose chemistry. The Council includes leading specialists in archival, library and museum affairs, as well as chemistry, biology, paper technology, etc. The Council made it possible to choose the directions of the main research activities of the laboratory more correctly, and to increase their level. In 1956, the laboratory was transferred from the Library Commission under the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR to the Department of History of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, since its subjects and tasks were much broader than those of the Department of Hygiene and Restoration of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. The new position of the laboratory began to meet the tasks formulated by N. P. Tikhonov4 - conducting research in the field of restoration and preservation of documents and providing methodological and practical assistance on a national scale, but primarily to academic institutions. The Department of History was interested in the scientific and practical activities of the laboratory and not only in the field of restoration, but also in the technical study of documents. The development of the laboratory was greatly promoted by Academician E. M. Zhukov as the academic Secretary of the Department and Academician M. N. Tikhomirov as the chairman of the Archeographic Commission. They were directly involved in solving issues that were important for the laboratory.
In the 50s and 60s, important works were carried out both on the restoration and on the study of the aging processes of documents and their restoration. The work of the laboratory was especially revived when in 1957 it was headed by V. S. Lyublinsky, a historian, a specialist in the history of books and methods of its study. Among the documents restored at that time is " Vogel's Perspective Plan of St. Petersburg 1763 - 176 - 7 Geometric Plan of the Moscow Uyezd in 1773, autographs by A. S. Pushkin, A. S. Griboyedov, A.M. Gorky, F. M. Dostoevsky, M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, V. G. Korolenko, Ya. Kupala, Ya. Rainis, M. Ciurlenis and many others. A large number of handwritten books from the XV - XVII centuries were saved. A number of letters and diplomas on parchment found a second life, a unique work was carried out with an illustrated parchment book of the XIII century - "French Legendarium", the block of which, due to improper storage conditions, turned, in essence, into a monolith. Using the appropriate technology, special emulsions and her art as a restorer, T. M. Subbotina separated this block into separate sheets. The affected text was identified or enhanced by photo-restoration techniques. All this made it possible to start studying monument 5 . Photoanalysis and photo-restoration of extinct texts were performed using non-destructive optical-photographic methods. Texts on Byzantine palimpsests were identified, and the damaged texts of many manuscripts were restored. In particular, the Institute of the Russian Language of the USSR Academy of Sciences conducted a photo analysis of the manuscript of Izbornik Svyatoslav
3 Gallо A. Le malattie del Libro le cure ed i restauri. Milano. 1935, p. 221.
4 See Bulletin of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1936, N 8-9, p. 100.
5 Neizvestnyj pamyatnik knizhnogo iskusstva [Unknown Monument of Book Art], Moscow, 1963.
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1076, which made it possible to conduct a more complete study of it and carry out a new publication of the monument 6 .
A comprehensive study of the properties of paper, primarily in terms of its durability, has begun. For this purpose, experimental model paper samples were produced according to a special program. Variations in raw materials, processing, fillers, sizing, etc. allowed us to conduct comparative studies that answered many questions related to the physical safety and durability of documents. This topic was initiated by D. M. Flate, Professor of the Leningrad Forestry Engineering Academy named after S. M. Kirov, scientific supervisor of works on chemistry and paper technology. Large-scale experimental work was carried out for several years by the laboratory staff N. G. Belenka, E. Ya. Perlshtein, T. V. Alekseeva. Studies were conducted to neutralize and stabilize the acidity (pH) of documents, and several recipes for so-called buffer solutions were tested and put into practice, depending on the nature of the documents and their condition. This is one of the ways to stabilize and preserve documents and slow down their natural aging. This work was carried out by T. A. Pravilova, N. G. Belenkaya, and T. V. Alekseeva.
For the first time in world practice, in 1956-1960, a disinfection chamber was created for processing documents and books using a high-frequency electromagnetic field. This treatment ensures complete sterilization of the materials. Short - term (5-10 min.) heating (up to 95 - 100 o ) practically does not affect the properties of most documents. Testing of the technological modes of operation of the camera, design and manufacture of its two prototypes were carried out in collaboration with the V. P. Vodogdin Institute of High-Frequency Currents. This work was carried out by A. P. Petrova-Zavgorodnyaya and Z. A. Zagulyaeva from the laboratory. One of the cameras was transferred to the BAN. Taking into account the laboratory's experience, in the late 70s, a similar camera was created for processing documents in the Central State Institute of Civil Engineering of the USSR. Currently, on the instructions of the Main Archive Department under the Council of Ministers of the USSR, the development of a number of cameras of this kind has begun, in which the laboratory will also participate.
At the same time, criteria and methods for assessing the durability of the document - paper base were developed. In addition to paper durability estimates by mechanical parameters and functional groups (cellulose) a method was developed for evaluating the properties of paper based on the average degree of polymerization of its cellulose part. This method has made it possible to detect changes occurring in paper at the molecular level, and is now widely used in other laboratories.
With the transfer of the laboratory to the Department of History, the publication of her works began. In 1958, a guide to identifying extinct texts of documents7 was published, and in 1960, a collection of works "New methods of restoration and conservation of documents and books"was published. Since that time, the laboratory publishes collections every 2-3 years that describe both the results of research and technological solutions for document restoration, as well as individual manuals and instructions for storing, disinfecting and restoring documents.
Currently, the laboratory is working on two issues: the physical security of documents and improving their information content. These two problems essentially cover all issues related to the long-term preservation of documents of the past and present, as well as to the technical study of them in order to obtain additional information. At the same time, research work is combined with the restoration of the most valuable documents, primarily from the funds of academic institutions. Methodological work is also being carried out to expand the professional knowledge of archival and library staff on the physical security of documents.
The physical security of any document depends on the durability of the media and recording media, storage conditions, and use. However, the main one is
6 Izbornik 1076 goda [Izbornik 1076 goda], Moscow, 1965.
7 Erastov D. P. Osnovnye metody fotograficheskogo vyyavleniya ugasshikh tekstov [Basic methods of photographic identification of extinct texts].
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a factor that determines the durability of the document as a whole is the low time variability of the source materials. Therefore, it is advisable to use durable materials for documents of our days with a long (or permanent) shelf life. Based on the study of the properties of antique papers, as well as on the research of experimental paper samples, the laboratory was able to develop long-lasting document paper in a short time. This was done in cooperation with the All-Union Research Institute GOZNAK. As a result, a long-lasting document paper for party documentation was created, conventionally called "Long-lasting-1000" (i.e., a thousand years of storage without a noticeable change in quality). How stable this paper is over time can be judged by the preservation of its mechanical properties after accelerated thermal aging. Under the same conditions, even the best industrial grades of writing paper significantly reduce their quality .8 The originality of the technology and composition of durable paper was noted by the author's certificate. I. G. Belenkaya, E. Ya. Perlynteyn, and D. P. Erastov participated in this work on behalf of the laboratory.
Equally important is the development of restoration types of paper. Until recently, our industry did not produce it at all. Therefore, the restoration was carried out using existing grades of paper that are more or less suitable for this purpose, or imported restoration papers. Currently, according to the decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR "On improving the organization of archival affairs of the Central State Archives of the USSR" of September 20, 1978, the development of special restoration types of paper has begun. At the request of the State Agrarian University of the USSR, the laboratory also participates in this work. It is planned to create an assortment of papers sufficient for carrying out the main works within the framework of the "classic" restoration. For all types of these papers, the laboratory has developed technical requirements, selected criteria and test methods. Currently, an assessment of individual experimental developments of paper for restoration properties, durability, etc. is being carried out; the technological mode of paper production and its composition are being clarified. The main part of the work related to the technology is carried out by the Central Research Institute of Paper (Moscow) and the Ukrainian Research Institute of Paper (Kiev). In the laboratory, the first samples of thin elastic duplication paper based on cotton fiber such as Japanese mulberry, but superior to it in a number of indicators, were obtained. Laboratory restorers E. N. Kuznetsova, N. G. Lesnyak, and A. N. Nekrasova take part in testing the restoration properties of prototype paper samples. In some cases, experimental papers are also tested for relative biostability.
Along with the study and creation of long-lasting document and restoration types of paper, the laboratory is working on the study of some writing tools and their combination with specific media (papers). This applies to typewritten pastes and electrographic images.
A lot of work, including practical work, is carried out by the restoration group, headed by K. I. Andreeva. This is primarily the restoration of the most valuable documents from the collections of academic institutions (institutions). The group also conducts experimental research. In recent years, she has developed a recipe and technology for tinting restoration papers with direct light-resistant dyes; developed "dry-adhesive" paper for restoring documents that do not allow moistening (with non-water-resistant ink, strongly destroyed base (paper), with traces of silicate glue, etc.); developed a technology for fixing crumbling miniatures and restoring parchment. This work was carried out in cooperation with the All-Union Scientific Research Institute of Restoration of the USSR Ministry of Culture. The restoration team is also involved in testing new types of paper and other materials, as well as new technological processes. In recent years
8 Under these aging conditions, American long-lasting papers such as "White permalife Bond" and "While permalife Text" reduced their mechanical strength by 30 and 52%, respectively.
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During these years, the main provisions and technological methods of restoration and reconstruction of bindings were developed. This work was carried out by restorers I. L. Kudoyarov and B. G. Khovanov. Ancient, mostly Russian, bindings were studied and the technology of their restoration was developed, materials and accessories were selected. The introduction of permanent restoration bookbinding operations made it possible to complete the restoration of manuscripts and ensure their reliable protection.
However, the main activity for the restoration group is the practical restoration of documents that come primarily from academic institutions. Among them are the Archive, Institutes of the History of the USSR, Russian Literature, Oriental Studies, World Literature, the Library of the USSR Academy of Sciences, the Geographical Society, and some others. The laboratory provides all possible assistance to the institutes of the Academy of Sciences of the Union Republics and research centers, individual archives, libraries and museums.
Restoration is the main process that allows you to significantly extend the life of a document (monument), as if to give it a new life. Such restoration provides for: a significant increase in the mechanical strength of the document; a radical increase in its durability; maximum and possible restoration of its original appearance, but with the separation of parts of the replenishment from the original; introduction of the minimum and only technologically necessary amount of new materials and substances into the restored document; mandatory reversibility of all restoration processes, i.e. the possibility of derestavration; inertia of restoration processes. materials in relation to the document; increasing the resistance of the restored document to biological damage factors.
Materials and technologies used for document restoration are thoroughly tested (including artificial thermal, light, climate aging and biostability tests) and only then put into practice. The approach to restoration of most restorers is cautious and to a certain extent conservative (in a good sense of the word). All work with the document, including technological techniques, materials, and analyses, is described in the restoration protocol. In addition, the physical condition of most documents is recorded in the photo. Such documentation allows you not only to trace the individual stages of physical preservation of a unique document, but also, if necessary, to carry out its derestavration without prejudice.
Recently, thanks to the restoration work of the laboratory, hundreds of the most valuable documents were returned to working condition, among them the Radziwill Chronicle (BAN) - the block was embroidered, materials from the old restoration (1902) and contamination were removed, losses were replaced, edges and folds of all sheets were strengthened. At the same time, an optical-photographic analysis of individual miniatures was carried out, and watermarks were identified using betaradiography (reproduction). Such a complex treatment of the monument is especially appropriate for its research and publication. Each of the 9 volumes of I. Kepler's manuscripts (Archive of the USSR Academy of Sciences) had its binding removed, the block was embroidered, the sheets were reinforced, and new folds were made, which made it possible to fully open the manuscript and protect the text part of the sheet from mechanical wear.
The restoration of documents of Oriental origin is very difficult. They are written on thin, poorly taped paper, non-water-resistant ink (ink) and paints. Such documents include a 13th-century Tajik manuscript. (A. Donish Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of the Tajik SSR). The manuscript was badly damaged. It was necessary to remove the material of the old restoration, strengthen and put together individual fragments of sheets, and make the lost binding. Even more difficult was the work with the documents of the XI-XII centuries, found during the excavations of the ancient settlement in the Pamirs in the Bazar-Dary Valley (received through the Institute of Oriental Studies of the USSR Academy of Sciences). They were clumps of loose paper clogged with dirt. Each of them was opened using pre-paraval needles with light moistening. A detailed analysis of the paper was carried out, which indicated a high probability of its production in Samarkand. Then everything
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the fragments were cleaned and duplicated on equal-strength long-fiber cotton paper. Weak text was enhanced by photographing in reflected infrared rays. Now you can study the texts of documents by using their improved images in photos.
The documents of our century are also very difficult to restore. As an example, we can mention the materials of the M. Gorky archive (Institute of World Literature of the USSR Academy of Sciences). They are characterized by low-grade paper, light-and water-resistant writing media. Their poor condition is compounded by the widespread use of silicate glue - the strongest document destroyer (irreversible, containing caustic alkali). Working with such documents requires special technology without wetting the paper. Now almost the entire archive of M. Gorky has already been restored in the laboratory. The same was done with such documents as M. V. Lomonosov's" Manuscripts on various academic subjects", L. Euler's works, the works of Archpriest Avvakum, documents of the Belozersk Voivodeship hut, K. I. Arsenyev's maps, A. S. Pushkin's letters, the Gospel of Sophia, N. N. Miklukho-Maklay's workbooks, letters and essays V. G. Korolenko and Ya. Kupala, albums with letters of D. I. Mendeleev, notebooks of K. E. Tsiolkovsky, autographs of I. P. Pavlov, A. P. Karpinsky, O. Yu. Schmidt, etc. The range and nature of restored documents is extremely diverse. These are handwritten texts on paper and parchment; illustrated (face) manuscripts; maps, engravings, old photographs; documents of our century often on poor paper with fragile handwritten and typewritten texts.
But no amount of long-lasting paper and the most perfect restoration will help preserve collections of documents if proper storage conditions are not provided. This implies the need to ensure optimal storage conditions for documents and their hygienic condition. Issues of microclimate, hygiene and storage conditions are functionally related to the bio-damage of documents. Naturally, the issue of protecting them from bio-damage is most acute when using unsuitable premises for storage, without air conditioning. The laboratory pays great attention to the prevention of biological damage in the storage facilities of academic institutions. For this purpose, storage facilities are periodically examined, documents suspicious of infection are identified, and appropriate samples are taken. In case of detection of infection, preventive measures are carried out together with employees of the institutes.
To develop effective measures to combat document bio-damage, it is necessary to have a good knowledge of the biology and ecology of damaging agents. For this purpose, the laboratory has created collections of live cultures of pulp-destroying fungi isolated from documents, as well as a collection of paper-damaging insects. The Biology Group evaluates the fungal resistance of new restoration materials being put into practice. A significant part of the group's activities is the search and comprehensive testing of new chemicals to protect documents and restoration materials from bio-damage, as well as to carry out protective measures. The group works in accordance with the coordination plan of the Scientific Council on Biological Damage of the USSR Academy of Sciences, which includes its head - Z. A. Zagulyaeva.
More than 500 substances have been tested in recent years. Mercurated organosilicon compounds, which are chemically bound to cellulose, have shown high efficiency, creating reliable protection - even washing a document treated with such substances in water practically does not reduce its mushroom resistance. This work, which was awarded the bronze medal of VDNKh, was carried out thanks to the collaboration of the laboratory with the Irkutsk Institute of Organic Chemistry of the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences, where chemical compounds with the necessary properties are specially synthesized - highly biologically effective and harmless to humans and humans.
Researchers often encounter cases where the document carrier-paper, parchment, photo layer, etc. - is in a safe state, while the information - text, drawing, photographic image, etc. - is partially preserved.
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or it is not completely perceived visually. There may be cases of updating the text, and sometimes its deliberate destruction by crossing out, erasing, scraping, etc.Then there is a need to restore or extract hidden (unreadable) information in order to study the document more fully and accurately. In the past, chemical methods of "reviving" unreadable records were often used in such cases. As a rule, these techniques led at best to a short-term detection of the text, after which the image was permanently destroyed. The laboratory uses non-destructive optical-photographic methods for this purpose. They are based on physical, optical phenomena with photographic registration of the detection effect and information detection.
This work is carried out by the photoanalysis group headed by D. P. Erastov. It also combines practice with research. Practical work consists in studying and identifying extinct texts and other types of information on documents that historians, philologists, and art historians of academic and other institutions work on. Photo analysis is very useful when preparing documents for publication. Along with this, new methods of document research and photo-restoration are being developed .9 In addition, the group conducts documenting photography of materials undergoing restoration or other processing in the laboratory.
The group developed fundamentally new methods for studying documents, such as the infrared luminescence method for detecting typewritten and handwritten texts, stamps and seals (this method, in particular, has found wide application in forensic practice); the betaradiography method for detecting and registering watermarks10, studying the structure and condition of media, miniatures. In the course of improving the methods of photoanalysis in collaboration with the Scientific Research Center for Technical Documentation of the USSR, work was carried out to increase the information content of documents by combining optical and photographic methods with mathematical image processing on a computer 11 .
At present, the laboratory has a large set of optical and photographic methods that allow us to solve a range of tasks related to improving the information content of documents and their photo-restoration. In recent years, work has been carried out to improve the information content of documents from various repositories of the country in order to prepare for the publication of the catalog of written monuments of the XI - XIII centuries. At the request of the Saltykov-Shchedrin State Museum of Fine Arts, optical conditions were found and images on faded old photographs of Leo Tolstoy, ethnographic subjects and architecture were restored; the weak text of A. S. Pushkin's autographs on P. L. Yakovlev's notebooks (for the Institute of Russian Literature) and others were strengthened. The laboratory, at the request of the State Agrarian University of the USSR, advises the development of an apparatus for optical research and photo-restoration of documents. Created for the first time, it will make it possible to use a number of basic optical and photographic techniques to identify extinct texts in the ultraviolet, infrared and visible regions of the spectrum. The device will be equipped with an electron-optical imaging system in the invisible regions of the spectrum. The introduction of such a device into the practice of archival, library and museum institutions will allow, along with the usual restoration, to conduct research and photo-restoration of the informative part of monuments.
The laboratory is also engaged in methodological work. It has developed and published guidelines and manuals on storage conditions, hygienic treatment, disinfection, and photorestoration 12 . The laboratory participates in seminars
9 The term "photo-restoration" has emerged in recent years and refers to the restoration of weak or visually lost information.
10 In England, it is called the "Leningrad method of reproducing watermarks" (The Book Collector, 1961. Vol. 10, N 3).
11 For information on the restoration of documents by optical-photographic methods together with digital image processing methods, see Problems of physical and chemical preservation, organization of selection, storage and search of archival documents, Part II, Moscow, 1983, p. 71.
12 Erastov D. P. Osnovnye metody fotograficheskogo vyyavleniya ugasshikh tekstov [Basic methods of photographic identification of extinct texts].-
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Department of Records Management and Archival Affairs organized by the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR for institutions of the Far Eastern Scientific Center and the Siberian Branch of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. At these events, the laboratory staff gave lectures and gave advice on the physical safety of documents, organized thematic exhibitions. In addition, the storage conditions and physical condition of the funds of most institutions in these districts were examined, and specific recommendations were made to improve storage conditions and improve the physical safety of funds. Systematic surveys of archives of academic institutions in Leningrad and Moscow are conducted, recommendations and working instructions are drawn up for specific conditions (improving storage conditions, maintaining optimal climatic conditions, hygienic cleaning, extermination measures, etc.).
To identify the volume of documents in need of restoration, determine the nature of their damage and material, the laboratory developed a questionnaire together with the Archive of the USSR Academy of Sciences, which made it possible to obtain the necessary information on all 13 academic institutions , including the Academy of Sciences of the Union republics. According to the survey, the presence of a service to ensure the physical security of documents is even more rare than the rule.
The laboratory also takes part in the training of specialists, primarily restorers, for institutions of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Union republics and others. This is done in the form of internships, training, and preparation for state certification. In recent years, employees of the Institutes of History of the USSR, Oriental Studies, the State Public Scientific and Technical Library of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Scientific Archive and Institute of Language and Literature of the Bashkir Branch of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, the F. Creutzwald Literary Museum of the Academy of Sciences of the ESR, the Institute of Manuscripts of the Academy of Sciences of the Uzbek SSR, the A. Donish Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of the Tajik SSR, the Institute of of the Academy of Sciences of the Georgian SSR, the Institute of Ancient Manuscripts "Matenadaran", the Central Restoration Workshop at the State Agrarian University of the Ukrainian SSR, the Scientific Libraries of Vilnius and Tartu Universities, and many others. Students of the S. M. Kirov Forestry Engineering Academy, the A. A. Zhdanov Leningrad University, and the Institute of Film Engineers regularly work on the basis of the laboratory and on its topics.
The laboratory provides advice to institutes, archives and libraries on all issues of physical preservation of documents and books.
In the future, the laboratory will continue to combine practical work with research and experimental work. We will restore and return to the use of unique and highly degraded documents, as well as documents that have lost information (with extinct texts), from the collections of academic institutions. At the same time, the volume of restoration is planned to increase by 15-20%. It is planned to monitor the storage conditions and physical condition of the funds of academic institutions in Leningrad, Moscow and other cities. It is very important that the service of hygiene and restoration of archival funds becomes a mandatory structural division of any institution that has sufficiently large funds of documents of long and permanent storage periods. This issue should be resolved taking into account all available opportunities, with the participation of the Archive, the Archeographic Commission, the laboratory and other interested institutions of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
The Laboratory will expand its methodological work with archivists, primarily in terms of preventing damage to documents (preparing them for long-term storage, selecting materials that should be used for this purpose, ensuring optimal storage conditions, etc.). The system of training, advanced training and passing state certification will be improved.-
kaya N. G., Streltsova T. N. Restoration and conservation of books and documents by thermoplastic films. L. 1959; Methodical manual on the regime of storage of documentary materials, manuscripts and books. L. 1960; High-frequency unit for disinfection and drying of books and documents. L. 1960; Manual for ensuring the safety of documents (manual for archive workers). L. 1978.
13 Unfortunately, a significant proportion of them did not respond to this questionnaire.
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associations of restorers of academic institutions. It may be useful to prepare a new edition of the methodological guide to document safety14, taking into account the specifics of the organization and conditions of their storage in academic institutions.
As for research and experimental work, the laboratory will participate in the completion of work on creating the necessary range of restoration types of paper. Their release by the industry will allow us to put the technology of document restoration to a new qualitative level. In this regard, it is necessary to develop methodological materials on the use of these types of papers, depending on the nature of documents and their condition.
The introduction of the Archive reproduction device, which is expected to be developed in the current five-year plan, will improve the quality of document processing and use. After that, it is necessary to prepare instructions on how to use it in the system of processing and ensuring the safety of state archival funds. The laboratory will also participate in the development of a high-frequency current unit for mass decontamination and preventive document processing. Work will also be continued on improving optical methods of document research using electronic-optical direct registration systems. Improving the methods of deoxidation of documents, it is important to solve the issues of non-water neutralization. This will allow you to neutralize documents much more widely, and in particular with non-water-resistant texts,as well as documents located in the block, without splitting the latter.
The implementation of these and other works by the laboratory will improve both the system and the technology of physical preservation of documents of academic institutions and the State Archive Fund as a whole.
14 " Guidelines for securing documents "(L. 1978) has become a bibliographic rarity.
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