Special Projects
The 1835 Michigan Constitution
This volume of the 1835 Michigan Constitution was originally very beautifully bound by the Library of Congress in 1914. We received it for repair in 1994. By this time the binding was broken and many of the pages were free.
We disbound the book and then rebound it in its original cover in a way that would allow it to lie open for display. Every page was hinged to that end.
To repair the back (spine), leather had to be inserted in such a way that the repairs would be visually unobtrusive. The manufacturer of the original leather was found to still be in business and we were able to obtain leather that matched in grain and color.
The volume is now at the State Archives in Lansing and is sometimes put on display. We were happy to have had an opportunity to work on it.
Parchment Conservation
This parchment came to us highly cockled. We relaxed it with moisture and mounted it on a suspended matrix held by a frame, pasting only the edges of the parchment.
Cockled parchment land deed signed by Pres. James K. Polk.
Flattened parchment mounted on a suspended matrix.