CCI Newsletter, No. 35, June 2005

On Display: The Daverne Journal

by Roberta Partridge, Book Conservator, CCI

Entrybooks are an important resource for documenting early Canadian history; in some cases they may be the only surviving records. For this reason, their preservation can be critical to our understanding of developments in various social spheres. CCI recently conducted a conservation treatment of one such entrybook — the Daverne Journal.

Ensign Daverne, assistant to Captain Fowler at the Perth Military Settlement in Eastern Ontario, kept this entrybook between 1816 and 1822. Within its pages he recorded correspondence between military officers and records of the provision of supplies at the Perth military camp. As most of Daverne's original letters have not survived, with the exception of some duplicated in British military and naval records, the journal is a unique and valuable source of information.

When CCI first examined the Daverne Journal, the text block had been greatly damaged by water and mould. Within the first five sections, in particular, the paper was pulpy and soft with areas of loss or complete detachment. Staining caused by the mould had rendered some areas of the text somewhat illegible. Intervention consisted of aqueous treatments and physical strengthening and binding of the text block.

The entrybook was written in iron gall ink, so aqueous treatments had to be adapted to prevent bleeding of the ink or a shift in its colour.

In consultation with various CCI conservators and conservation scientists, it was determined that carrying out the aqueous treatment at a specific pH range and limiting overall immersion time would prevent damage to the ink.

The pages were then leafcast, a process that mechanically stabilizes weakened paper by filling losses in the artifact with pulp, resulting in an integral and palpable sheet.

The journal had originally been bound in the spring-back style, which allowed it to lie flat when opened — an important characteristic for a book that is to be written in on a regular basis. Because such a binding truly acts as a spring, causing the book to snap open and shut through pressure on the book sides, it requires heavily sized, stiff pages — and the newly washed and leafcast pages were now flexible and, as a result
of the numerous infills, somewhat weakened. Hence the replacement binding required some modification.

In consultation with book conservators from Library and Archives Canada, it was decided that the binding should be adapted so that the text block would open smoothly rather than snap open. This would prevent future damage to the repairs we had made. Accordingly the journal was rebound under the guidance of former CCI book conservator David Hanington (now retired).

When treatment was completed, archival storage containers were constructed for both the restored journal and the original binding materials.

The journal has now been returned to the Perth Museum, where it is currently being transcribed to CD. The contents will soon be available to the public for research purposes.