Delaware Valley Archivists Group

One of the larger collections in the DCA Project is the Meade collection.  The collection contains a number of volumes, nearly twenty of  which are the General’s  correspondence books dated from the early 1860s through the late 1860s.  The books are all of the same make and appear to be all the same state of disrepair. Letter books in their old housing Broken spine Loose folios The volumes had been housed together in Hollinger boxes. The spines of each are broken, folios are loose, and the books have collected their fair share of dust and dirt over the years.  After vacuuming and dry cleaning the pages fully, the text block is removed from the case. Each outer folio of a signature is guarded and the text block is sewn together again. Sewing Lining the spine with Japanese papers Since the cases are in fairly good condition, the newly sewn text block is set back into its case.  Each volume receives its own custom-made multi-use box. Rebound! Rehoused volume Tagged: Civil War, Conservation, Digital Center for Americana, General George Meade