Rubber cement

In response to Harold E. Scott who inquired, "Is there any way of
removing the rubber cement (from the reverse of a photograph) without
damaging the photograph?"

If there is any sticky residue from the rubber cement on the reverse of
the photographs, it should be carefully removed by erasing it with a
vinyl or plastic eraser (ie: Magic Rub or Mars Staedtler).  In the cases
where the rubber cement has "dried" your best plan would be to house the
photographs in archival enclosures with pieces of 2- or 4- ply
photoboard (unbuffered 100% rag).  The archival board will help to draw
the adhesive residues and staining into the board and away from the
photograph, thereby slowing the possibility of adhesive staining coming
through to the front of the photograph. There are other possible
treatments that can be done to remove the adhesive residues and reduce
the staining, but they should be performed only by a trained
conservator.

Deborah Derby
Conservation
The Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 8:60
                Distributed: Thursday, February 2, 1995
                        Message Id: cdl-8-60-002
                                  ***