Conservation and restoration in the collection of posters and historical maps of the IES Cervantes
Framing of a work and restoration of five posters and maps from the historical collection of the IES Cervantes
The Community of Madrid has a network of Historical Institutes, secondary schools created in the XNUMXth century and in the first third of the XNUMXth century, which guard and preserve Cultural Heritage Assets of undoubted value.
The name Historical Institutes refers to their patrimonial importance, on some occasions because of the building that houses them and on others, because of the documentary or instrumental pieces that they have managed to preserve.
In these Institutes, collections of a very varied nature and surprising contents are preserved, historical objects used in the teaching of subjects such as Biology, Geology, Geography, Physics or Chemistry. We can find anatomical, botanical and zoological models, collections of fossils and minerals and scientific-technological instruments. For the teaching of Geography, historical maps and posters are preserved, such as those that have been restored by the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage.
All these collections constitute an important fund of the historical heritage of the Community of Madrid that is largely unknown to the general public. For the purpose of their protection, conservation and enhancement, in 2019 the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage began a line of work with restoration interventions on assets from these collections, which is maintained to this day and which also meets their needs for preventive conservation.
The Cervantes Institute was founded in 1929 with female students, and in 1931 it became mixed. It is the third oldest in Madrid. After occupying various locations, in 1960 he moved to his current address, the former headquarters of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. It is a historical-artistic monument in the Neo-Mudejar style, a work built in 1881 according to a project by Francisco Jareño, with a rectangular floor plan around a landscaped patio.
Description of the restored work
The IES Cervantes in Madrid has, within its historical collections, an important collection of posters and didactic maps, dated between the end of the XNUMXth century and the beginning of the XNUMXth century. These posters and maps are prints made with the color lithographic technique, with oily chromolithography inks, on thick mechanical pulp paper. They are all stretched and attached to moldings above and below, in order to be unfolded and hung.
The Posters that have been restored are the following:
Spanish Mainland Guinea
In the upper left corner of the reverse, on the second cloth support, it reads "Spanish Guinea", and in the lower right on the obverse: "Workshops of the Geographic and Cadastral Institute".
It is a 1:300.000 scale representation of the territory of Equatorial Guinea belonging to Spain, published by the Workshops of the Geographic and Cadastral Institute. Spanish Guinea or Spanish Equatorial Guinea became a protectorate in 1885 and a colony in 1900, until independence in 1968.
Urbs, Ancient Rome
Both prints represent the territories of classical Rome. On the reverse, on the second cloth support, you can read "Ancient Rome". In the lower right corner we find the editor: «LITHOGR. HERM. SPRINGER, LIPSIAE.", and at the top the identification of the poster within the collection: "EDITIO II, TAB. XVa and EDIT II, TAB. XVb»
New map of the Island of Fernando Poo, Apostolic Vicariate. year 1932
The Island of Fernando Poo formed part of the territories of the Spanish Continental Guinea since 1959, with its capital in Santa Isabel (currently Malabo). In this print, attached to the head rail, there is a label with the legend: «Fernando Poo. Physical. 188-6». In the lower right corner is the publisher's inscription: «ARTES GRÁFICAS SA Successors of HENRICH Y CIA.- BARCELONA».
Professor Bopp´s Wandtafeln für Naturehre
This print represents the way in which the human eye perceives light. The text at the bottom of the poster reads on the left: "Professor Bopp's blackboards for the study of nature", and on the right "Prof. Bopp's Verlag, Stuttgart» (Publishing House of Professor Bopp in Stuttgart).
Restaurants
In general terms, the state of conservation of the works was not good, showing superficial dirt and embedded in the folds formed by the rolled storage of the posters. They showed physical damage, with cracks, breaks and loss of structural resistance and loss of support, with tears in the areas where the poster was nailed to the slats.
The following actions have been carried out for the restoration of the works:
- First of all, different microchemical tests were carried out to determine the restoration treatment, as well as ink solubility tests. After disassembling the head and foot wooden slats and cleaning the adhesive residue with ethanol, mechanical cleaning was carried out by micro-suction and with smoke gums, so as not to damage the paper and lithographic inks. Embedded dirt was mechanically cleaned with scalpels.
- The adhesion of the second cloth support turned out to be very weak due to the aging of the adhesive, which made it possible to mechanically remove the cloth without damaging the paper support. The remains of the adhesive on the back of the paper have been removed with the help of a scalpel and the wishab sponge (AKAPAD).
- After carrying out the pertinent water solubility tests of the inks with negative results, the works were washed by immersion.
- After excess moisture had been removed with the help of blotters, cracks, cuts, and weak areas on the obverse were reinforced with strips of Japanese paper. To avoid unnecessary risk, it was decided to laminate the posters before the smoothing process, with the paper still damp.
- A chromatic reintegration has been carried out with watercolor pencils to match the color of the grafts to that of the original support, allowing a reading of the work without loss of continuity.
Framed Poster Periodic Table of Elements
Within the framework of the conservative work carried out by the General Directorate of Heritage, La Periodic table of elements It is the most important work in the collection, a poster of which few documented copies are known. The framing of the work is proposed due to its historical importance for Chemistry and the History of Pedagogy, taking into account storage problems, given its format and in accordance with a preventive conservation intervention.
The Periodic Table of the Elements is due to the German chemist of Estonian origin, Andreas von Antropoff (1878-1956). The periodic system of it was published in color as a wall chart in 1925 by the German publisher of teaching materials Koehler & Volckmar, in Leipzig.
The framed poster was restored in the 2018 performances. The large format of the work and its terrible state of conservation, due to improper handling and storage, made it inadvisable to store it in roll form. For this reason, it was decided to frame and exhibit the work, as a measure to promote its state of conservation and thus overcome the lack of space and adequate facilities for this purpose.
After several technical consultations, it has been decided to make the frame using low-weight aluminum reinforced by brackets: given the format of the work, 1600x2000 mm, this material provides sufficient mechanical resistance, without increasing the weight of the final framing, taking into account Count the rest of the materials used. To protect the work and make it easier to view, 2mm fine art exhibition quality glass has been used. thick, with ultraviolet ray protection, without image distortion and anti-glare. Finally, for the back, an inert Makrolon® Multi UV colorless polycarbonate support has been chosen.
The complete restoration of this poster has returned to the table the intensity of the printed colors and the integrity of the information, recovering for the Heritage of the Community of Madrid and the international study an important document for the History of Chemistry and Pedagogy .
The restored posters and the framed Periodic Table of the Elements were exhibited together with other posters in the library, originally a chapel, understood as a Museum of the historical collection of educational posters and maps.