Hello,
My father was left a set of plans to build a dinghy (a small boat), drawn on what looks like drafting film and done in pencil from what I can tell. They are probably around 50-60 years old now, and have been kept in a dry and clean environment (in a plastic bag) for many years. At some point they were rolled up and it looks like they might have been taped to keep them from unrolling.
I'd like to unroll the drawing(s), copy them and maybe have the boat actually made from the plans. However, the roll has suffered a small amount of damage and it looks a bit brittle. I'm concerned that any ham-fisted attempts by me to unroll it will just destroy it.
If anyone could please offer me suggestions on organizations, companies or others who could recover this document without destroying it I'd love to hear from you! I'd really like to bring this piece of my family's history to life again.
Thank you!
PS I can post some images of the rolled-up drawings if it would help. Also, if this is the wrong sub for this question, please let me know...
Hi there -- this is a fine question to ask here, we have some archives specialists who are frequent posters. You can also check with r/MuseumPros -- maybe message their mods first to double check it's ok.
If you're willing to spend good money, there's lots of qualified paper conservators, this probably wouldn't be too hard. It might be very pricey though, since this is biiig. They're local folks, and unless you're in my state, I don't know who to point you too, but google "[state] paper conservator," or call your favorite local museum or archives and ask if they use anyone in the area. (So long as you make it clear you're not asking them to do free paper conservation, they'll be friendly! :P) But tape removal and unrolling is nothing big to a paper conservator.
If you're not willing to spend money... okay the basic concept to unrolling paper is (insert sex joke) get it moist, and be gentle. The moisture is the real trick, and the homebrew method is two trashcans and room temp water. Then you have to carefully unroll it, and let it return to baseline humidity while flat. It's pretty hard to destroy anything with this method unless you leave it so long in that trashcan it molds, but I don't know if your papers are small enough to get this method. I'm not experienced in film paper but this works for photographs, and I can't imagine that filmy draft paper coating is more touchy than gelatin prints.
You need to find a paper conservator they can flatten them and remove the tape.
