Treatment of Rare Historic Wall Plaque
Wall Plaque, Certificate of Incorporation and Associated Document (ca. 1900)
Background
The wall plaque displaying the certificate of incorporation for Congregation Rodef Scholem Independent Podhaizer Sick and Benevolent Association was brought to the Library of Congress (LC) Conservation Division in preparation for the LC exhibition “From Haven to Home: 350 Years of Jewish Life in America”. The congregation was one of numerous landsmanschaftn (Jewish hometown based self-help associations) formed by immigrants to the United States. The associations, which collected and disbursed funds, were required by New York State law to be incorporated. The associations helped immigrants maintain their traditional identities in a new world and at the same time facilitated assimilation to their new home land. Independent research by the conservator resulted in a donation to the Library of papers regarding the certificate.
The Wall Plaque
The wall plaque serves as a decorative and informative frame for the certificate of incorporation. Culturally and materially it is a composite object. It is written in English, Hebrew, Latin, and Yiddish and includes American, European, and Hebraic iconographic motifs. It is made of different papers, media, and adhesives. Materials and construction, as much as intellectual and artistic content, inform this object’s identity and influence its historic trajectory. Preservation of and access to this object depend on preservation of a complex assemblage of materials.
Left: Document with signatures of founders and evidence of state seal. Right: Detail of plaque with regional name (Galicia) and quote ("love the other as yourself").
The paper certificate of incorporation includes manuscript and printed inks; paint on its edges (from the plaque window opening’s decorative border) ; and a printed stamp and paper seal adhered to its surface. At some point in time the certificate was fully adhered to a paperboard support which was then adhered, with strips of Kraft paper tape, to a ‘window’ cut out in the plaque. The plaque is paperboard composed of adhered paper laminates. It has manuscript inks and paints; original areas of manuscript text are covered by strips of paper with printed text. Each of these materials age in ways characteristic of their chemical properties but also in ways influenced by mechanical construction, interaction with adjoined materials, environmental factors, and cultural use. All of these factors have impacted the appearance and condition of this remarkable object.
Left: Certificate of incorporation. Right: Before treatment, fractured board.
