Shared from Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts via Instagram:
These 1841 property deeds, held by Lafayette College’s Skillman Library, document the transfer of land on College Hill that gave the school its permanent home. Their history is tied to the Marquis de Lafayette, whose 1824 tour of the U.S. reignited the spirit of 1776 across a nation approaching its 50th anniversary. Inspired by meeting the last surviving major general of the Revolution, citizens of Easton, PA, founded a college in his honor, chartered in 1826.
To preserve these records of the institution’s founding, our team surface-cleaned the fragile deeds, washed them in calcium phytate and calcium bicarbonate baths to reduce iron gall ink corrosion and acidity, and lined them with mulberry paper to mend losses and stabilize split creases. After a final round of high-res digital imaging, they were encapsulated in polyester film.