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Cleaning soiled paper
Soiled paper is best cleaned with soft brushes, cleaning
sponges, or soft vinyl erasers (Magic Rub and Staedtler
Mars). A soft brush does the least surface damage and
works well for materials with loose dust. Brushes that
are flat, wide, and white (to indicate when the brush
is dirty) are best for this purpose. Dry cleaning sponges
made from vulcanized natural rubber, originally intended
for soot removal following fire damage, may also be
useful for reducing surface dirt, especially on outer
layers of rolled documents, in paper folds and creases,
and on the top layer of records not protected by enclosures.
The soiled document is placed on a clean work surface.
A padded weight is placed in the center of the document.
The document should be completely dry and tested to
ensure that the surface is not likely to be damaged
by the eraser. The document is first lightly brushed
with a soft brush to remove loose soil. The eraser should
be applied lightly and in the non-text or image areas,
especially when there are penciled annotations or other
vulnerable media that could be accidentally removed.
The technician should avoid touching the document with
his/her bare hands by wearing cotton gloves. All bracelets
and rings should be removed. During dry cleaning, particles
should regularly be swept away with a soft brush. If
the paper is fragile or has a soft surface, cleaning
might have to be limited to light dusting with a soft
brush.
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The work surface should be kept as clean as
possible by dusting away the debris with a soft
duster, checking under the edge of the document
for stray particles, or a HEPA
vacuum cleaner. The document itself should not
be vacuumed because of the risk of damage from
the metal parts.
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Next: Unrolling materials
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