07 June 2021
The National Museum finished restoring an album of photographs of Oman
The National Museum had recently finished restoring an album of photographs of Oman, Iraq and India that Louis Maguire presented, the United States Consul in Muscat, to Lit. Colonel S. B. Miles, the British Political Agent in the Gulf, on 6 September 1885 CE. This project restored and preserved a photo album that contains images historically significant to Oman, including the second-oldest known photograph of Muscat, photos from inside the U.S. Consulate at the time, and the oldest known photo of Mattrah. Not only important to Oman, but these significant photos also illustrate the long, historical ties between the United States and Oman. The restoration of these critical shared memories between our two countries is one of only three projects in the Middle East in 2019 C.E.
Furthermore, the ECA has awarded The National Museum of the Sultanate of Oman with one of its coveted grants from the AFCP for 2019, from a diverse international and worthy applicant pool, the selection committee approved the project Oman: Conservation of 19th-Century Photographs in the Collection of the National Museum of Oman. In this context, H.E. Leslie M. Tsou - the U.S. Ambassador to the Sultanate of Oman, had visited the National Museum and greeted by Jamal bin Hassan Al-Moosawi - Secretary-General of the National Museum, to view the album.
By working with the National Museum of Oman to support the preservation of Oman’s cultural heritage, the AFCP will help restore vitality and culturally defining historical artefacts to ensure their enjoyment and relevance, not only today but for generations to come.
This album is dated back to 1885 CE (1288- 1302 AH / 1871–85 C.E.) and consists of 88 pages and 93 albumen print. The album contains approximately (65) photographs of Oman, nearly all taken in and around Muscat, including the nearby town of Mattrah. Many of the pictures attributed to Louis Maguire, with at least three photographs taken by S.B. Miles in 1885 CE. The album contains the earliest ever-known photographs of Mattrah, ar-Rustaq Fort, Jabreen Castle from the town’s market, and Jabal Misht. The album has presentation inscription in ink on the first mount indicates and pencil captions on the mounts attributed to Miles.
It’s worth mentioning that since 2001, the Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP), administered by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA), has supported more than 750 projects to preserve sites, objects, and forms of traditional cultural expression in over 120 countries. This achievement represents a significant contribution to the preservation of cultural heritage worldwide and is a sign of the depth of America’s respect for other cultures around the world.
Conservation status
The photo album showed an accentuated oxidation of both text block and bound and dust deposit. The improper storage conditions and the past water intake resulted in an accentuated planar distortion of pages, water stains, chromatic alterations and mechanical damage.
The text block showed paper oxidation with foxing, stain due to previous biological attach and was covered by incoherent dusty deposits, fragments of crystallised glue. Mechanical damage like tears, losses and folds are localised on edges and angles.
Also, worm and silverfish had attached, causing losses and abrasions on pages and the single photo on cardboard.
The tissue bracket between pages and bound were detached and teased. The end sheets had broken hinge, also are completely oxidated with water stain and fragmented on the tail. The acid paper of end sheets had increased the oxidation of the first page. The spine liner had broken super and crystallised glue. The cover had the spine delaminated, many abrasions on the surface and damaged corners.
The albumin prints have image fading, highlight yellowing, cracked and light silver mirroring. In the photos, foxing and accentuated oxidations resulting from the paper had fragments of glue and paper. The albumin prints had been trimmed by hand, so the edges are irregular and damaged; sometimes, they were detached. The photos had mechanical damage like negligible losses, abrasions and
tears.
Conservation treatments
The first action was cleaning the cover with nonchemical vulcanised rubber sponges, mechanical removal of dirty deposits with a scalpel, cleaned with a hydroalcoholic solution. The pages were cleaned with soft brushes and a vinyl eraser, recto and verso, mechanical removal of dirty deposits. The photos were cleaned with soft brushes and a vinyl eraser.
Reduction treatment with borane Tert butyl amino in ethanol (5 g/l). Mechanical removal of oxidised glue. Wetting and flattening through an ultrasound nebuliser. Mending tears and gutters through Japanese tissue watercolour dyed and hydro alcoholic Culminal 2%, and infilling losses through Japanese paper watercolour dyed and hydro alcoholic Culminal 4%. The first page was cleaned with the Gellan gum to remove the water stain and the oxidation. Chromatic retouching with pastels.
Restoration of binding was by consolidating and infilling of the bracket using Japanese paper deionised water. The end sheets were removed, and the board was cleaned through humidification and Gellan gum. Also, the adhesive label was removed from the front pastedown after it was backing through Japanese tissue application on the verso and infilling of losses on edge through Japanese paper watercolour dyed.
The end sheets were replaced with conservative and acid-free paper. The back canvas was removed from the top layer, and the crystallised glue was removed and softened. Then, it was re-backed with Japanese
paper and canvas using starch glue.
The leather cover was restored by applying Japanese paper on verso using Tylose 4%. The leather losses were filled by Japanese paper watercolour dyed.
While photos were restored by infilling losses through Japanese paper and consoled folds through Japanese tissue for both sides, the Photo edges were reattached, and pictures had gone through a chromatic restoration of emulsion’s losses with watercolour.
It’s worth mentioning that since 2001, the Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP), administered by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA), has supported more than 750 projects to preserve sites, objects, and forms of traditional cultural expression in over 120 countries. This achievement represents a significant contribution to the preservation of cultural heritage worldwide and is a sign of the depth of America’s respect for other cultures around the world.