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 Case Study

The Lighthouse Logbooks...

Belonging to the National Archives of Australia’s South Australian branch, the treatment of this collection is being managed by Artlab Paper Conservator Jodie Proud. The collection consists of over 350 logbooks, dating from the 1850s through to the 1960s, which were written by various caretakers of the lighthouses along the South Australian coast.

The lighthouse-keepers were required to fill out the logbooks at regular intervals, over the entire 24-hour period of a day, in order to record weather conditions, wind direction, housekeeping and maintenance work, official visitors and the occasional tragedies or disputes between keepers that occurred. While not always scintillating reading, the logbooks provide a fascinating snapshot into the lives of the lighthouse-keepers and their families. The logbooks also provide an interesting overview of handwriting styles over the decades!

Treatment

The books required basic stabilisation treatment so that researchers could use them safely. Treatment included the following steps:

• Brush vacuuming of the book pages and structure, to remove dust, dirt, mould and occasional bird poo.
• Repair of torn and weakened areas, using a heat-set repair tissue.
• Encapsulation of loose-leaf inserts into Mylar pockets.
• Repair of covers and binding structure.
• Making folders for volumes that lack covers.

If there had been a great deal more money and time available for this project, a different treatment methodology may have been chosen. For example, we may have decided to use more traditional materials to repair tears and weakened areas, such as Japanese tissue paper and wheat starch paste. We may also have done much more extensive repair work on the covers and binding structure of damaged volumes.

Due to the sheer quantity of items, however, such a treatment was prohibitively expensive and would have taken far too long – the logbooks are an important part of the Archives collection and are used frequently for research. So, in close collaboration with National Archives staff, the current treatment methodology was decided. The treatment of these books represents a good compromise between what is “ideal” and what is practical and affordable.

If you are interested in finding out more about the life of a lighthouse-keeper, be sure to drop into the National Archives branch in the Adelaide CBD when the logbooks return to their home.