Genealogy Chat

I would like to restore an old original marriage certificate. Its over a hundred and some, years old. Got lots of cellotape on it. Does anybody know what to do or where to go with it? i'm worried that when the cellotape lifts all the writing will come off with it.

I live in the North East of England.

Can anyone give any advice please.

thanks

Linda

sellotape will ruin it. I've found in the past that the sellotape goes brown and hard and is easier to remove.

Can you scan it or photograph it so that if the original does fall apart you will have a good copy.

Jill

Eek ! Sellotape on the front? Those recent ancestors of ours have a lot to answer for.

You can buy acid free plastic envelope sleeves to protect old documents, but you probably need specialist advice about how to restore it or remove the aging sticky tape carefully. How about contacting your local archive to see what they can suggest or if they can put you in touch with someone?

If you take it to a good photo shop or ask local photographer, only a digital enchanced copy can be made ,,,,but the original with its charming patchwork will stay as it is as cellotape cant be removed as I have had a similar service done .....cost was abt £25 ...store the original in acid free paper or acid free folder flat.


theres lots online who do this.

i had an old map of birmingham that had torn along the folds i used document repair tape that i found on google i know this doesnt help with the old cellotape but if you can get it off this will mend it and it can still be read
:-D
zena

Not always PigletsPal. When we married in 1969 we only signed once - the copy in the official register. The vicar then copied out the certificate we have.

Kath. x

i think we only signed once too,in 1967.

Elaine.xx

We and the witnesses signed three copies, the church register, copy to go to the local register office and our own copy, which we still have.

But as Kath says, this is not necessarily the norm and many couples only ever sign the register once, and the cert they receive is either a handwritten or typed copy.

The question often comes up as to if and where you can see original signatures, for which there is no simple answer. Only the original register, wherever that is now held, will be certain to contain the actual signatures. The GRO never does and the local register office, may, or may not.

As far as cellotape is concerned, it often falls off on its own accord, but as for restoring the original once it has, I have never found an entirely satisfatory way without causing further damage. Personally I would scan it then put the original in a safe place wher it can't suffer any more.

I have some old documents in Clip Frames they are like tissue paper and too frail to handle, but the frame supports them and they are easy to read under glass.

thanks jiminy i was just trying to help with the old torn certificate but i never ignore help given to me so i will check out the site thanks very muchly x
zena

have just checked it out and i brought a map of ladywood off of him small world isnt it
thanks again zena <3

First do have a scanner? If not stop reading.
If so scan the document. Old documents are often larger than A4, so scan each area separately, at the largest resolution that is possible, in colour. Next use a program to join the pieces together. Canon have have such a program and it is often included with scanners. I believe Microsoft also has such a program, there are others. Try not to use a file system that is losy, such as JPG. Once you have the image that you need comes the hard part, using an image processing program, (an easy free one is Paint.NET, a more complete free one is The GIMP,) first alter the whole image colour to what you think is appropiate, then start removing the tape from the image. (This mostly selective area colour processing) It will take time. Also and most important save each and every change before moving to next step, then if you make a mistake delete the image and reload the saved image and try again. After you have completed the whole process to your total satisfaction , and only them you can delete the intervening steps. It will take time and effort, but it can be done and with the saved files you can go back try something else from any point. If the finished image is saved as PDF file it can be printed on any size paper, if you want a commercial print job ask them what file types they take. Again at each step use the largest image size possible until the job is finished.

Peter

Has some of this thread been deleted?

seems a bit disjointed, re signing of certificates?

Yes it seems that way.

There is a least one post (from PigletsPal, by the look of it) that has been deleted or removed.