Tulane’s Louisiana Research Collection holds many invaluable primary-source documents from the antebellum south, one of which lists the sicknesses of slaves that physician Joseph Jones observed from 1843 to 1845. As a first-hand witness account, it provides a window into the past that remains an important research tool heavily used by researchers around the world.
The ink was faded in areas and threatened loss in others; the paper itself was acidic and extremely brittle. The pages were carefully tested for ink solubility, washed in a buffered alkaline solution, repaired with plant-based adhesive and tissue, and then encapsulated in non-microclimate mylar sleeves bound with a spiral comb. Each leaf has now been de-acidified and stabilized (with minor stain reduction), and the entire document is now easily accessible without incurring major damage through frequent use.
The manuscript can be found here:
https://archives.tulane.edu/repositories/3/archival_objects/156297