The Laboratory of Document Conservation and Restoration (LKRD) of the USSR Academy of Sciences as a specialized body for the physical preservation of documents was established in 1934 as part of the Department of Social Sciences on the basis of the decree of the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences of May 22, 1934. The initiator of its creation and the first director was N. P. Tikhonov, a specialist in the field of archaeological and photographic technology. As an employee of the Institute of Historical Technology of the State Academy of the History of Material Culture, he understood the need for an institution that could comprehensively solve the problem of ensuring the long-term preservation of documents. In fact, the laboratory began to function in 1935, after, in addition to the director, it was allocated two more full-time units-scientific and scientific-technical workers-and the first necessary equipment was purchased. In addition, three more employees were invited for employment (contract).
Already in the first years of the laboratory's existence, the main areas of work on the preservation of documents and books were identified: storage mode and control of biological damage factors; restoration and conservation; photo analysis and photo documentation; creation of documents for "eternal" storage. In 1936, advanced training courses for laboratory restorers of Moscow and Leningrad institutions began to operate. Since this type of laboratory was created in the country for the first time, special attention was paid to getting acquainted with foreign experience and the feasibility of its application. Two qualified translators (V. A. Petrov and E. I. Hessen) supervised the relatively small literature on archival and museum affairs at that time and prepared special issues of translations.
From the very beginning, the problem of physical security of documents was solved in two ways: research and practical. As experience has shown, the combination of scientific an ...
Читать далее