Conservation Treatment of The Parent Trap 1961 Film Poster, in the Former Capitol Theatre

Detail of The Parent Trap poster, before and after conservation treatment.

The Parent Trap, a beloved Disney film starring Hayley Mills, Maureen O’Hara and Brian Keith, was released in 1961, and movie-goers in London, Ontario, Canada must have had the chance to see it on the big screen at the Capitol Theatre at 204 Dundas Street. A large poster advertising the film is one of the few remaining artifacts of the Capitol’s heydays left in the building, and it recently underwent conservation treatment to preserve it for display in what is now part of the City of London’s City Planning Offices.

The Capitol Theatre, London, Ontario, Canada, c.1970. Photo by Victor Aziz, via Barb Trudell Dunbar

The Allen Theatre opened at this location in 1920, and became The Capitol Theatre in 1924. For 80 years, films were shown in the theatre’s auditoriums, including many of the biggest blockbusters to come out of Hollywood, and Londoners lined up on the street for admission. However, after the slow decline of movie theatres in the city’s core, the Capitol closed in 2002. In 2008 a deal was reached between the building’s owner and London City Council, and plans were made to demolish and rebuild both the Capitol and the adjacent Bowles building, restore the heritage facades, and lease the buildings for use by City offices.

During the reconstruction of the buildings, the large, brilliantly coloured Parent Trap film poster was discovered intact on the interior eastern wall of the theatre, in what would have been the lobby. Somehow this ephemeral printed paper advertisement survived the massive construction project and remained adhered, as firmly as the day it was put up, to the plaster interior wall of the building, although it was covered again during the rebuild and remained hidden until 2019.

The Parent Trap poster, before conservation treatment, in the Boardroom of the London City Planning offices.

The buildings, occupied by the City of London Planning Services (now City Planning) Offices since 2010, underwent another, smaller renovation in 2019, which saw the front room of the Capitol re-fitted for use as a board room. Although city staff were aware of the poster previously, it was at this point that the decision was made to take the opportunity of this renovation to make the poster visible again. A window frame approximately 5x7’ was built into the current wall to reveal most of the large film poster, one of few remnants of the building’s original purpose, still affixed to the original plaster of the building.

Before Treatment - large gouges.

Before Treatment - holes and abrasions.

Before Treatment - construction markings.

Before Treatment - plaster splatters.

The poster, while still vibrant and in good condition, considering all it had been through, had suffered some damage during the renovations. Deep gouges in the wall had shattered the paper in several locations, smaller gashes, dents, tears and losses were scattered over the surface, construction notations were scrawled on the paper and a thick layer of plaster dust and splatter dulled the image. Book and Paper Conservation Services was consulted about conserving and restoring the artifact, and the project was approved in early 2020.

After a long delay caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, we began conservation of the poster in early fall 2020, and completed the work at the end of November.

Adhesive application to repair breaks.

Inpainting areas of loss.

The goal of the project was to conserve and restore the poster as much as possible while keeping it affixed it its original location, preparing it for safe, long-term display in the office. This involved surface cleaning to remove dirt and debris, repairing the mechanical damages in the paper, filling material losses and performing image compensation.

Surface dry cleaning to remove debris.

More cleaning to remove plaster dust.

First the paper was carefully cleaned using soft brushes and sponge erasers to remove the dust and hard splatters of plaster. The construction notations were removed by careful scraping with a scalpel, and most of the dirt and smudges were removed with a combination of wet and dry surface cleaning. Losses were filled and the delicate lifting flaps of paper were adhered back into place. Lost areas of image were inpainted directly onto the fills using watercolour pigments to reconstruct the design. Finally the surface was coated to strengthen the paper and re-saturate the colours.

Repairs underway.

Image loss compensation along the bottom edge.

In accordance with the code of ethics of the Canadian Association of Professional Conservators (CAPC), all repairs were performed with stable and reversible conservation materials and processes, so that if in the future there is a need to return the piece to it’s original state, the treatment can be undone without causing further damage to the artifact.

The poster is now stabilized and preserved, and able to be enjoyed in it’s best state for years going forward. It will be protected behind a plexiglass barrier in the office boardroom, and visible to visitors to the building. Located in what would have been the front lobby of the theatre, it is just visible from the street windows of the Capitol building, so have a look the next time you are walking down Dundas Street, and remember the first time you saw your favourite film on the big screen. The glory days of movie theatres like The Capitol are not forgotten, thanks to those with an appreciation for our cultural heritage.

The Parent Trap 1961 Film Poster - Before Conservation Treatment

The Parent Trap 1961 Film Poster - After Conservation Treatment

The Parent Trap 1961 Film Poster - Before Conservation Treatment, detail.

The Parent Trap 1961 Film Poster - After Conservation Treatment, detail.

Fine Art Conservation: Gloucester Harbour, Watercolour Painting by J. M. Barnsley

19th century watercolour painting by J. M. Barnsley, before and after conservation treatment.

Sometimes bad things happen to good art! This elegant watercolour painting by Canadian artist J. M. Barnsley had suffered water damage in a flooded basement, causing a large disfiguring stain across most of the image. 

19th century watercolour painting by J. M. Barnsley, suffering water and mould stains.

Luckily, recent stains are often easier to treat than old stains, and when the owners brought it to Book and Paper Conservation Services, we were able to help. 

The process was multi-fold. First, the acidic pulp board backer on the watercolour was removed. This step was painstaking and time-consuming, but necessary before any cleaning could be undertaken. The brown colouring and acidity of the pulp board had leached into the painting when it was exposed to water, causing the staining in the image; it had also caused the paper overall to yellow and deteriorate. Backer boards like this are very common on 19th century watercolours, and this is why we always recommend they be removed as a preservation measure for any work of art on paper. 

Removing the acidic pulp board backer from the watercolour painting.

Verso of the watercolour after backing removal. The stain is evident, as is the adhesive residue of the backer board. 

Once the painting was free of the backer board, it underwent aqueous cleaning in deionized water; this treated not only the overall yellowing of the paper but also began the process of loosening the dark brown staining in the image. After several rinses, the watercolour was air dried, and the results evaluated. Washing had brightened paper tone and significantly reduced the hard brown water stain.

The watercolour during aqueous cleaning. The stain is loosening as water molecules penetrate the paper fibres. 

Yellow discolouration removed by the first immersion cleaning.

After washing, before chemical bleaching. The paper tone is brighter, the staining is reduced.

After extensive testing to determine the sensitivity of the pigments and potential reaction of the stain, the final step was to locally apply a chemical bleach to further treat the discolouration. Only solutions that have been tested and approved by conservation scientists are used for chemical bleaching treatments, and only in very controlled applications; the treatment must not leave any trace amounts of chemical, or cause any further damage to the materials. In this case, a very low percentage of a reducing agent was used, and the paper was then rinsed multiple times to remove all chemical residue.

Testing local application of chemical bleach. 

The bleaching treatment further reduced the stain, to the point that it is nearly eliminated. Light losses to the watercolour pigment in areas of mould damage were inpainted to unify the image. The scene can now be appreciated without distraction, and the paper tone is brighter, allowing the colours to appear as the artist intended. 

After conservation treatment, the staining is barely visible, the paper tone is brighter and the image can once more be appreciated without distraction.

An unexpected revelation after treatment was the title of the painting, Gloucester Harbour, handwritten in graphite on the lower left corner of the verso. 

The title of the painting, Gloucester Harbour, revealed on the verso.

The clients selected a new framing scheme for the artwork, and our conservation framing included Japanese tissue hinges adhered with reversible wheat starch paste, acid-free backer and mat board, and GroGlass ARTGLASS 99, offering 99% UV protection. The watercolour painting by J. M. Barnsley is once more looking its best, and is properly preserved for the future. The owners have it displayed in their home once again, and one day will pass it down in their family.  

Conservation framing completes the project with acid-free materials and UV filtering glass.

If you have an artwork that has been damaged by flooding or another catastrophe, don't hesitate to contact us to discuss restoration options. You may think there's little hope to reverse the damage, but it never hurts to get a professional opinion; we're not miracle workers, but quite often conservation treatment can dramatically improve a damaged work of art.

Check out our portfolio of treatments, or contact us today.

Book Conservation: A 19th Century Carte de Visite Photograph Album

At Book and Paper Conservation Services the variety of objects we treat is broad, but they all have one thing in common - the owners or stewards of the objects have deemed them important enough to be preserved. We often receive objects of fascinating historical significance, and learning about the provenance of the item is one of the thrills of the job for an art conservator. 

An intriguing item came through our studio recently - a 19th century carte de visite photo album with an interesting theme and provenance. The album is from the collection of The Bishop Farrell Library & Archives at the Diocese of Hamilton, in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

The Bishop Crinnon carte de visite photograph album, during conservation treatment.

History & Context

Although it was most recently part of the library of Bishop Ryan, the album originally belonged to Bishop Crinnon, who was the 2nd Bishop of the Diocese of Hamilton from 1874 - 1882. An inscription on the front free end paper indicates it was a gift presented to Crinnon in London, Ontario, in September 1864, when he was a dean of the Diocese of London. It was gifted by Fr. Joseph A. Kelly, a Dominican Friar serving at the time as the prior of St. Peter’s Church in London. Crinnon obviously brought the album with him when he transferred to Hamilton, where it eventually joined the collection of the Diocese.

The Bishop Crinnon carte de visite album before conservation treatment.

The album contains 89 cartes de visite displayed in specially made pages, inserted through slots in the bottom of two stiff sheets of cardboard and visible through die cut portrait openings. A large number of the photographs depict ecclesiastical figures, some identifiable and some not. Several of the cards have the sitter's name included, either printed on the card or inscribed by hand. It is an intriguing portrait collection of clergy from the early 19th century.

Bishop Crinnon carte de visite album, showing a spread of pages featuring portraits of clergy.

Cartes des Visite

The album is an example of a popular collecting trend of the second half of the 19th century, but with an important twist of theme and local significance. The carte des visite, a photograph mounted on a piece of card the size of a formal visiting card, was a common way to immortalize both celebrities and ordinary people, and they were produced by photographic studios around the world. Sitters would have cards produced for friends and family, and purchase or trade images of important personalities including royalty, politicians and men of arts and letters. 

Carte de visite from the Bishop Crinnon Album of Rev. Edward Gordon, first Vicar General for the Diocese of Hamilton

Verso of carte de visite, with inscription in graphite and logo of the Notman Studio, Montreal, Canada.

In the case of this album, the collector has compiled a group of photographs featuring ecclesiastical figures, along with some other notable heros of the day. The portraits may have been commercially distributed - much the way postcards are bought in souvenir shops today - or may have been gifts from personal acquaintances of the collector, especially if he was involved in the Roman Catholic community. Many have logos of photography studios in Canada printed on the verso, including ones from London, Hamilton and Toronto. There is at least one from the well-known Notman Studio in Montreal. The album is rich with historical context and provides an interesting opportunity for a study of Roman Catholic clergy in Canada in the late 19th century; the Archives of the Diocese of Hamilton are currently exploring the album's history. 

Conservation Treatment

The album arrived in our studio in rough condition. The main issue was damage to the binding, caused by years of handling of the inherently delicate materials; there was also a fine layer of grime on all of the materials, dulling the vibrancy of the pages and photographs.

Facing paper lifting from a page with the weight of the album.

Delicate cloth lining has broken at joint of the final page.

Photograph albums were manufactured in a variety formats in the 19th century, and a careful study was made of the mechanics of this particular album in order to understand the structure and to design an appropriate repair solution. The fabric lining attaching the thick card pages together had torn at the joint of the final page, a location which received a lot of strain whenever the album was accessed. As well, the weight and motion of the pages had caused delamination of the facing paper at several locations throughout the album. Repairs needed to be sympathetic to the original binding, while providing strength and stability, and still maintaining the mechanical action originally intended. 

New endbands were applied, in a style that matched the fragments of the originals.

Japanese tissue adhered with wheat starch paste was used to line the spine and repair the joint, the spine was strengthened with a new card stiffener, and new endbands were applied, in a style matching the remnants of the original materials. The binding and pages were surface cleaned to remove the grime, and each photograph was carefully removed from its slot, cleaned, documented on both recto and verso, and replaced. 

Each photograph was carefully cleaned, on both recto and verso, before being documented and replaced in the album.

The binding was cleaned to remove surface grime.

Before and after surface cleaning of the pages and gilding around the edge of the album.

The end result allows the album to be opened, carefully and with proper support, so that the cartes des visite can be viewed by researchers at the archives. The repairs have restored the original function of the album, and the cleaning has rejuvenated the portraits. Preservation of the photograph album will allow it to remain in the best possible condition for future study and appreciation, and we are very pleased to have worked with the Bishop Farrell Library & Archives at the Diocese of Hamilton to preserve this interesting artifact. 

After conservation treatment, the Bishop Crinnon carte de visite photograph album is clean and stable.

If you are interested in conservation for archival materials in your own collection, don't hesitate to get in touch with us. We provide conservation and restoration for documents, photographs and rare books, and we'll work with you to devise a preservation strategy to meet the needs of your object. Check out our portfolio of treatments and contact information below.