This morning at 8:12 a.m. I rehoused a ‘metal-ish widget’ (the 1953 tag’s words, not mine) and finally cataloged it as a tinned-iron curtain ring, in unbuffered tissue with an Ethafoam support at 45% RH. The punchline: I spent longer consolidating the brittle paper tag with B-72 than treating the object. What’s your most absurd legacy label you’ve preserved for provenance while fixing the record?
I usually retire the original tag: photo both sides, slip it into a labeled Melinex sleeve with a bit of acid-free tissue, and tie a Tyvek surrogate to the object — less handling; if the ink starts to creep I switch to B-72 in acetone and a light tissue facing instead of ethanol (AIC wiki: https://www.conservation-wiki.com/wiki/Adhesives). Do you park the sleeved tag with the object or in the file?
@OP Same here — after B-72, I press under silicone release paper overnight; less curl.