LETTERS ON BIRCH BARK: HISTORY ANDCONSERVATION OF OBJECTS FROM THE MUSEUMOF REV. JÓZEF JARZĘBOWSKI IN LICHEŃ STARY

Abstract

Artefacts made of and from untypical materialswith the use of sophisticated techniques preserved in museumsconstitute an exceptional challenge to museum curators. Suchis the case of two letters described in the paper, written onbirch bark by someone signed as the female: Janka and Jaśkadispatched to her mother from the Soviet Polovinka Gulag inthe Urals in 1946 and 1947. Currently, the artefacts are in thecollection of the Museum of Rev. Józef Jarzębowski in LicheńStary, while their history was explained only in the 2010s. In2022, the letters underwent museum conservation, whichallowed to find out what material they were written on andwhat technique was used for the execution, following whichthey were appropriately preserved so that they can last thelongest possible minimizing their deterioration.

Keywords

• letters
• birch bark
• Soviet gulag
• Museum of Rev. Józef Jarzębowski in Licheń Stary
• museum conservation