The Scharf Collection is a collection of Maryland State papers for a period spanning over 250 years. This collection consisted of boxes of papers and bound documents.

Iron gall ink was the preferred media for legal documents because it could not be erased, until technological advances phased out its use in the 19th Century. Considering iron gall ink was used near-exclusively for legal and important documentation in Maryland for approximately 250 years since its founding in 1634, an immeasurable quantity of documents remains at risk from damage due to the inherent vice of iron gall ink embrittling paper.

In keeping with research on the preservation of works on paper with iron gall ink, a type of wet treatment referred to as chelation, can be effective on less damaged papers. Due to advanced iron gall ink degradation, the treatment protocol for this book left heat-reversible mends as the only treatment option. Where folded paper needed to be unfolded, a hot tacking iron was used, rather than local humidification. Minimal surface cleaning was kept exclusive to use of a soft brush on both sides of the pages.