restoring a damaged document

[Ratz]

Looking good Atlantis!

[cmpentecost]

Well, when in doubt, go to the source!

I spoke with Mr. Klatt.  He was absolutely delighted to hear from us, and to know that his documents are being worked on.  He said that all of his documents are very special to him, and irreplaceable.  He'd had them in a safety deposit box at the bank, which of course, was flooded with everything else.  He said the box sat in water for about a month before he was allowed access into the bank to retrieve his belongings.  Even when he got to his box, there was about a quart of water still inside of it.

Anyway, his father's name was Gustov Richard Klatt, but he always went by Richard Klatt, never using his first name.  In fact, his son, whom I spoke with, never learned until years later that Gustov was his father's real first name.  His father was born in January 8, 1899 in Germany, but with World War, the area became part of Poland.  The area was called Donzieg, a Polish Cooridor, and it was a separate city/state run by the League of Nations after the War.  His father became a merchant seamen and was given this document that we are discussing as his ID and passport.  The document was created for him in 1920.

Mr. Klatt said he didn't know how he could possibly thank us enough for what we are doing, as these documents mean so much to him, and this will be wonderful gift when he receives them back again.

So, there ya have it!  You are all a special group of people in helping Atlantis, and Mr. Klatt, to get back something so special!   :loveit:

Christine

[klassylady25]

Christine, you're right about him being the nicest man.   I did two restorations for him in the very beginning.  I didn't know the history of his documents, so thank you very much for sharing that will us all.  You know it really puts merit to what we do and that is the heart and soul of Operation Photo rescue.  We are the blood that makes things come alive.

Again thank you for sharing.

Candice

[Charlene5]

Thanks for the backstory, Chris - it makes the restoration a little less tedious.  I've been working on Mr. Klatt's citizenship papers for a few weeks now.  I ran into a problem when I couldn't read the court clerk's signature.  I called the US District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.  I didn't expect to get an answer.  The document is dated 1939 and I'm sure no one working now would know.  I had the man's initials and the first two letters of the last name.  The rest of it was gone.  As soon as said "Operation Photo Rescue volunteer" they couldn't do enough to help.  I had an entire office of people hunting through old records.  It was amazing!!   Within five minutes I had the name of the clerk who signed the document.  The ladies of the court wanted me to convey to all the volunteers how much their work is appreciated.  I intended to pass that along when I finished the work but now seemed a better time :)

MJ

[Atlantis]

@Christine:
Thank you so much for the extra information. The vague handwriting starts to make sense now. Like the nationality. Because I know Germany was not always the same state as it is today. I was going to look in prewar maps to figure out what states started with a D and now I know.
Could he tell you more about the colour of the document before the waterdamage as well?

You say the document was created in 1920 but I really thought I could see a 6 which would mean 1926.
I will have another good look at it today after the weekendshoppingceremony.
This truly motivates me to push on with extra power on getting it done as good as possible. *looks around ... where did that pen go*

@Charlene5 : do you have Mr. G.K. Klatts authograph as well? And maybe in a better condition? Maybe we could exchange that?
I guess that all the other handwriting on my document is done by a unknown clerk.
During and after the 1930 - 1945 period a lot of administration has gone in (eastern) Europe. And in postwar Poland we had many years of Russian influence so I don't think there will be al lot to find there. Besides, my polish isn't that fluent anymore, ehm never has been  ;) By the way I think his Donzieg is what we call Danzig around here.

Some parts are completely destroyed, e.g. the familyname, but I know it is Klatt. What if I'm able to imitate the handwriting and put that back in place???

[Ausimax]

Atlantis, I have a fairly good copy of his signature, if you need it I will PM you a copy.

The document would have to be dated no later than1920, because I did one that said he arrived in the US on the 5th of October 1920.


Max

[Atlantis]

Yes please Max and thank you.

Hubby found the pen ... now we need to find the software that came with it, I stopped trying to use this set almost 3 years ago. We had some changes of rooms since so it was in some of the boxes in the attick. Meanwhile we got me a new computer. I also think the pen itself will need a new battery but then I'm all set up for tracing  :yay:

[cmpentecost]

Now this is what I call team work!!   :up:

Christine

[Mhayes]

This has been a really great post! It is wonderful to see all the different solutions for the restoration. I especially enjoy the history that you guys are uncovering. Plus, the reaction of Mr Klatt is the icing on the cake.  :up:

Margie

[Atlantis]

Update: it works BUT I do need some more practice in controlling the tablet ;) the lines are stll a little wiggly.
I also thought to make a smart move and trace a print but that was a lot harder. The practice coninue tomorrow...

[Charlene5]

I'm still plugging away on the naturalization papers but took a break to go check Ancestry.com.  In 1930 Mr. Klatt was working as a butcher in a private market.  His wife's name was Ella.  She was born in Louisiana but her parents were German.  They spoke German in their home - which they owned, btw - and the home was valued at $14,000.  He arrived in the US in 1921.  Knowing all that makes him much more real for me and I thought I'd share it with my fellow documneteers.

MJ

[Ratz]

Knowing all this history just brings the work to life, doesn't it?
I did a resto for a family friend a while back, an army photo from WW2, the photo had no identification as to company etc, only the name for the photographer and the year. I started searching to see if I could find out some other names of the men in the photo and stumbled upon all the military records of my friends grandfather! He was so excited to have all the information, including copies of all his documents! It was really exciting to do the restoration, thinking about where this man had been and how young he was at that time.
This will mean so much to Mr Klatt.Great job :up:

[klassylady25]

Absolutely amazing what one can find.    ;)

[Atlantis]

I received a sig in perfect condition from Max and guess what: I compared both sigs and "our" Richard used to be Rishard.  He also evolved his handwriting, the R differs in size.

At this moment I'm planning on tracing everthing I can recover on a separate layer, put that on multiply or overlay (don't know what will work best yet) and use it as a mask as well to mask out the discoloured paper background. So the original handwriting will still be in the restoration, enhanced by the traced layer.
Does this idea make sense?

To feed your historic needs I found some interesting links :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danzig
http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dow%C3%B3d_osobisty
http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gdansk

[klassylady25]

It does indeed make sense.  Keep going you're getting closer.  :o)