A quarterly installment highlighting Library Conservation in the Brown University community, conservation news around the internet, and ways for you to connect with conservation.

Book and paper conservation [at Brown]

Forging the future of special collections. It’s a thriller, a romance, a dystopian journey, or anything else you want it to be. Read my review for the Journal of the American Institute for Conservation here.

In house treatment at the Hay

Materials from the Anne S.K. Brown Military Collection are going on loan to the Art Institute of Chicago next year, and will be a part of the inaugural exhibit for their new Deering Family Galleries of Medieval and Renaissance Art, Arms and Armor in March 2017.  One of the items going on loan contains a rendition of a cat and a pigeon being propelled by rockets. Or, let’s try…being propelled by rockets! Items going out on loan require a lot of preparation from both the lending and borrowing institutions. Conservation contributions include a condition report, physical repair and stabilization, as well as requirements and fabrication of mounts for display, for each item. It is always a pleasure to work with institutions that are so committed to collections care and conservation; Brown is fortunate to be a part of this notable exhibition.

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With the evolution of manuscript traditions comes the perpetuation of information. The idea for those rocket propelled animals pictured above may have first appeared in an early 15^th century manuscript, before printing gained momentum in the west. Although the technology was available in the late 16^th century when Brown’s manuscript was created, there is no evidence this information appears in print until the mid-17^th century. The point is that the image and its related text does eventually appear in print, and fast forward to now, in this medium.

In her Forging the Future… contribution, E. Haven Hawley suggests, to paraphrase, that an object’s meaning materializes from its endurance. Hawley’s examination into the meaning of objects was the highlight of the book for me, as it helped me clearly identify the issue I think many libraries, especially special collections libraries continually face. How can special collections relate to historically ignored, as well as new, and evolving communities when the legacy of curating authorities only reinforces concepts of the past?

Catchwords

Bridging technologies of the book. More to come in March. Happy holidays!

-Rachel Lapkin, Library Materials Conservator

A quarterly installment highlighting Library Conservation in the Brown University community, conservation news around the internet, and ways for you to connect with conservation.

Book and paper conservation [at Brown]

Paul Banks‘ 10 Laws of Conservation. 1. No one can have access to a document that no longer exists. 2. Multiplication and dispersal increase chances for survival of information. 3. Books and documents deteriorate all the time. 4. Use causes wear. 5. Deterioration is irreversible. 6. The physical medium of a book or document contains information. 7. No reproduction can contain all the information contained in the original. 8. Authenticity cannot be restored. 9. Conservation treatment is interpretation. 10. No treatment is reversible.

Pronouncements, contradictions, and truths: there is so much to unpack. Like many other conservation professionals I think about this list often; especially when I see in my work space, a photocopy of a creased paper copy re-printed by a colleague years ago (re: laws 2, 4, 6, and 7). This list is valid for other specialites, how does it relate to you?

In house treatment at the Hay

Another ‘law’ proposed by a colleague suggests something along the lines of, “If it has been repaired once, it will be repaired again.”

A book from the Williams Table collection circulated to the lab because of detached boards. I could tell that the book had been rebacked with a traditional repair because of the two different leathers visible on both boards and the spine. More evidence of previous treatment were silked pages, pressure-sensitive tape, and infills throughout the text block. The text also contains volvelles, maps, and other complex printed matter that have survived intact. Did the binding repair fail due to popularity/ overuse (19 circulations alone since 2013), or because the materials or methods failed 100-or-so years later? And is that failure, or part of a life cycle?  This book has already been repaired once, and it is getting repaired again.

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New technology isn’t just about computing, how will this medium age?

Multiple institutions in Boston have come together with exhibits, events, and a symposium devoted to medieval manuscript studies this November. If a trip to Boston is unappealing, participate in a do-it-yourself medieval manuscript tour throughout Rhode Island!

I admire conservators who empower communities by sharing specialized knowledge about collection care techniques. Or, commit to keeping traditions alive in communities apart from their own. However, art conservation as a community in the United States, both inside and out is problematic in its exclusivity. How can this be? We all abide by the same strict guidelines for our work. With more expensive and time consuming regulations around training, who can afford to be a professional? Do the demographics extend to conscious or unconscious bias when treating cultural property? Whose culture is it, anyway?

Catchwords

Forging the future of special collections. More to come in December.

-Rachel Lapkin, Library Materials Conservator

A quarterly installment highlighting Library Conservation in the Brown University community, conservation news around the internet, and ways for you to connect with conservation.

Book and paper conservation at Brown

Located in the John Hay Library, Brown University Library’s conservation lab mixes historical tools such as 19^th century cast iron book presses and board shears with 21^st century conveniences and innovations like a variable speed control HEPA vacuum cleaner and a deionized water filtration system. This amalgam of old and new allows the conservator to address collection needs such as: repair and other physical treatments, environmental monitoring, object handling, exhibition, storage, research, and education.

In house treatment at the Hay

Before Treatment/ After Treatment

An 1841 pamphlet used in a class last fall had suffered tears, losses, and staining to the paper support since its creation, and had been over-sewn in a manner that made opening the already fragile pages even more hazardous. The pamphlet was disbound, the paper support treated and repaired, making new gatherings that were sewn through the fold and cased into a new lapped component binding.

Find conservation online and in person

This year marks the 50^th anniversary of the Florence Flood; the disaster that revolutionized conservation and preservation in libraries and museums around the world. If you are attending ALA in Orlando, you will have a chance to view the new digital restoration of the rare Franco Zeffirelli film, Florence: Days of Destruction.

Just because a thing is old doesn’t mean that it is better, or right, or wasn’t created by someone who was having an off day. But the human ingenuity poured into every aspect of a book-thing is awe-inspiring, and it is at the heart of my conservation efforts. The majority of special collections holdings look pretty good considering their age and everything they have been through. Bookbinding and book conservation communities continue to explore different ways of respecting history and original forms while improving on function and considering contemporary aesthetics. This practice in itself is a continuation of the tradition of fixing, mending, and making useful again these book objects we can’t seem to live without.

Catchwords

Paul Banks‘ 10 Laws of Conservation. #1: No one can have access to a document that no longer exists. See you in September for #2 and more.

-Rachel Lapkin, Library Materials Conservator