Making Headlines

My lab, and that of my colleague Steven Villereal, the Library's Audio-Visual Conservator, were featured on the University's "UVa Today" website.  We're delighted with the opportunity to share what we do behind the scenes with the broader University community.  I was particularly pleased with the way the writer drew a parallel between what Steven and I do despite the differences in the materials we work with.  Conservation is just as much about research, decision making and ethics as it is about torn paper or warped film. 

The media department also did a separate video of me talking about my research into the Library's copy of Micrographia, although I  wish there was more footage of the book instead of my "talking head".

Enjoy!

Next Up

My next treatment is Palladio's "I quattro libri dell'architettura di Andrea Palladio" which was published in Venice in 1581.  Quite a bit has happened to this book since it first came off the press.  It has had at least four owners judging by the bookplates and inscription on the front paste down and fly leaf.  It has been re-bound at least twice judging from the number of different endpapers attached to the text block; and it has been heavily used for reference given the "thumb stains" on the fore edge margins. There are scribbles of sums on a few of the pages and a few doodles as well.

the four books, dis-bound with their boards

There were several attempts to re-attach the boards with various kinds of tape (all failed).  That said, it is a pretty straight forward treatment.  The binding was in horrible shape, the sewing was broken in several places, the front board was completely detached and many of the pages were broken at the gutter margin.   

So, nothing to do but finish taking the book apart so that it can be cleaned, mended and re-bound.  Once the treatment plan was approved by the Head of Special Collections, I went ahead with the dis-binding, carefully noting where the page numbers had been mis-printed and whether any signature marks or catch words had also been mis-printed. 

Next, dry cleaning to pick up as much loose dirt as possible, and then into the water!  I washed each book separately since there were too many pages to do in one session.  Most of the books needed multiple baths

first bath on the left, second bath on the right

before the paper stopped releasing dirt into the water.  The first bath for this book was at pH 5.5 after a half hour soak which is somewhat acidic, but after three baths the water stayed clear, and then the pages went into a final alkaline bath to impart a little bit of an alkaline reserve in the paper.  It still amazes me how the water changes color so dramatically, and the paper actually looks cleaner and brighter once it dries. 

This book needs to be on exhibit at the end of the month, so stay tuned for more conservation treatment action!!

Arcadia and the shadow of a louse

I saw the play Arcadia the other week.  The setting is the manor house Sidley Park, in two different time periods, 1809-1812 and the present day.  The action of the present day involves two academics and their research to prove theories about what happened at the house in the past.  Hannah Jarvis is researching a person she has named "the Sidley Park Hermit", her belief in his existence is largely based on a drawing of him in the landscape picture book of the manor house grounds.  However, the audience has seen Thomasina Coverly (in 1809) draw the hermit in the book as a joke on the landscape architect Mr. Noakes.

Bernard Nightingale is trying to prove that Lord Byron left England in 1809 because he shot a Mr. Crater (a guest at Sidley Park) in a duel.  Nightingale can place Lord Byron at Sidley Park thanks to a notation in the game book, but he can't prove the Crater connection.  Again the audience has seen "what really happened" in a previous scene and knows the duel was between Crater and Septimus Hodge, Thomasina's tutor and that Crater survived.

Jarvis refuses to publicize her theories until she has proof, while Nightingale goes ahead and lectures on his theory with only the evidence from the game book to back him up. The action of the play eventually reveals that Nightingale's theory is incorrect while Jarvis finds proof of her hermit.

As a conservator, I see a lot of tantalizing clues when I take a book apart.  Watermarks are easier to compare and document when the book is apart and each page can be placed over a light sheet.  Plates can be examined more closely when laid flat on a bench.  I can see many traces of where the binder, printer and perhaps author made choices about a book's production.

For example, the plate of the cheese mites; when I examined it closely, I noticed that the end of the caption over each print had been scraped away, with a teeny bit of printer's ink remaining.  I can't make out what had been printed there, but it is clear that something has been scraped away.  I'm kicking myself now because when I examined the Folger Library's copy of the 1667 edition, I didn't take a picture of the cheese mites plate and now I can't compare the captions.  Could the UVa 1667 copy be a printers proof? based on the cheese mites plate, and the fact the UVa flea plate has some of the reference letters engraved backwards, I'm starting to wonder, and again, I don't have a photo of the flea plate from the Folger copy for reference. 

Which brings me to the shadow of a louse.  Or rather the fact that the UVa plate has a louse that does not cast a shadow and is the only example that I can find of this particular version of the plate.  I examined the Folger 1667 Micrographia and the Chemical Heritage Foundation's 1665 Micrographia and in both books their louse casts a shadow (see the Folger's louse below).  I also sent inquiries to the Smithsonian's Dibner Library regarding their 1665 copy and received word from the Library Company that their copies of the 1745 "Restaurata" edition all had plates with a louse that cast a shadow.

There are other differences in the louse plates and I am extremely grateful to the staff at the various libraries who have helped me pin down the details. 

 

 While all of this comparison and tracking down of watermarks ultimately did not change the course of conservation treatment for the UVa Micrographia, it has helped me sort though many of the details I noticed during dis-binding.  My notes will be included in my treatment report and available to future researchers who may be able to put those details together with fresh discoveries that finally reveal the true circumstances behind the differences in the two versions of the louse.  For now there is only enough information to ask more questions rather than draw any conclusions, but that is OK because I still have one fascinating book to bind!

When Everything Goes Right

Sometimes  a poster comes across your bench, printed on thin paper from the 19-teens and lined with acrylic glue and fabric.  You think it is going to be a complete

fabric lining removed, heat set tissue still in place

monster to work on.  Maybe I can just stabilize it, 
encapsulate it with some buffered paper in the back, because it is 30" x 20" and on thin paper which could mean many, many, hours of coaxing, skimming and lifting with a spatula or scalpel, and many, many opportunities to run the scalpel through the poster.  And so you mend another copy of the poster for the exhibit, and let the scary one linger in the drawer for a bit, until you feel ready to tackle the monster. 

And, then...and then...everything goes right! The fabric lifts easily when you slip the spatula under the edge and eventually comes off in one piece.  The heat set tissue, instead of being firmly tangled in the fibers of the paper, is merely sitting on top in most places and peels away in big, easy strips.  The strips of heat set start littering the floor and you make a mental note to vacuum when you're done, but first a new blade on the scalpel to work on the more stubborn spots... but you're getting

heat set coming off, bare paper exposed

there. And very soon you have a smooth surface that needs a little mending here and there, but otherwise looks a whole lot better than when you started. Phew!

In Situ

Pavilion IX is undergoing a comprehensive renovation.  The Office of Facilities Management and the Office of the Architect are updating the electrical, heating, cooling and other systems.  In the process of making way for the new, you sometimes find vestiges of the old.  Take a look at this cupboard in the basement of the Pavilion.

Now take a closer look at the top two shelves of the cupboard. What do you see?  The back of the shelves look a little different, they're not painted like the rest of the cupboard.  What's in there?  The Architectural Conservator for the University had some ideas, but asked me to take a look.

The back of the cupboard has wallpaper that just might be original to the building.  A curator that I consulted had this to say: "The wallpaper is an ashlar block design which was very popular during the first half of the 19^th century. They were frequently used as dado papers below the chair rail, or in the entry way to suggest solidity and grandeur."  

Since this paper is in the back of a cupboard it might be a scrap that is left over from an installation in another part of the building that no longer survives.  The paper extends behind the frame of the cabinets, so we can only speculate whether it was placed to decorate the back wall of the cabinets or the cabinets were placed over the wallpaper as part of the changing function of the 
room.  

But the plan is to leave the wall paper in place, "in situ" and just mend the torn edges so the remnants don't become more tattered.  Research on the history of the buildings is ongoing and new information is gathered every time a building is renovated or altered.  By leaving the wallpaper in situ, we ensure another opportunity for examination and research that might match up with some other detail about the building that is revealed years down the road.  

up and running!

Remember when the only thing I had in the lab was the fume trunk? my first post!

Well, it's got some company now and I'm busy getting a bunch of posters done for an exhibit on government documents. This poster had a ton of masking tape residue on the back and needed a lot of solvent work to remove it. It will be much better off when it's done and the trunk has been a big help. And I love these benches, I can work on all sides of the poster, round and round mending edge tears.

I find it a little amusing that as a book conservator, my first big show here is all about flat paper, but stay tuned for the next exhibit project, it's a book and I have bought a special nifty tool for the fixing!

It's nice to have two

We have an exhibit on the 100th anniversary of Government Documents opening in October.  Gov Docs may not seem like a sensational topic, but we have a great collection of posters from World War I to put on display.  And while the images and design are amazing, the posters were not printed on the best paper and have suffered over the years. 

The poster on the right has some big pieces missing or detached, while the poster on the left has tears and plenty of masking tape residue on the back.  Right now, I'm thinking that the one on the left will turn out better, but it is nice to have two.

on the road

I do make house calls on occasion and last month I went to the Central State Hospital to help get their archives in order. The collections needed a little help as the staff planned to re-house everything for better storage and since they don't have an archivist or a conservator on staff I was happy to help.

There were many panoramic photographs of graduating classes from the nursing school. Panoramic photographs have a tendency to roll themselves into very tight tubes if they are not stored properly. It is possible to slowly and gently humidify the photos, and when they've relaxed significantly, you can flatten them under blotters and weights.

Using a clear container for your humidity chamber is ideal so you can see what is going on and don't forget about what you have in the chamber. It is a long process, but then you can work on other things while the panoramas take their time.

These photos only needed a little bit of mending. I had brought tissue and methyl cellulose and as it turns out, laptops make nice handy weights, when it is time to dry a mend.

It was a long day, but it is fun to get out and see other collections, help other people and think on your feet!

Iron Gall Ink

This is a great example of what iron gall ink can do to paper.  Can you see through the loss in the signature to the following page? 

It is also a great example of the difference in the stability of the two inks, the iron gall ink which was the predominant writing ink for many, many centuries.  And carbon black printing ink which was used in the days of movable type.

Iron gall ink is an acidic ink which worked really well when scribes were writing on parchment.  Parchment is a relatively thick and tough writing surface and the acid would sink into the parchment and make a very permanent, dark mark  Depending on how the ink was made (recipes abound) the ink could be more or less acidic.  This didn't matter so much as long as the writing or drawing was on parchment, but then the world switched to paper as the predominant writing surface and the ink proved too aggressive.

Iron gall ink is of significant importance to the conservation community because of its prevalence in archival documents, manuscripts and works of art. The ink corrosion website is one site that documents history and research related to this topic. 

Many different recipes were used over the years, and the stability of the ink varies according to the writing surface, storage conditions and handling.  Most book and paper conservators will have to make treatment decisions based on the condition of the iron gall ink they're dealing with.  In some instances, the ink is stable, and sometimes it has eaten through the paper.  There's the permanence of the written word and then there's permanence of the ink.

one of these things is not like the others

This is a group of diplomas and a certificate that I recently treated. The certificate on top is paper while the others are parchment. The paper document is from 1939, while the parchment documents are 1921, 1918, 1916 and 1915. They are not too far apart in age, have been boxed together as part of the same collection and underwent the same treatment for similar issues, but what a difference in aging.

not all stickers stick the same

Things change, especially in libraries. Books that were acquired in 1963 for the general collections have matured into rare books. The gorgeous publisher's cloth bindings, the scarcity of these titles in their original cover and their significance as milestones in their subject area are all factors in the transition to special collections.

Which means it is time to get the barcode stickers off the front cover. It can be done, but not all stickers stick the same. You've got to be ready for things to go smoothly like the two dark green books that had the same type of sticker, (the plastic carrier lifted nicely as did the residual adhesive when I applied a vinyl eraser) or not so smoothly as with the other book that had a different type of sticker (the paper carrier lifted quite readily, but the residual adhesive did not agree with the vinyl eraser). You've got to be ready to adapt your original plan, have another type of eraser on hand, or maybe a scalpel with a curved blade, not the straight blade. And if that doesn't work then be ready to try the hot air pencil, (maybe rolling the adhesive off with a metal spatula or maybe with an eraser) all the while paying close attention to the cloth of the book to make sure you are just lifting the sticker and residual adhesive and not scuffing the cloth or decoration and making a bigger mess.

And try not to cut yourself with the scalpel.

the safe arrives

the safe arrives!!!
my last essential piece of equipment, to provide security and fire protection for the collection materials that I am going to be working on.

It's big, it's heavy, and it's got to get from the loading dock to the lab...









since there were only single-width doorways, the safe had to be moved by people, no room for forklifts,



















and I did a lot of research and measuring to make sure that I could get the maximum amount of storage, but the safe would still fit through the door






















I think there was a total of seven guys working on this, can you find them all in the picture?













hooray!!!!

Conserve This???

I am a book conservator, with some experience in works of art on paper, and photographs. My first volunteer position, many years ago, was in the costume conservation lab at the National Museum of American History helping re-house clothing that had been recently acquired by the museum, or had just come off of exhibit.

Conservation has many areas of specialty- books, paper, photographs and costumes, as I mentioned, and also modern art, which can have all sorts of challenges because of modern art materials (e.g. acrylic paints) or common materials that are used in a new way thanks to the inspiration of an artist.

As I walk through an exhibit I often wonder how the conservator at that particular museum will approach the challenges presented by the artwork I am seeing. I recently saw the exhibit "Staged Stories: Renwick Craft Invitational 2009" at the Smithsonian's Renwick Gallery, and I was delighted by the work of Mark Newport a fiber artist who knits life, or larger-than-life sized super hero costumes out of acrylic yarn.
As a knitter I was amazed by all the details of his work, noting his choices in how he did his armhole decreases or shaping to make a waist or legs for the cosutme. As a conservator, I wondered how my counterpart at the museum would face the choices regarding conservation of such a piece. For example, when housing a costume for storage, you want to fill the sleeves or torso or legs just enough to support the article of clothing in a shape similar to how it would be worn, but in the case of these superhero costumes, part of the artist's concept is that they are empty and hanging on the hanger, which would indicate a different approach, perhaps. And then how will this particular acrylic yarn do over time? What will be the approach for treatment of a tear in the fabric? At least with acrylic yarn there is little to fear from moths!

And while this may sound like a horrible inability to leave my work in the lab, it does offer me another level of wonder when I see an exhibit.

Mold

Moldy books! Yikes!
Storing books in a cool, dry, place is really important.
Most of the time the worst that will happen is that the books
will get a little musty, develop that "old book smell".
But there is also the chance that a book could grow mold.


This book was a victim of improper storage, but given that it was published in 1705, it is not surprising that it had a few years living in Virginia without the benefit of air-conditioning.







Old leather-bound can be particularly susceptible to mold growth, and while it is possible to clean them, it is delicate work. Leather can get very friable as it ages, drying out
and becoming powdery, and mold will just make it worse.
Mold digests the material that it is sitting on, "growing" into the substrate just as much as it spreads out as colorful fuzz on a book cover.

And since mold can be an allergen whether live or dead, it is always important to have respiratory protection when working on moldy items. In the lab I have a fume trunk that I can pose right over my work area, the exhaust fan draws all the air and mold away from the book as I work. It even has a light to help me see what I am doing!


The dry cleaning sponge lifts up the dirt and mold from
the surface of the book, and as the sponge gets dirty, I cut
those bits off so I am always working with a clean surface. Over the cover, and then through the text one page at a time, very, very, carefully. And when I am done, there is a clean, use-able book, ready for the reading room!

neato keen!

Acquiring new collections can be so exciting. It is an opportunity to discover new documents or information hidden in a bundle of letters. People often gather around to find out what is coming through the door and admire the penmanship of days gone by. Librarians and archivists get very excited by the potential in each new collection.

But if you're a preservation librarian, or a conservator, you get very excited by signs of bug damage. Certainly, if it looks like an active infestation, the collections will be frozen (a standard Integrated Pest Management [IPM] technique) and then cleaned.




But oftentimes the bugs are long gone. They do leave tracks, however, not footprints but rather "chew-prints". When I saw this bundle of papers I said "nice silverfish damage!" And I meant it.

Silverfish are a common pest and do have a tendency to show up in basements or dark, damp corners where people sometimes store their books and papers. Silverfish are a rather primitive insect, with their mouth on the underside of their body. So if you see signs of something scraping away at the surface in little round areas, it is very likely that a silverfish was nibbling at the paper in search of starch.






In this picture, you can see where the silverfish ate away the stamp to get to the dried out glue between the stamp and the postcard. Once they got to the postcard, they lost interest since they don't eat cellulose.

So I always carry my camera with me, in case I see a truly remarkable book or a truly remarkable example of "previous use"!

getting closer

We needed some photos for the annual report,
so we had to stage them since the lab isn't quite finished.

I put some beakers in the cupboards
to make the place look a little more lived-in,
does it work? Maybe it you squint just a little?

Field Trip

We went on a field trip yesterday. My chain of command very graciously gave up a whole day to have me run them around DC, looking at conservation labs.

We visited three, one in a library, two in museums, two of the labs were recent construction, one had been in the same location since the 1930's. Only one of the labs was specifically a book conservation lab, but seeing the different labs and hearing the differing stories of their construction process was tremendously helpful.


As I reviewed the day in my mind, and thought about what worked and didn't work in each setting, I could decide what might apply to my current lab project and save other ideas for our "future lab". And while our book lab will most likely never have an x-ray room, it was still helpful to hear the conservator at the facility we were visiting talk about the functionality of their x-ray room. The success of a lab of any type is reflected in its ability to accommodate the collections it needs to treat. It doesn't matter how spiffy the x-ray equipment might be if the hallway and doors to the room are too narrow to accommodate the majority of the materials in your collection. If your collection has a significant amount of maps, architectural drawings or over sized prints then you will absolutely need a large sink for washing and large tables for flattening and drying. In a way I am glad to have this "starter lab" first, to try out a few ideas and new pieces of equipment as I get to know the scope of the collections and figure out the size and volume of items I'll be treating. The better you know your collections the better you'll be able to plan the workflow and the lab.

One of the take away messages from yesterday was "no detail is to small to think about". I will definitely keep this in mind!

Progress!

It is so exciting to see the lab start to come together. I arrived mid-renovation and jumped right into laying out the casework, sinks, benches, etc. There were drawings from the previous department head, but things had changed since her departure.

I had been in my previous lab for a number of years before the opportunity to change anything came along, which meant that my co-workers and I had plenty of time to decide what would suit our needs. Here, its a little different, everything is new and everything will hopefully move one day to the larger, collaborative conservation facility that the university is hoping to build.

The good news is that everything, including cabinets and sinks can be moved to the new facility, whenever and wherever it happens. So best effort, and keep going!

shopping

Starting a conservation lab from scratch has many challenges, from figuring out cabinets, sourcing equipment, to determining security protocols. One of the on-going "mini" challenges has been the shopping. The other labs I have worked in were working labs when I got there, a couple of them had been in operation for nearly 30 years. There were drawers full of paper, brushes, tools, leather hides, and rolls and rolls of book cloth. Digging into all the supplies could be a lot of fun, and had its mysterious/archeological aspect (what were they going to do with all this silicone release paper??? were gusseted endsheets going to save the world??). But my new lab is so new that there are no supplies. Our book repair unit has some things, but a lot of it will stay where it is.

So, starting from scratch means having to think of everything that has ever been useful, trying to remember what it's called, who might sell it and figuring out how much I need. Everyone is probably used to doing this to some degree for their daily life, but it is just a little different in a conservation lab. Some things are obvious, such as a board shear or book press, and even though they are scarce and specialized pieces of equipment, there is a guy who specializes in maintenance and sales. Then there are the less obvious things like the rubber mesh that is really nifty to layer onto a drying rack shelf so that the paper you are drying has more even support than the plain shelf grid- I remember that it is green mesh, probably rubber, but there was already a roll of it at my previous lab, so I am not exactly sure what the product is called or where it was ordered from- fortunately I'm pretty good at figuring these things out, and working in book repair while I wait for the lab helps to jog my memory.

But still, I have a lot of lists and leads to work through!

re-tooling

I moved to take a new job and be the first ever conservator at my new library. Thanks to a grant there is money to build a lab and while the space I have to work with is a little on small side, I know that once I have a chance, I'll be able to get a lot of treatment done in there.

I started working on the layout and equipment lists as so as I got here, but so far, I have been frustrated by the quirks of the facilities department who seem to move at a slower pace as they renovate my space. The good news is that the cabinets, sinks, benches and shelving are on order and should be delivered in late August. Hopefully, the in-house facilities folks will have the lab space ready to receive!

I am eager to get started, jump in and get working on all the collection material, just as I was hired to do, but so far, it has been a study in patience. Meanwhile, I can at least check one item off my list!