Tag Archives: preservation

The Book Conservation Lab: A Brief Tour

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General Collections items waiting for treatment

General Collections items waiting for treatment

April 21-27 is Preservation Week!  In honor of this event, we will be featuring preservation-related content on the Smithsonian Libraries’ blog as well as our other social media outlets, like Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr. Today, we offer you a peek inside our own Book Conservation Lab!

The Preservation Services Division of the Smithsonian Libraries is committed to the preservation, safe exhibition, and long-term access to collections objects, many of which are irreplaceable. The primary mission of the Book Conservation Lab (BCL) is to treat special and general collections items needed for research, exhibition or digitization. Continue reading →

Variation on a Theme of the Japanese Paper Spine

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The Dibner Library received a newly transferred collection of Deutsche Farber-Zeitung, a 19th century periodical on textile dying that includes color samples on wool, cotton, and silk. A summer intern discovered insect carcasses within the gutters of some while organizing, so they were sent to the Libraries’ Book Conservation lab for freezing.

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A few were in poor shape, missing their boards and leather spine coverings. After freezing, a decision was necessary regarding their return to the Dibner for reshelving. Creating boxes was my first thought, however, the leaves are so brittle that I was afraid of damage to them if handled without further protection (above). 

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An  initial step was creating new boards, attaching them to the textblock using toned aero linen placed over a hollow-back spine. I chose to take it a step further by creating a kind of papier-mâché spine covering for these  books in order to be visibly consistent with the remaining collection. I decided to use a variation on the molded japanese paper spine developed by conservator Andrew Honey.

Since the former spine coverings used false raised bands, I re-created these with sewing cords fitted in a template for each book. The toned aero-linen linen and cords were covered with plastic wrap to protect from moisture and adhesive during the process (above).

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Over the plastic film, several layers of mid-weight japanese paper covered the panels, alternated by those covering the cords using a mixture of wheat starch paste and methyl cellulose thinned in deionized water (above).

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Once dried, I toned the covering  with acrylic paints to match as closely as possible to the original leather (above).

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The new spines were attached to the aero linen lining. The final result on the far right – awaiting it’s spine label (above).

—Vanessa Haight Smith (and photos)

 

Bibliothèque Nationale d’Haiti — May/June 2011

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Haiti1 Katie Wagner, Libraries Book Conservator, and I arrived in Port-au-Prince on May 23rd to assist with the Haiti Cultural Recovery Program. The project focused on surface cleaning and rehousing the rare book collection from the Bibliothèque Nationale d’Haiti. 

We met with Francoise Beaulieu-Thybulle, Library Director, who gave us a tour of the stacks containing monographs that have been exposed to open windows, high humidity, direct sunlight, and dust (Image 1, left).

1.  Collection storage at the Bibliothèque Nationale

Haiti2 In general, the monographs were Haitian and French imprints. Most dated from the 19th century and early 20thcentury with the typical signs of deterioration from that period: brittle acidic textblocks and detached boards.  Several had received previous and crude efforts at conservation treatment, many using pressure sensitive tape (Image 2, left). Due to our limited time of two weeks on the project, the best treatment option for this large collection was to surface clean and rehouse the books while protecting from the dust until a safer environment within the library can be constructed. The new planned space will limit exposure to the aforementioned preservation issues.

2.     Typical condition of rare monographs

Haiti3 We were assigned to work in a room reserved for computer use and thankfully, this was one of the few rooms with air conditioning in the building. The first box of 50 books was delivered from the stacks and Katie and I supplied the staff with dust masks, aprons, gloves, cloths, and brushes.

We demonstrated with this first box of books the process for removing dust and surface dirt (Image 3, left). I also made the decision that books with any loose parts (spine covering, boards, pages) would be wrapped in acid-free paper in lieu of more sturdy boxes or enclosures that were not available at that time.

3. Instructing staff

Once cleaned and wrapped, the books were returned in groups of approximately 50 to cardboard boxes that were sealed and numbered. In the future, the wrapped volumes could easily be identified as those requiring further conservation treatment.

Haiti4Our intended goal was to complete 300 books per day, and by the end of the first day we had cleaned and documented 350 monographs. The week continued with such good will and hard work by the library staff that by Friday we had cleaned, documented, and re-boxed 1458 monographs of which 598 were wrapped in tissue and 9 were isolated due to mold.

Since our departure on June 3rd we have been in touch with the group of library technicians to instruct them on the next steps (cleaning as discussed, and continuing to compare the collection database to written lists made at the time of packing). The library staff responded positively to the project and its details. Their diligence, in addition to the cooperation of the Cultural Recovery Conservation Center and their drivers who transported us safely between locations, made it possible to achieve such significant goals during our time in Port-au-Prince.

Vanessa Haight Smith

 

The Practice of Book Conservation at the Libraries

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I am currently nearing the completion of an MSLS at The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. Part of my coursework involves gaining some practical experience through an internship experience at a local institution. Since my focus is on Cultural Heritage and my specific interest is to work with older rare materials in some capacity, I sought the opportunity to learn what it takes to keep aging physical books alive and available for all current and future users. Over the course of five weeks, I worked with the Preservation Services Department, where I had the opportunity to learn and practice a variety of preservation and conservation techniques under the direction of Vanessa Smith, Head of the Smithsonian Libraries’ Preservation Services Department.

Scribners

My initial task was to understand how to construct a bound book. The process of learning how to select materials; fold and trim gatherings of paper; sew the gatherings to tapes; cut, build, and cover a case; and then glue in the textblock, provided me with a greater appreciation for the components that make up a book and the precise craftwork that must take place in order to end up with a functional final product.

I was then introduced to what would become my overarching project: continuing to work on the conservation of a collection of New York City Directories (dating from the 18th—20th century) from the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum Library so that the entire collection might be successfully digitized for potential scholars.

In order to determine the types of treatments that were needed for these Directories, I was first shown how to examine and describe each book through the use of condition reports. The instruction I had received on how to construct a bound book provided me with a better sense of what types of damage needed attention and how long it might take to enact the required treatments. Once I had reported on the individual needs of several books, it was determined that I would tackle a selection of books that were minimally damaged.

I was taught how to repair the paper on torn and detached leaves; how to tip-in the leaves after they had been repaired; and how to reattach and replace boards which had detached from the spine or were simply missing. Throughout all of the treatments I applied to the Directories, I had to ensure that the specific repairs would maintain the original components of each book as much as possible and that they would not obscure any information. This way, the scheduled digitization procedures could capture everything the books had to offer. (Photo #1, above)

Additionally, I was taught how to build custom made enclosures such as the phase wrapper box and the drop spine box. After some practice and some trial and error, I successfully created some phase wrappers for a few of the Directories and, by the end of my final week, I had constructed a cloth-covered drop spine box to hold the bound book I had crafted during my first week. (Photo # 2, below)

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As I applied the skills I was learning, the overriding principles I gained and strove to follow are that every book is important; and in order to maintain the integrity, authenticity and evidential value of the information that only interaction with a physical book can provide, conservation and preservation techniques must be driven by minimal intervention.

—Don Stankavage