Following Hughes and Sullivan’s talk, Mylène Laroux, Master 2 Student at Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, reiterated the composition and advantages of gellan gum other rigid gel systems, highlighting the fact that they are simpler and safer for both the object and the conservator. She then compared these physical gel systems to the newly-developed Nanorestore® gel.
Nanorestore® gel was developed by the Nanoforart project, whose main objective, according to their website, is “the development and experimentation of new nano-materials and responsive systems for the conservation and preservation of movable and immovable artworks.” Nanorestore® is a chemical gel with high internal cohesion. It is available in pre-made sheets which are ready to use for aqueous treatment or they can be soaked in organic polar solvents for 12 hours and then used as a solvent gel. As with other gel systems, the Nanorestore® (soaked in ethanol) allowed Leroux to perform local adhesive stain removal without the formation of tidelines. Initial studies indicate that Nanorestore® has higher liquid retention rate than the polysaccaride gels. It’s also a sustainable option, since the gel can be placed back into solvent and reused multiple times.
At this time, Nanorestore® is not widely available and only comes in a few small sizes, so practical application in paper conservation labs is currently limited. However, it’s exciting to see new products being developed and tested, since we conservators are always looking to expand our toolboxes.
Category: Book and Paper Conservation
Sustainable preservation survey for library and archive collections
This survey focuses on sustainable preservation methods that can create efficiency, environmental consciousness, and effective management to maintain libraries’ and archives’ collections. The Sustainable Preservation Survey is an effort to continue the conversation about sustainability and where preservation needs are most apparent within libraries and archives. Lindsay Schettler, Special Collections and Content Management Librarian and the 2016 ALCTS’ Jan Merrill-Oldham Professional Development Grant recipient, will present this survey data and illustrate holistic sustainable preservation practices at the 2016 ALA Annual Conference Poster Session.
As preservation standards and practices are crucially embedded in library and archival workflows, understanding all sustainability options is vital. This survey will assess current sustainable preservation practice and evaluate the future role of sustainability in library and archives preservation programs. General preservation topics are explored, focusing on basic sustainable preservation practices offering the library and archive community an idea of current practices.
Preservation is a core function in collection care and management, providing longevity and access for materials found in special collections and archives. Preservation practices include several steps during the physical processing of the material, including description, condition reports, stabilization, reformatting, and rehousing. Sustainable preservation initiatives derive from a holistic approach to collection care and management, providing a chance to understand the breadth of a preservation program, and find the areas that can be adjusted to incorporate sustainability, such as recycling, slow conservation, supply waste, climate control, processing strategies, reusable methods and material, local partnerships and programs, and community engagement.
The survey will take approximately 15 minutes to complete. Only one person from each institution is needed. Your feedback is vital. Participation is voluntary and the survey can be stopped at any time. Please send any questions to Lindsay Schettler.
This survey will close June 3, 2016.
Sustainable Preservation Survey HERE!
43rd Annual Meeting – Book and Paper Group Session, May 15, 2015. “Superstorm Sandy: Response, Salvage, and Treatment of Rare Pamphlets from New York University's Ehrman Medical Library" by Angela Andres
Angela Andres, Special Collections Conservator at New York University (NYU) Libraries, presented a case study of the salvage and treatment of a rare pamphlet collection from NYU’s Ehrman Medical Library. The collection consists of approximately 200 medical works, which sustained water damage when New York City took a direct hit from Superstorm Sandy in 2012. This presentation tied in well to the overall conference theme of Practical Philosophy, or Making Conservation Work, as the aftermath of the storm made the salvage and conservation of this collection particularly challenging.
Power outages and infrastructure disruptions were widespread in New York City in the weeks following Superstorm Sandy. Though conservators from NYU’s Barbara Goldsmith Preservation and Conservation Department were quickly on hand to assist with the Ehrman Library recovery effort, they were unable to enter some of the library spaces immediately after the storm due to flooding. Once the building was accessible, conservators worked with disaster recovery vendor Belfor and library staff to salvage water damaged materials, including this pamphlet collection. Due to concerns about mold growth and difficulties in locating a freezer or reliable power source, conservators interleaved the pamphlets with Tek-Wipe and packed them for removal to the Conservation Lab at NYU’s Bobst Library. Because of ongoing transit interruptions, it was necessary to transport the collection to the lab by taxi.
The pamphlets were frozen to allow for treatment in smaller groups over the next two years. Because the collection had been submerged in flood water containing sewage and medical waste, individual pamphlets were thawed and rinsed in a water bath. If mold was present, it was remediated after thawing with an alcohol solution. Dirt, fasteners, adhesive residue, and threads were removed while the object was in the bath. Each pamphlet was then dried, surface cleaned, mended, and rebound. Partway through the project, the Ehrman Library decided to digitize the collection, so the level of treatment was scaled back to accommodate imaging more easily.
In the wake of such a large disaster, the urge to assist can be overwhelming. Angela’s assessment of the positive and negative outcomes of this project was both practical and insightful. The active role taken by NYU Library leadership, as well as the effective division of labor, helped recovery efforts go as efficiently as possible. The Ehrman Library had a recently updated disaster plan with designated salvage priorities, and worked quickly to get a contract in place with a disaster recovery vendor when it proved necessary. The conservation treatment of this collection also afforded the Ehrman Library the chance to digitize and rehouse these materials as part of its long-term preservation strategy.
However, the in-house treatment of this collection significantly affected the conservation lab functions, and led conservators there to reexamine their approach to future salvage situations. Angela acknowledged that the strong desire to help in the aftermath of the storm might have prevented conservation staff from evaluating the situation more critically. In retrospect, Angela felt that it might have been useful to do a smaller pilot study prior to beginning treatment of the collection. That would have enabled conservators to get a better sense of treatment times, identify areas where treatment steps could be streamlined, and determine whether additional funding or staff would be needed to complete the project.
During the question and answer session, audience members asked Angela about specific salvage and treatment protocols. One participant asked why the Tek-Wipe interleaving was removed prior to freezing. Angela responded that the Tek-Wipe interleaving had become saturated with filthy water, and conservators wanted to get as much dirt away from the objects as possible. Pre-cut freezer paper is part of the conservation lab’s disaster kit and was readily available, so that was used instead. Another audience member noted the presence of iron gall ink on some of the pamphlets, and asked if any iron gall ink treatment was done. Angela responded that there were comparatively few iron gall ink inscriptions in this collection, and no additional treatment was done.
43rd Annual Meeting – Book and Paper Group Session, May 14, 2015. "Understanding and Preserving the Print Culture of the Confederacy" by Evan Knight
Evan Knight, Associate Conservator at the Boston Athenaeum, spoke about the Athenaeum’s multi-year project to conserve and digitize its Confederate Imprints collection. In the 19th century, the Boston Athenaeum was one of the premier libraries in the nation, and its librarian William F. Poole quickly realized the importance of collecting print materials from the Confederate States of America. The collection contains 4575 imprints in a variety of formats, including pamphlets, bound volumes, maps, and archival records.
The project’s objectives were to provide access to the Confederate Imprints collection through digitization, while improving its preservation and cataloging. Evan’s description of the project stressed the importance of conservator involvement, in order to balance the demand for digitization with the ability to effectively preserve the collection. The goals of treatment were to ensure that objects could be safely handled during imaging, allow for effective stabilization in a timely manner, and provide for a broader range of treatment options on important or rare items. As Project Conservator, Evan also had the unique opportunity to assess the entire collection, rather than seeing only those objects that came to the lab in need of conservation treatment. This allowed him to get a more comprehensive sense of both the condition problems and material characteristics of the collection.
The collection presented a variety of condition issues, including torn and creased pages, losses, planar distortion, and binding damage. However, because this was a three-year, donor-funded project, working efficiently was a particular concern.Evan spoke abouthow he balanced the treatment goals of reversibility, efficacy, and aesthetic concerns with the time constraints of the project. He streamlined his working methods and materials by batching similar treatments, only humidifying when necessary, using a relatively dry wheat starch paste for mending and flattening creases, and stabilizing losses without fills where possible.He also kept minimal paper treatment records, which were entered into a project spreadsheet at regular intervals. Only significant or unique items received more extensive written and photographic documentation.
Evan then discussed the material characteristics of Southern print culture, as well as identifying avenues for future research. He mentioned that though paper in the South during the Civil War is commonly presumed to be of inferior quality, he found great variety in the papers of the Confederate Imprints collection. All of the papers in this collection are wove and exhibit stitching patterns from the wire mesh screens used in the manufacturing process. With only 15 paper mills operating in the South during this period, Evan thought that some of these papers could probably be attributed to specific mills based on these stitching patterns. He also referenced technical studies in the Confederate Philatelist by Dr. Harry Brittain that have identified local fillers, additives, and ink compositions.
The bindings in the collection encompass pamphlets, trade bindings, and publisher’s bindings. Regional variations exist, with covering materials, decorative tool patterns, and sewing structures often traceable to specific publishers or cities. In this collection, Evan noted that certain sized books are associated with specific binding features or subject matter. He also found repeated use of particular stamping dies and repurposed cases in some of the collection’s publisher’s bindings. Evan then discussed the wallpaper covers associated with literary fiction published from 1863-1865 by S. H. Goetzel of Mobile, Alabama.
The project was a success and finished ahead of schedule, with all but three objects in this collection digitized. Two were bound volumes with unopened pages, and the third had significant mold damage and was set aside for later treatment.
During the questions session, Evan was asked if he’d found any photographic maps in this collection, and he described one that had gotten minimal treatment and was encapsulated. Evan was then asked to elaborate about his stabilization and storage methods for maps that were folded into wrappers. He mentioned that they wanted to store these objects flat, and many could be opened mechanically without humidification. The folds on other documents proved to be more stubborn and needed to be humidified prior to flattening.
Another audience member asked about Evan’s observations on imported papers in this collection, particularly blue writing papers. He responded that though blue stationery was common in this period, he didn’t see it used for imprints. Rather, he most often encountered this type of paper pasted into volumes. Evan also mentioned papers and books that were imported through the Union blockades.
Many thanks to Evan for a particularly interesting and useful talk. For additional information, please refer to Evan’s bibliography on his BPG Wiki user page: http://www.conservation-wiki.com/wiki/User:Ev-knight
43rd Annual Meeting – Book and Paper Group Session, May 16, 2015. “Affichomanie: Retracing the History and Practice of Lining Belle Epoque Posters with Fabric” by Tessa Thomas
Seeing a nice grouping by the BPG program organizers of talks about big paper, I settled in to be enchanted by more pretty pictures in the second talk of the day. The work originates in the gift to Art Gallery of Ontario of well-known and more obscure works (ephemera, Christmas cards, postcard doodles, & sketches, & theater programs) from the golden age of chromolithograph poster art – some of which drew myself and others to the practice of art entirely. Thomas was a recipient of a Kress fellowship to undertake a study of the collection and has written for the museum’s blog on some of her findings.
Thomas gave a brief but thorough background on the art and cultural historical context of the rise of the poster as art, starting with the law of 1881 which allowed for the liberal posting of posters (except where noted by stenciled announcement) in contrast to when prior authorization was always required by the government. This was not exclusive to advertising posters, but an act for freedom of the press and public commentary, from which artists and culture benefitted equally. This created a mass media culture, where the newest poster was eagerly awaited by a public hungry for visual beauty and information in an otherwise grey city, giving rise to competing trends and spurring innovation in graphic communication. These were also the new publicity machine for the theatres, and advertising the artists – performing and visual. Thomas illustrated this with beautiful vintage contemporary photographs and illustrations highlighting the streets and walls of Paris – showing posters in the environment, giving “color and energy to the dim hustle of Paris”. Details in these images speak to features found on posters that were mounted, such as tax stamps, original folds, as opposed to ones printed and unused, or saved for later use or resale.
It is an oft repeated tale that at the peak of “poster mania”, fans would steal the freshly pasted posters. Did an 1893 article published by Felix Phénéon, art critic and anarchist,incite, or describe current goings-on, suggesting that fans of the poster steal them fresh off the walls. Singling out Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s, “these posters are really fine, …steal them, wash them, hang them in yr apartment … where of course your landlord lets the wallpaper hang in ribbons.” Thomas was curious to find evidence in the AGO collection that might support this possibly apocryphal legend. She considers it more likely the affichiomanistes rather paid off the poster pasters, and this story was a red herring to throw off the sponsor of the posters as to why so many went missing! Popularity indeed created the poster art gallery system, and Thomas sought out the archives of Sagot et Cie, one of the oldest extant galleries to inform her study. Her research there and the Designmuseum Danmark into the economics and practices of sales and after-market mountings for transport and display, when published, will help many a conservator consider the origin and value of an extant lining.
Thomas further theorizes that the practice of entoilage– lining – allowed many posters, otherwise on unstable paper and with history of environmental exposure, to survive. The survey of the AGO collection reveals a diversity of lining materials (original and restorations), adhesives and histories of exposure. Entoilage is continued today by conservators; current practice may include a preliminary lining of paper or paper-lined textile, and pasting the conserved paper object to it. When considering treatment, risk to benefit must be calculated, pending the inherent vices present and media sensitivity. For those sensitive to aqueous methods, mechanical removal of a failing lining may be preferred. Here Thomas showed treatment slides, to demonstrating use of the Peachey Carbon Lifter for slipping through brittle adhesive, and with made great use of video to show a painstaking thread by thread removal of lining material.
Discussing replacement linings, Thomas previewed her mockup trials for different scenarios. Certainly, she says, each situation is unique and should be an individual, not mass, decision. In closing, she made a parallel to “collectable” street art today, which again is transitioning from its “low” roots in graffiti, to high art, what with the occasional pasteup, “wheat pasting” or sniping by street teams or individual artists such as Banksy, and lesser known artists. Who is collecting their work, and what will it look like into the future? These and other thoughts challenged the audience, which prompted a lively Q and A.
We look forward to considering these questions critically ourselves in future treatment, and to Thomas’ final paper in which she may address these more philosophical issues.
43rd Annual Meeting – Book and Paper Session, May 16, “Let me Help You Help Me: Outreach as Preventive Conservation”, Library Collections Conservation Discussion Group
The structure of this session was three brief presentations followed by three breakout groups to discuss each of the presentations, with the presenters rotating between the groups.
Laura McCann, Conservation Librarian at NYU Libraries, was the first presenter and spoke about library training of student employees.
She gave an interesting presentation on the process their library has undergone in developing a more efficient and successful training program for student workers. Originally the Conservation Department of 3 staff members conducted hands-on training of small groups of students through workshops. While this had benefits of being able to design their own teaching content, increasing awareness among para-professional staff about the work of conservation and library materials preservation needs, and improving communication between conservation and other departments, there were problems such as the students being distracted during the workshop or not attending due to scheduling conflicts, and conservation issues not being correctly identified or work being poorly performed by the students when in placement.
By reaching out to the other library departments, a new approach was devised. Now there are fewer sessions and they involve a presentation (not hands-on) and pizza! The students’ managers are present and the sessions are compulsory. This has resulted in less conservation staff time required in training, more students receiving the training and a large increase in the number of library books correctly identified for conservation treatment.
The next step from here is to adapt this model to other situations, such as NYU’s new allied libraries in Brooklyn, Abu Dhabi and Shanghai with the challenges of geography and time differences added to the usual constraints of limited conservation resources and staffing. Ideas that they are exploring include Preservation Training LibGuides and short video tutorials.
Dawn Walus, Chief Conservator at Boston Athenaeum, spoke next about outreach and access at her institution.
The Boston Athenaeum has a wide and varied outreach program. They hold architecture tours of the building, open house events for the public to view spaces such as the conservation laboratory, evening events with their curators, tours and workshops with groups of young children, and an annual conservation fundraising evening. Members have special events such as specific tours and conservation lab visits, and digital images of the collection made by the digitization team feature in a digital photo frame in the membership office.
As well as public encounters, the Boston Athenaeum offers summer institutional exchanges, internships in conservation through a relationship with the North Bennet St bookbinding school, and scholarships for researchers to study the collections available in the research room. They also take advantages of public curiosity of collection institutions through articles in traditional and social media.
This last point linked well to the third speaker, Suzy Morgan, Preservation Specialist at Arizona State University Library, who spoke about using social media to promote conservation.
Social media is a very powerful tool that conservators can use to direct and control the conversation about conservation without the message being misrepresented or diluted by traditional media. She pointed out that it is resource-light, requiring ‘only’ staff time and not expensive equipment, specialized staff (such as IT) or knowledge.
People are very curious about conservation, so there is a fresh audience out there waiting to respond to your efforts. The online community is very interactive, allowing you to have a conversation with both positive and negative responses, and presenting teaching moments as well.
Some advice Suzy gave was to look at how large institutions are using different social media platforms and copy the approaches you like. Be humorous, allow for some silliness, and keep it short. She reminded us tha the work conservators do is very photogenic and social media platforms are ideal for sharing photos, sound clips and short videos, which often represent our work better than text.
Finally, she said that there are lots of resources on the internet to explain ‘how to’; don’t be discouraged by the well-established platforms that large institutions have, be prepared to give it a try – start small take it slowly, and have fun.
Discussion groups
The three presentations were followed by breakout groups where each presenter came to speak to a group about the issues raised in their talk.
Laura McCann:
– Q: How many students per year do you train?
– A: About 20 people; they are tied into the general student orientation program for the library. Also, they use short training videos for patrons and para-professionals.
– Q: Have you made your own training videos?
– A: No, not yet. Need management approval. Also, some rare book departments might want more hands on or intensive training for their materials.
– Q: Could we crowd source this?
– A: In theory some of these information guides should be able to be assembled collaboratively, but each institution will likely want to add their own specific or specialized information. Other ways of distributing information include putting information cards around the library and in the reading room, or using table tents to inform general readers.
Dawn Walus:
– Q: What is a good/not good age range for children to come and tour a conservation lab?
– A: Young children can really appreciate a ‘book hospital’ or ‘make a book’ workshop experience and then take home a souvenir to show to siblings and parents; teenagers are hardest to engage – insist on no cell phone usage in the lab
– Have workshops on old audio-visual equipment, as some people still have these things at home but don’t know how to use them
– Q: How can you tell is your lab tours or other outreach programs are a success?
– A: Speak to docents to see if they get questions about conservation programs; have a kids activity table and monitor its usage; talk to membership office and see if have increase in memberships or donations
Suzy Morgan:
– Q: Is the social media you do part of a larger institutional social media program?
– A: No, they are personal accounts, but contribute to the library’s larger social media efforts
– Q: What is your favorite platform and which are the most effective?
– A: Suzy is into Twitter and Tumblr and having a go with Vine; she hasn’t tried Instagram. Tumblr is easy to start, has no length limit, can post text, photos, video, links etc and also schedule posts for future release. Each platform has its own style; some are more personal and interactive than others. You need to work out your communication style and decide on the audience you want to reach, then write appropriately.
– Q: Do you have restraints on your content ?
– A: No, because she is doing it through personal accounts. To avoid onerous institutional policies, it takes time to build management trust in the social media program to see that no inappropriate content is released.
– Q: Any advice on gaining institutional trust?
– A: Start by offering to help with the social media program, provide content and slowly build up your involvement. Show examples of other institutions’ successful social media programs to build faith in your own.
– It was noted that some institutions force staff to spend large amounts of time contributing to social media programs, and that can adversely affect the time available to spend on other work. If this is the case, ask for help from other staff/workshop participants etc and delegate. You could also point back at your job description if social media is not included.
43rd Annual Meeting – Book and Paper Group Session, May 16, 2015. “Multitasking on a Shoestring: Storage and Display Mounts for Oversized Maps at the Library of Virginia” by Leslie Courtois
The talk began with an introduction to the Library, which as a state resource, also houses the archives and is mandated to make all content accessible, from the original object to digital access. The original building was built on a Jeffersonian model, which is supplemented with a massive offsite storage comprising some 97 million items over fifty-five miles of shelving, and yet has a very small staff for conservation and exhibit preparation. The Library has a very enthusiastic curator of maps, a benefactor with a interest in sponsoring maps scholarship and a robust interest group that seeks to use the collection. As such, Courtois presented a solution she has come up with that allows her to access and mount for display their extremely oversize maps without much additional help, using a modular system of her own invention and implementation.
With insights into the use of maps, “a highly aesthetic visual documentary material”, Courtois discussed several of local interest, including: the Mitchell (1755), the primary map used to define the nation after the revolution; the Sayer & Bennett map of the Chesapeake bay (1777); the John Henry map of Virginia (1770); and the “monster” Boye Map of Virginia (1826), printed from nine copper plates. Indeed, the scale of these editions permitted the publisher space for extreme detail and decorative elements that formerly were best perceived by the original user up close in their folded, pocketed format. The irony of the preservation rehousing, a 5mm thick Mylar and map folder hybrid, which permits flat storage and prevents improper folding damage, is that it can prevent the observer from seeing the details due to enforcing a certain distance due to its dimensions (up to 40” x 60” standardized, and custom for sizes beyond that). The flat housings also take up space on tables, if not exceeding the surface area available for reference, thus limiting the number that may laid out at one time, and lastly makes for an ergonomically unsound, and risky relationship of viewer to the object. For these reasons, the goal was to go vertical, for the least cost, and without having to rehouse the object in yet another expensive format.
The solution arrived at was to use Hexamount panels (or alternately, double laminate cross-directional corrugated board) as the vertical panel support, which are fastened to arms on independent wooden floor stands (or stanchions), hand-built by Courtois of simple materials and construction. The stands themselves are sturdy and functional, and once the panel is attached to swiveling arms by hook-and-loop tape, the feet are only visible part. The stand bases are made up of 3/4” furniture plywood, and two-by-fours are used as the risers. The arms to which the panels are attached, are fixed to the risers with a hex bolt that may be loosed and tightened, to allow for an angled presentation. There is no cross-brace or frame other than the panel itself, allowing the independent stands to be adjusted in width to each other based on the size of the Hexamount panel, allowing for flexibility of size. All told, the stands cost about $184 or about $30 each to make up six, including drill bits, wood, paint, wide Velcro ™ strip; the Hexamount runs about $87 per panel not including shipping.
The maps are supported on the panel using a pass through hinge system: the storage folder is pierced with wide slits above the map, and Mylar strapping is passed through matching slits in the panel behind and below and and affixed at the back.
Difficulties include supporting wide maps in the middle where sagging is a potential issue, but this can be resolved with additional strapping. Mounting and dismounting the large panel tends to be the stickiest issue, if you’ll pardon the pun. Once a large surface area of hook-and-loop tape attaches, it can be difficult to pry apart, so when setting up, it is helpful to place a removable barrier such as a slim ruler or other in between the hook and loop to allow for a break-away point if the strips are aligned improperly. For removal, it helps to have an assistant, and using a ruler to split the hook-and-loop as sort of zipper helps to peel them apart. (It was suggested during Q and A that leaving a few thin squares of Mylar or metal foil in place could also serve as a tool entry point for later removal; although visible tabs might present a security concern). For the Boye map, which was previously treated and edge mounted with a fabric extension similar to that which is used for quilt-hangings, a folded over fabric tube at the top allows for a rigid strut piece of corrugated or other material to be slid through the tube and which is tied in with linen tapes to the support board.
Courtois suggests a couple of further tips during the Q and A:
Michelle Facini, co-author of Big Paper, Big Problems (see also:poster and tables) noted that in responses to her Kress-funded survey even the use of the term oversized is challenging – every institution’s parameter for oversize is different! However, all face the same expensive choices, as sizes increase, so do material costs. Inquiring about the Boye map, Courtois replied that indeed, that one is rolled on a core for storage.
Courtois notes that this vertical, modular system allows the observer to get really close up in viewing the map, with little risk and much reward. The reward for all this hard work “is the engagement of the users – when you go to lengths to accommodate them, people really do value that effort.” In viewing candid shots from map society visits, and random visitors walking by encountering a map of size for perhaps the first time, this reviewer can only agree.
43rd AIC Annual Meeting – Book and Paper Session, May 15, "Preserving the Spirit Within: Bringing Twenty-Five Tibetan Initiation Cards into the 21st Century by Angela Campbell"
opaque watercolor on 25 paper cards
16 cm x 14.5 cm (each card)
Metropolitan Museum of Art Collection: 2000.282.1-.25
Angela Campbell, Assistant Conservator in the Department of Paper Conservation at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, presented the research and treatment of a complete set of Himalayan initiation cards (tsakalis) in their collection. She focused on the condition, consolidation, and loss-compensation techniques done by herself, Rebecca Capua, and Yana van Dyke for this set. In conjunction with the treatments, there was a social media campaign to increase public outreach using this piece. For a great resource on the full treatment details, background, and purpose of these tsakalis, see the three posts available online through the Met blog:
- Eastern Religion Meets Western Science: Conserving Fifteenth-Century Tibetan Initiation Cards
by Angela Campbell, Assistant Conservator, Department of Paper Conservation - Filling In History: Conserving Fifteenth-Century Tibetan Initiation Cards, Continued
by Rebecca Capua, Assistant Conservator, Department of Paper Conservation - Evoking the Divine: Mental Purification Using a Tibetan Tsakali Mandala
by Kurt Behrendt, Associated Curator, Department of Asian Art
[includes translations and after treatment images of the rectos and versos of each of the cards]
I appreciated that Campbell addressed concerns of treatment consistency since the twenty-five cards were split among three conservators. Instead of having each conservator just do one treatment step for all the cards, each performed full treatments for 8 to 9 cards in the collection. Discussion was key, particularly in approaching the in-painting, and despite minor personal variations, a cohesive style was achieved.
Other rich questions that came up during the Q&A session focused more on the pre-treatment component of these cards. There was a question regarding the sacred nature impacting treatment decisions, which had only been brought up with the decision to maintain surface residues affiliated with handling. In conjunction with the sacred aspect, another question was raised about outreach and consultation with the surrounding Tibetan community in New York regarding the handling and treatment. While it was unclear if there was any contact before these cards reached the treatment stage, this comes back to a bigger question of who we perceive to be the actual stakeholders of the collections, particularly with cultural properties of living cultures.
43rd Annual Meeting – Book & Paper Session, May 15, "To Do or Not To Do: Two Examples of Decision Making of Digital In-filling for Asian Works of Art" by Hsin-Chen Tsai
Japanese and Chinese artworks, such as hanging scrolls, hand scrolls, folding screens and panels, have two components: the primary artwork and the mount. This talk focused on the treatment of the mounts for a folding screen entitled The Deities of the Tanni-sho by Munakata Shiko, and a hanging scroll entitled Standing Courtesan, by Keisai Eisen.
The current condition and the information carried by the mounting are balanced in making treatment decisions. When both the condition and the retained information are poor; more extensive treatment is carried out. This was the case for the folding screen. The original mounting paper was decorated using a Japanese fold-dying technique that created a repeating pattern that would be difficult to reproduce by hand. The author decided to make digital infills for this for three reasons: there was enough remaining original material for reference, the fills would not change the context and character, and it would be less time-consuming.
Here is a step-by-step of the process:
1. She took a digital image of an intact section of the mount.
2. She opened the image in PhotoShop and made adjustments to distortion, brightness, contrast, and color balance.
3. She printed onto a lined sheet of sekishu paper with an Epsum stylus Pro 4900 printer.
4. She matched the pattern with the losses and traced them over a light box.
5. After filling, there was some minor toning required.
For the scroll, Japanese paste paper had been used as the mount. It was an uda (clay-containing) paper with alum-gelatin sizing. It was hand-stamped in an irregular pattern and an uneven tone. The damage was typical of this kind of object: the mechanical action of rolling and unrolling led to horizontal damage and losses. Since the author was not able to guess exactly what the lost areas had looked like, she decided to infill using hand-toned paper without a decorative pattern.
43rd Annual Meeting – Book and Paper Session, May 16, “Unlocking the Secrets of Letterlocking to Reseal the Letters of John Donne and Other Early Modern Letter Writers", Jana Dambrogio
Jana Dambrogio, Thomas F. Peterson Conservator, MIT Libraries, presented the first of three sections in this talk – an introduction to the work she and others have been doing to discover letterlocking.
As letterlocking models were handed out to the audience, Jana began by defining letterlocking as “the folding and securing of any object so that it becomes its own sending device”. This is a 10,000 year tradition, Jana said, dating all the way from Mesopotamian clay tablets to Bitcoin.
Examples of letterlocking Jana showed included the letters of Tomaso di Livrieri at the Vatican secret archive and the letters of Queen Elizabeth I. Queen Elizabeth used more than ten techniques in her letters, often with two techniques per letter.
Jana described how letters of this type have traditionally been viewed simply as two-dimensional objects. But as a result of this research conservators and scholars are beginning to look at them as 2D/3D hybrids, and they must be treated accordingly.
Jana and her colleagues have been constructing models of the locking techniques based on evidence in the original letters. Jana believes that making models of letterlocking techniques is helpful because they are both a learning tool and a teaching tool for discovering and sharing the patterns.
If the goal in conserving these letters is to preserve their past function conservators are faced with the decision of what to repair and what not to repair, and the question of how to preserve the evidence.
During her talk Jana highlighted recent collaboration such as with Nadine Akkerman of Leiden University in The Hague, with Daniel Starza Smith of The University of Oxford, and with Heather Wolfe of the Folger Shakespeare Library. See links to various demo videos, blogs and publications that have resulted from these collaborations at the end of this post.
Daniel Starza Smith spoke about applying letterlocking to literary history.
Normally scholars look only at the text they can see in letters. But now they are learning to look for folds, seals, and intentional damage – the damage that occurs as a result of opening a letter. These days Daniel asks himself ‘what other messages are there than just who the letter is from and to?’
He took us through some basic background on the development of the writing and sending of letters, from a manual for letter-writing, The English Secretary published in 1586 by scholar Angel Day, to the relatively modern invention of the commercially-produced paper envelope in the mid-19th century.
Daniel noted that the word “secretary” itself comes from the idea of secret keeping. A secretary is one entrusted with secrets, and literary scholars such as Daniel are occupied with revealing secrets and unpacking texts – now in a physical sense.
Delving into the letters of John Donne, Daniel revealed that Donne would use as many as four techniques in locking his letters. Why would you need four ways of locking? For various different purposes, including security and aesthetics. In fact there was even a class difference in the way letters were folded; your folding technique said something about you as a person. Some methods were simple and some were complicated – even “fantastically difficult” – and this reflected on your own sophistication and status.
Daniel concluded his talk with the following three main take-aways:
- Tiny bits of evidence are key in deciphering the folding/locking patterns, and these details are revealing about the history of communication.
- This research has the potential to reach further than just scholars
- The collection of Donne letters – from which much of this research has stemmed – numbers only thirty-eight. More data is needed, and this starts with conservators.
At the beginning of her portion of the talk Heather Wolfe emphasized three points that have come to light during this project.
- The importance of a three-way dialogue between curators, conservators, and scholars.
- This dialogue leads to discoveries, and informs decision making in conservation when considering whether or not to treat
- The need to standardize letterlocking vocabulary, referring to physical details. This is especially important in treatment documentation, and also for catalog searching.
In what Heather described as the “pre-envelope era” a letter was a single leaf that was transformed into a packet. Tearing was required in order to open the letter, and this is the damage we can see today that aids in reconstructing the locking patterns.
Communication with Jana was informative for interpretation of the collection at the Folger – Heather noted that the type of evidence in question tends to me more visible to conservators. For example, Heather no longer refers to the area bearing the address as the “address leaf” of the letter, but rather the address panel of the original packet. Heather went so far as to say that physical evidence such as the folds and intentional damage contains information critical to the interpretation of the letter itself.
She reiterated Jana’s remark that it is very difficult to imagine the folding and locking patterns without practice, and this is the reason they decided to make models.
In letters from the 16th-17th centuries there is evidence of hundreds of riffs on just a handful of basic techniques, such as the pleated letter genre, and the papered seal genre in which a strip is harvested from the letter itself to use as the locking mechanism. The many riffs tend to be associated with specific people.
Finally Heather took us on a whirlwind tour of these various letterlocking genres, but particularly highlighted the technique of binding a pleated letter with silk floss, first used by Queen Elizabeth I. Heather pointed out that while many letters would have been written in the hand of a secretary taking dictation, the nature of this technique suggests more intimacy. Letters of this type were usually written in the hand of the person composing the letter on high quality thin Italian paper.
Question and answer
Q: Have you seen any evidence of postal censors opening letters?
Heather said that she had not seen this specifically. But in the same vein she noted that a distinctive triangular-shaped 20th century Russian letter from the WWII front that was invented due to adhesive being forbidden.
Daniel pointed out that in the early modern period, people would sometimes employ a seal forger, in order to open and re-seal letters; he has seen some examples of this.
Q: Are you presenting these findings to archivists (specifically for the purpose of standardizing vocabulary? Where will you be publishing the vocabulary?
Heather said that the vocabulary is still in development, but that there are currently a lot of resources online, such as the MIT TechTV videos, the youtube letterlocking channel, and blogs. Heather has written in a recent British Library publication on pleated letters, and Jana has a forthcoming article.
Demo videos
Check out the video demos of letterlocking, hosted by MIT TechTV.
Blog posts etc:
A post by Heather and Jana at the Folger
Jana’s letterlocking website
Jana Dambrogio guest post on whatisaletter.wordpress.com
Publications:
‘Neatly sealed, with silk, and Spanish wax or otherwise’, a chapter by Heather Wolfe in the British Library’s In the Prayse of Writing