{"id":13050,"date":"2015-06-15T11:48:32","date_gmt":"2015-06-15T16:48:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.conservators-converse.org\/?p=13050"},"modified":"2015-06-15T11:48:32","modified_gmt":"2015-06-15T16:48:32","slug":"43rd-annual-meeting-book-and-paper-group-session-may-15-2015-superstorm-sandy-response-salvage-and-treatment-of-rare-pamphlets-from-new-york-universitys-ehrman-medical-libra","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/2015\/06\/15\/43rd-annual-meeting-book-and-paper-group-session-may-15-2015-superstorm-sandy-response-salvage-and-treatment-of-rare-pamphlets-from-new-york-universitys-ehrman-medical-libra\/","title":{"rendered":"43rd Annual Meeting \u2013 Book and Paper Group Session, May 15, 2015. \u201cSuperstorm Sandy: Response, Salvage, and Treatment of Rare Pamphlets from New York University's Ehrman Medical Library" by Angela Andres"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u2019s Ehrman Medical Library.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 This presentation tied in well to the overall conference theme of Practical Philosophy, or Making Conservation Work, <\/em>as the aftermath of the storm made the salvage and conservation of this collection particularly challenging.
\nPower outages and infrastructure disruptions were widespread in New York City in the weeks following Superstorm Sandy.\u00a0 Though conservators from NYU\u2019s 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.\u00a0 Once the building was accessible, conservators worked with disaster recovery vendor Belfor and library staff to salvage water\u00a0damaged materials, including this pamphlet collection.\u00a0 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\u2019s Bobst Library.\u00a0 Because of ongoing transit interruptions, it was necessary to transport the collection to the lab by taxi.
\nThe pamphlets were frozen to allow for treatment in smaller groups over the next two years.\u00a0 Because the collection had been submerged in flood water containing sewage and medical waste, individual pamphlets were thawed and rinsed in a water bath.\u00a0\u00a0 If mold was present, it was remediated after thawing with an alcohol solution.\u00a0 Dirt, fasteners, adhesive residue, and threads were removed while the object was in the bath.\u00a0 Each pamphlet was then dried, surface cleaned, mended, and rebound.\u00a0 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.
\nIn the wake of such a large disaster, the urge to assist can be overwhelming. \u00a0Angela\u2019s assessment of the positive and negative outcomes of this project was both practical and insightful.\u00a0 The active role taken by NYU Library leadership, as well as the effective division of labor, helped recovery efforts go as efficiently as possible.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.
\nHowever, 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 In retrospect, Angela felt that it might have been useful to do a smaller pilot study prior to beginning treatment of the collection. \u00a0That 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.
\nDuring the question and answer session, audience members asked Angela about specific salvage and treatment protocols.\u00a0 One participant asked why the Tek-Wipe interleaving was removed prior to freezing.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Pre-cut freezer paper is part of the conservation lab\u2019s disaster kit and was readily available, so that was used instead.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Angela responded that there were comparatively few iron gall ink inscriptions in this collection, and no additional treatment was done.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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\u2019s Ehrman Medical Library.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 … Continue reading “43rd Annual Meeting \u2013 Book and Paper Group Session, May 15, 2015. \u201cSuperstorm Sandy: Response, Salvage, and Treatment of Rare Pamphlets from New York University's Ehrman Medical Library" by Angela Andres”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":261,"featured_media":12312,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,23,27,15,16],"tags":[75],"class_list":["post-13050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-annual-meeting","category-book-and-paper","category-disasters","category-specialties","category-specialty-sessions","tag-aics-43rd-annual-meeting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/261"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13050\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}