Author Archives: Holly Prochaska, Head Preservation Services and Lab

A Discovery During Treatment

In July of this year, I had the pleasure of assisting on a photograph treatment of Ronald Reagan, which came to us as part of a collection of items belonging to UC alumnus Benjamin Gettler.  It came with a small handful of very old jelly beans from President Reagan’s desk that Mr. Gettler had taken as a souvenir during his visit. While the image itself was in very good condition, it was mounted to an old backing board, which required removal and cleaning so that the image could be digitized and rehoused.

Photograph of Ronald Reagan, with backing

We started by carefully peeling away the old board. This had to be done very slowly, in order to prevent creasing of the high-gloss surface of the image. The adhesive was rather old, and quite a bit of backing was left behind that would require manual work to get at any information that might have been hiding underneath.
Next, Ashleigh and I set about the finer cleanup. With cotton swabs, very thin spatulas, and generous amounts of methyl cellulose, we removed the remainder of the board and adhesive. This had to be done in stages:

  1. Part one was a very general and simple cleaning of the unmarked portion of the back of the photograph. This portion was mostly yellowed water soluble adhesive that was removed with poultices.

    After backing removal. Look at all that yellowed adhesive!

  2. Part two was much more methodical and time-consuming to clean the center area, as it contained ink and graphite that were vulnerable and also water soluble – which we did not want to loose! The smallest working areas around the ink were very lightly mechanically scraped with a scalpel to remove adhesive and small paper fragments.

    After cleaning was largely completed. The newspaper ID stamp is completely visible.

When the work was complete, we revealed what appeared to be a handwritten graphite inscription, and an identifying stamp belonging to the late Bernie Boston (1933-2008), a photojournalist who was the director of photography for the now-defunct Washington Star at the time the photograph was taken. Mr. Boston was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 1987, and his best-known photograph is known as “Flower Power,” a Pulitzer-nominated 1967 photograph depicting a Vietnam War protester placing a carnation into the barrel of a soldier’s rifle during a protest march in Washington, D.C.  Discovering the stamp was a truly unexpected discovery that provided a new layer of importance!
For long term preservation, the newly unmounted photograph was humidified and flattened and stored in a polyester L-sleeve.

Sleeve photograph after treatment.

The sleeve image was stored in an unbuffered rag mat board package that passes the Photographic Activity Test (PAT), mounted with pressure sensitive photo corners.  A surrogate of the image was created and housed with the jelly beans for context.

Sleeve photograph mounted with photocorners.

Photograph is stored long-term in a mat board package with a window and cover.

For more information about Benjamin Gettler and the jelly beans, check out Alex Temple’s blog posts for the University of Cincinnati Libraries blog series: Jelly Beans and Politics & The Benjamin Gettler Papers Processing Project Now Complete

 

Hyacinth Tucker (UCL) – Conservation Technician
Ashleigh Ferguson Schieszer (PLCH) – Book and Paper Conservator

Closures – that's one secure book

The Preservation Lab is gearing up to co-teach a Book Arts Course with Gary Weissman in the English Department, Spring 2020.  Jessica Ebert and I prepped for the closure session by securing these two books.  The idea of creating this sampler was borrowed, with permission, from our friend and fellow bookbinder Fran Kovac.
Book secured with multiple closure types
That’s a lot of security! From top to bottom – bone clasp, two hole tie, O ring wrap, toggle, and 6th century wrap (wrapped two directions so as to see the design).
Holly Prochaska (UCL) — Preservation Librarian

A Monster of a Treatment

When this mid-19th century Treatise on Operative Surgery came to The Preservation Lab, little did we imagine the twists and turns the treatment would take. We certainly did not expect the treatment to turn into a Frankenstein’s monster, pulling inspiration from three different types of binding structures, although this monster found more successful results than Victor Frankenstein’s.

This 1844 full leather tight-back binding came to us from The Henry R. Winkler Center. The binding was in disarray with both the front and back boards having become fully detached, with only the back board remaining. Very few spine fragments remained, but there was clear evidence of false raised bands. The leather that remained on the spine and back board was severely red rotted. The textblock was sewn on recessed cords and remained beautifully intact. The textblock consists of 360 pages containing descriptions of surgical procedures, as well as 80 illustrated plates depicting some of these techniques.
Prior to any rebinding, the placement of the false raised bands was measured and recorded; the book’s spine was cleaned; the front and back flyleaves were mended and hinged; the back cover was housed in a polyester four-flap; new endsheets were sewn onto the textblock; and the spine was lined. Several of the linings attached will bring us to the first bookbinding structure that inspiration was pulled from…

The Split Board Binding: Because of the large size of the book, a split board binding attachment was chosen to add strength to the board attachment. After the spine of the textblock was lined with Japanese tissue and wheat starch paste, creating a reversible layer, a secondary spine lining with flanges was created out of linen and attached with Jade 403 PVA. This linen is an integral part of the split board structure, as it, along with the first endsheet and sewing supports, will create the “laminated flange” that will be pasted in between the two boards (hence, split board). This flange and split board structure can be seen in the uppermost book model in the stack pictured above.
Now that the book has the structure and stability of a split board binding, we can pull from another binding structure to attach the raised supports…

The “Baggy Back” Binding: A “baggy back” structure, also referred to as a conservation case, is what will allow the spine of the binding to be formed to the spine of the textblock, without being adhered directly to it. Another way to think about it is an alternative to a hollow tube structure. Sized linen was non-adhesively shaped over the spine of the textblock, and was pasted in between the split boards on top of the laminated flanges. The open book model in the image on the left shows what a typical “baggy back” structure looks prior to casing the textblock. Comparing that to how the linen can be integrated into the split board structure, we start to see our Frankenstein’s monster take shape.
To prep for the final stages of rebinding, some elements were added to stay true to the original structure of the book. False raised bands were cut and shaped out of 4-ply mat board to mimic the shape and location of the original false raised bands. Hollow tube segments were also attached in between the false raised bands.

These spine elements will finally be covered up using inspiration from one final book structure…
The Quarter Linen Binding: The book was decided to be finished as a quarter linen binding, instead of a more historical full leather or quarter leather binding for conservation purposes. The third model referenced, shown above, depicts the end result of this style of binding. In this structure the linen is stretched over the spine of the book to add the definition of the raised bands, or in the case of this treatment, false raised bands. The linen also allows for a strong attachment between the textblock and the boards. The hollow tubes laid between the bands allow for a better opening once the linen is in place.
During this treatment the linen was stretched over the spine of the book and onto the front and back boards, making sure the linen is securely and evenly applied around all of the spine elements. The book was then secured in a tying press to ensure definition of the bands.

Turn-ins were properly secured, and the linen was trimmed to the proper length on the boards. A brown book cloth was used to cover the remainder of the boards, the color chosen to mimic the color of the original leather used in the binding. The internal flanges from the split board binding structure (as seen in the right image above), along with the pastedowns, were applied to the inner boards. And no book is complete without a stamped title and a matching cloth covered clamshell.

Using three different book structures to plan this treatment does seem like a Frankenstein’s monster of a project, but the success of the treatment pays homage to the integration of bookbinding techniques we find in book structures throughout history.  And this book will certainly look like no monster when it is on display for tours at The Winkler Center.

Kasie Janssen (PLCH) – Senior Conservation Technician
Photographic Documentation by Kasie Janssen & Jessica Ebert

Protectors of the Book: A One-Page Wonder

The Preservation Lab has the opportunity to help host a Book Arts class for UC’s Copyediting & Publishing (CEP) certificate program here in the Lab. We all get to take part in presenting aspects of the history of the book, book arts, preservation and conservation. I LOVE to create enclosures! The engineering that is involved in the creation of unique, custom fitted enclosures gives me great satisfaction and allows me to problem solve. As we were discussing the roles each one of us would play in this course I was happy to find out that I have the opportunity to contribute some information about enclosures. So as little Easter egg to offer as a gift at the presentation I created a one page wonder to give to each student.  Here is the comic in page order:

If you want to print out your own one-page wonder, here is a jpeg in the correct order:
Chris Voynovich (PLCH) – Senior Conservation Technician

Toolkit Time Capsule

Each of our student workers is given a cubby, a general collections lab manual and a basic toolkit that is theirs to use and maintain throughout their time in the lab.  Before a new student starts working and when a current student leaves or graduates I will take the toolkit and evaluate all the contents to make sure they are all there and in good working order.  Usually when a students graduates and moves on this includes cleaning out years of scrap paper and debris.  And often a complete scrubbing down is in order.  
Over the summer I had several students graduate and leave us, so I had several kits to go through.  When I was washing one of the older toolboxes I noticed some folded paper that was attached to the underside of a tray with masking tape.  I immediately removed it, though it was already partially soaked with water.
Upon further inspection it appeared to be a collection of thoughts, quotations, poems, and a short story written on a piece of paper and a fragment of cloth.  Some were written in ink, others in pen.  I immediately texted the prior owner of the toolbox to see if they belonged to her, but she had no idea what I was talking about.  My best guess is that these are several years old (the toolbox was in dire need of a good scrubbing), possibly dating back to before I was student supervisor and possibly before I even worked in the lab (i.e. 12 years or more).

What a fun mystery to stumble across!  Especially when the most exciting things I usually find when I clean out student toolkits are bent microspatulas, collections of abandoned endbands or ALL the pencils!
Jessica Ebert [UCL] – Student Supervisor | Conservation Tech | Conservation Photography Specialist

Exhibition Prep for Upcoming Show: Real Art for Young Artists

Join us September 15th, 2019 at 2pm as the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County unveils the newly acquired pen and India ink illustrations from Rosemary Well’s Noisy Nora in the beloved nook in the Children’s Library.  The illustrations are richly hand colored in watercolor, colored pencils, acrylic ink and gauche pigments.  With so much detail, they are a treat to see in person!
Acclaimed author and illustrator, Rosemary Wells, has written many endearing children’s books, including Noisy Nora (a story about a mischievous young mouse) and an entire series about the bunnies Max and Ruby.  As part of Ms. Well’s initiative, Real Art for Young Artists, Rosemary Wells has generously offered the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County the opportunity to exhibit more than a dozen original drawings for long-term display in the Children’s Library located in the Main building downtown.

Since the spring of 2018, the Preservation Lab has been collaborating with colleagues in the Public Library’s Programming, Digital Services, Cataloging, and Facilities departments, as well as the artist herself, on an exhibition of Wells’ Noisy Nora illustrations.  To prepare the materials for long-term exhibition each department lent their expertise to ensure a balance between preservation standards, viewer’s needs, and the artist’s vision.   This blog post highlights some behind the scenes activities leading up to the exhibition.

Above is an image of the nook in the Children’s Library selected as the exhibition space for the illustrations.  The nook is a perfect spot where the light can be controlled, preventing the artwork from fading overtime and it’s a great place to showcase the art at a height children can easily interact.  Facilities updated the nook with new paint and wall decals where the artwork will be hung.  In addition, to inspire young generations to create their own artwork, seating and tables for crafts will replace the current audio visual shelving and television.

At the Lab, approximately 16 pen and ink drawings and one booklet were received directly from the artist as a group within a folder. Many drawings were attached to illustration boards with translucent overlays wrapped around from behind, taped into place, giving the feeling as though they were just recently mocked up for production.    Graphite notes to publishers were written on the transparent papers to inform the size the images should be enlarged or reduced for printing.  While not exhibition ready, seeing the artwork in this preproduction state is a rare glimpse into the creative process of the artist!

After the drawings were carefully removed from the illustration boards, using conservation tape removal techniques, some unique features were discovered on the verso of two illustrations.  The drawings were digitized to document their condition prior to exhibition.  Digitized images of the backs of two illustrations are shown below.

Left: Verso of “And then she dropped her sister’s marbles on the floor” showing an impression of a Windsor and Newton watermark. Right: verso of “No Nora in the Mailbox, No Nora in the Shrub” with a prior sketch crossed out on the back.


To visualize how the illustrations would look in their frames, mock up window mats were created to experiment with how the drawings and captions should be arranged.  Below, the frame on the left centers both the artwork and the caption with a small margin around the art; whereas the frame on the right centers mostly the artwork with a much larger margin around the art.  Ultimately, our aesthetic preference was the extra margin around the art since the artwork itself was not square.  We also decided that no matter what option we chose, we wanted the bottom of the caption to line up throughout all of the frames, whether there was a single or double line of text.

Next, the artwork was measured to estimate material costs for matting and framing.  Following exhibition preservation standards, Rising rag museum mat board, UV filtered glazing, and wood frames were selected by the Preservation Lab.  We choose using glass over Plexiglas glazing so there would be less concern of harming the glazing surface with cleaners.  Because the artwork will be displayed a children’s height level, we also took into account how the artwork will be hung.  With the aid of security locking devices, the frames are not removable from the wall by the public, therefore there will be no danger of the frames falling.
To mimic how the artwork was mounted on the original presentation boards (preserving the artist’s intent), the work was matted with captions from the children’s book added below the art.  The artwork was mounted with Kozo (mulberry) tissue v-hinges that were pasted to the back of the artwork and then adhered to the back mat with with Zen Shofu wheat starch paste.  To maintain a 45% relative humidity environment, the matted artwork was housed within a sealed archival framing package.

Kozo hinges were adhered to the verso of the drawings with Zen Shofu wheat starch paste.


The hand colored drawings were then attached to the back mat using the kozo v-hinges, also adhered with wheat starch paste. The hinges were lightly pressed under weight to dry using pressing stacks.


Landscape window mats were hinged along the top edge with P90 Filmoplast tape.


View of the v-hinges after they are dry.


Drawings are float mounted so the rough cut edges of the drawings are visible.


Recto of sealed framing package.


Verso of sealed framing package.


The framing package contains:

  1. UV filtered Tru View Museum glass (purchased from our local art supply framing store).
  2. Float mounted artwork with two Usu gami hinges applied with wheat starch paste inside matting system. Window mat hinged to the left edge of back mat with P90 filmoplast tape.
  3. Blue corrugated cardboard used as a backing board to the matting package.
  4. Conservation note loosely set into place for future reference on the back of the corrugated backing board.
  5. Sheet of Polyester film added behind the corrugated board as a moisture proof barrier.
  6. To fully seal the entire package, the edges of all the materials were first sealed with pressure sensitive P90 filmoplast tape. A second foil backed framing tape from University Products (part of the Perma/Seal label line) was applied as a barrier to prevent moisture and gas exchange.
  7. A Dove Gray dust cover was attached to the back of the frames with 3M 415 double stick tape. Barcode labels and an additional conservation note were added to the dust cover.
  8. Lastly, Three security hangers were attached to the back of the frames; two at the top and one at the bottom.

With the exception of one frame, the original metal prongs were reused to secure the matting packages within the frame.  The one exception includes the booklet mounted with a sink mat, this thicker package required nailing brads secured to the inside of the frame rabbet to hold the matting package in place.

Booklet was mounted within a sink mat to account for the thickness of the object.


Before exhibit prep:During exhibition preparation:

After installation (the art is hung at children’s height!):

During Will Hillenbrand and Rosemary Wells visit on Sept. 15th, they discussed inspiration for books such and Max and Ruby (who are modeled after Ms. Well’s own children!) and delved into the subject of creating a “noisy” book. Mrs. Wells explained her process of conveying sound through illustrations – which by nature are a silent, quiet experience.

You can view the treatment report and treatment documentation for this original artwork on the Preservation Lab’s Digital Resource Commons site here.
Ashleigh Ferguson Schieszer (PLCH) – Book and Paper Conservator
Photographic Documentation by Ashleigh Ferguson Schieszer, Jessica Ebert & Sidney Gao

Navigating to the Preservation Lab's digital collections

Today UC Libraries unveiled our new website design at https://libraries.uc.edu/.  It is streamlined, meets accessibility standards, and is quite lovely.
However, this website refresh has altered the path users previously followed to access the Lab’s treatment reports. The new path is as follows —-  From the main page top navigation bar choose Research and Teaching Support, then pull down to select Repositories.  UC Libraries homepage with pull down revealing Repository link.From the Repositories page choose UC Digital Resource Commons (DRC).  You’ll then be directed to the main DRC search page.  Here you can limit your search to the Preservation Lab’s collection.
Accessing the Preservation Lab collection from the DRC search page.Or, for those power users, simply bookmark our digital content landing page – http://digital.libraries.uc.edu/collections/preservation/
Preservation Lab DRC landing page
Access to individual treatment reports remain linked within the library catalog’s item record level holdings as well.
Thanks for your patience during this time of change and transition.
Holly Prochaska (UCL) —- Preservation Librarian
 

Book Arts – 3 simple structures

variation on a blizzard book

Crown book completed during workshop


Occasionally the lab is asked to teach simple book structures to students in other academic departments, usually to assist with the physical presentation of their final projects.  Here is the slideshow presentation that accompanied our on-site training for a photography class for the College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning on 7/15 and 7/16/2019.
Structures included an accordion book and crown book, with bonus instructions on a one-page wonder that can be made outside of class.  Click the link below to access the slideshow and Enjoy!
https://mailuc-my.sharepoint.com/:b:/g/personal/prochah_ucmail_uc_edu/EXm-2wHSzLtGqERd9T2UaSYBfDnS6ArPWSJdX-Ei4cQxCw?e=lhE9Rz
 
 

The Protective Power of Interleaving

You might know the importance of a protective enclosure, but how often to you consider the quality of storage materials?  In fact, the composition of storage materials plays a significant role in the preservation of archival collections.  But how?
Since storage plays a passive role, the positive and negative interactions of storage materials may not be readily apparent.  Chemical reactions that occur between library and storage materials are often a slow process, spanning over a number of months or years before a visual change occurs.  Without the gratification of seeing immediate effects, many may not realize how some storage materials can be problematic, let alone the ramifications for using non-archival materials.

 
To illustrate some of the effects, I thought I’d share a vivid example of protection from acidic materials during storage. The following photograph shows the positive effects of archival buffering paper (also known as interleaving), as well as the danger of using non-archival boards and tapes – even when they are not in direct contact with the object!
The protected object is a 17th century printed broadside.  It’s a single sheet of paper with printed black text on the front.  The broadside was stored for many years in a green cloth-covered portfolio.

Within the portfolio, the broadside was secured beneath with folded sheets of plastic film with a blank sheet of paper.  You can see the plastic film is attached to the portfolio around the edges with green tape.


This image shows the front of the blank sheet of paper stored side the plastic film, below the broadside. The plastic has yellowed overtime.


Here, the blank sheet is removed, revealing yellowish-brown discoloration around the top and right edge. This discoloration aligns perfectly with the green tape that is adhered on top of the plastic –located on the top and right side of the plastic.


When you flip the paper over, the back of the blank sheet shows even more discoloration. In fact, the discoloration is a mirror image of the materials below the plastic! This has occurred because the plastic is “breathable.” The materials below are all acidic, except for the white fragments of paper, which protected a portion of the paper from turning brown.


The interleaving paper served two purposes here:

  1. Acts as a support for the broadside when handled.
  2. The interleaving served as a sacrificial barrier that absorbed the bulk of acidic off-gassing from the non-archival paper and tape.

In summary, this enclosure is an excellent example of how different materials can interact with one another in nuanced ways, and how plastic is actually a permeable barrier to gasses overtime!
General storage tips:

Ashleigh Ferguson Schieszer (PLCH) —- Book and Paper Conservator

Fun with PhotoDoc (Edition 10)

Since it’s Tuesday, but you’re probably wishing it was Friday, I  thought I’d share some fun gifs of a 16th century German ophthalmolgy book from UC’s Archives & Rare Books Library that was recently treated and returned.  But first, let’s take a look at the treatment carried out by our conservator, Ashleigh Schieszer.

This full vellum binding suffered the same fate as many other stiff board vellum bindings:  significantly warped boards, a result of fluctuations in humidity.  The volume arrived in the lab with vellum losses along the head and tail of the spine.  There was also evidence of two ties at the fore edge that would have originally been used to keep the boards from warping, however, all but a small fragment of these ties were lost.  Ashleigh humidified and flattened the upper and lower boards and added new alum-tawed ties sympathetic to the placement and size of the original ties.  The binding was then housed in a cloth covered compression clamshell (created by our box-making magician, Chris) to help keep the boards from warping in the future.

Here you can see the fragment of the original tie with the new tie inserted below it.


Now onto the gifs.  This volume has several anatomical flap prints that explore the inner working of the eye.  Here are two of the flap prints, one which takes a look at the brain from above and another that examines the eye from the side:

We were in luck that these particular anatomical flap prints were in relatively good condition when they came to the lab.  However, that is usually not the case with these very fragile multi-component prints.  If you are interested in the learning more about the history, treatment and exhibition of these prints, check out Meg Brown’s article “Flip, Flap and Crack”.
Jessica Ebert [UCL] – Conservation Tech/Photographic Documentation Tech