Tag Archives: Ashleigh Schieszer

A Virtual Preservation Lab Tour

Click on the link below for a virtual tour of our newly updated space:

Preservation Lab Virtual Tour Jan 2019

In October, the Preservation Lab welcomed special collections digital imaging to our workflow (for UC Libraries’ materials). This new function necessitated a small lab renovation:

During (top three images) and after (bottom two images):

The results are wonderful and we are so happy to have a new staff member!

Ashleigh Ferguson Schieszer (PLCH) – Special Collections Conservator, Lab Manager

Two ways to compensate for loss. Textblock loss, that is.

Before the age of endless digital writing space, it’s easy to forget that blank paper was a commodity. Below are two fun examples of writing ledgers that remind me just how precious paper was.
While it’s possible that salacious writings were once written and removed from the back of these bindings… another theory is that the blank pages were no longer needed for their original intended purpose, and since they were going to waste… an opportunistic writer hastily cut and ripped out pages, seizing the goods for use elsewhere.

Half leather binding with cloth boards, Registry of the Leonard Hotel, 1886 – contains a page that features Grover Cleveland’s signature. Pages are lost from the back of the textblock. Fragments of pages remain sewn along the gutter where pages were removed.

So what does that mean for the ledgers left behind whose guts have been partially removed?
The covers no longer fit the pages inside. The spines sag or pop off, and the covers extend beyond the fore edge of the book’s textblock – making both handling and long-term preservation problematic.

Registry of the Leonard Hotel, 1886, view of the head

Registry of the Leonard Hotel, 1886, view of fore edge and head

In order to relieve stress, conservation treatment can be undertaken to compensate for loss. For extremely important bindings, treatment may entail replacing lost pages with new paper, resewing the sheets into the binding.
However, in the following two examples below, the textblocks were otherwise in fairly good condition, so the Lab explored a lower cost route by inserting foam spacers.
The Leonard Hotel registry (which contains Grover Cleveland’s signature from 1885!) was treated overall to reback and consolidate deteriorated leather. A closed cell polyethylene foam was loosely inserted as a placeholder for the missing text. In this case, the foam can be removed at any time and the jagged edges of the page fragments can be observed. Simple, yet effective!

After treatment, foam is loosely inserted in the back of the binding to help the textblock fit inside its covers.

Before treatment images are displayed on the left, after treatment images on the right:

A similar treatment taken a step further builds upon the treatment solution above. The following ledger contains early Cincinnati baptismal, marriage, and funeral records that predate city records, dating to 1838-1885. A large section of lost paper in the back of the binding has caused the stiff spine to pop off. The loose covers no longer support the textblock pages.

Volume 2 of a collection of “Third German Protestant Church of Cincinnati Records”. Full suede leather springback binding with stiff board spine. Sewn on cloth/linen tape supports. Receiving stabilization treatment in preparation for future digitization. A large section of the textblock is lost in the back of the binding.

Treatment was conducted by our senior conservation technician, Catarina Figueirinhas, to stabilize the ledger for digitization out of house, as well as long-term storage. Rather than insert foam loosely, this book was in need of a rigid support that would not be in danger of becoming lost. Therefore, foam was sewn into the back of the binding as if it was a gathering. This was achieved by wrapping the foam in an archival e-flute cardboard. Essentially, the blue cardboard was folded into a “u-shape” with sharp corners and treated as an outer folio. The corrugated cardboard was then sewn through each fold onto the original sewing supports, as though the cardboard was two gatherings. The foam was adhered inside the cardboard with adhesive.

Volume 2 of a collection of “Third German Protestant Church of Cincinnati Records” after treatment.

Because this condition issue is unique – it’s part of the object’s history, yet presents us with preservation challenges – treatment solutions are not one-size-fits-all. Each book calls for solutions based on how it will be used and interpreted.
In these cases, the foam gatherings, both sewn and loose, functioned well in the back of the bindings while also retaining the history of use. The constructed gatherings helped to improve handling and support the bindings in a cost effective and reversible way (with differing levels of reversibility). I imagine this will not be the last book to come across my bench with chunks of missing text; I am excited to be armed with these simple solutions.
Ashleigh Ferguson Schieszer (PLCH) —- Book and Paper Conservator
Photographic Documentation by Jessica Ebert & Ashleigh Schieszer

Polyester Encapsulated Page Binding *Part Three: The Workflow

This is the third installment for the Althea Hurst scrapbook conservation treatment that outlines the workflow for the long-term project.

To read previous installments, please see: Polyester Encapsulated Page Binding * Part One: The Structure, and *Part Two: The Parts.

The following is a presentation from the 46th Annual American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Artworks (AIC) meeting in Houston, TX, as part of the Library Collections Conservation Discussion Group (LCCDG). The panel’s topic was Matters at Hand: The evolution of staffing and prioritization in library conservation labs. The title of the Preservation Lab’s talk was Teaming up on Treatment.

During large special collection projects, a conservator’s role is similar to that of a project manager, particularly when working with a team of skilled technicians, such as in our lab. To illustrate this collaborative working style, the presentation will discuss how a unique 1930’s scrapbook was treated to improve accessibility by our team of conservation staff.

THIS is Althea Hurst, and THIS is her scrapbook. In the summer of 1938, Althea and three other female African American Educators from Cincinnati traveled abroad, alone, by steamship and train, to eight countries in pre-WWII Europe, including Nazi Germany and Italy under Mussolini’s rule.

The pages are personalized throughout with handwritten inscriptions. Here, Althea notes their Jewish tour guide and documents travels through Heidelburg – just three months before Kristallnacht and the deportation of Jews to Dachau concentration camps.
Compelling letters in the back of the binding date to 1939 and 1947 as they describe the changing reality of life for a friend in Budapest. In 1939, the friend remarks how, “the situation changes with rapid speed; what was absurd and inconceivable only yesterday is tomorrow already an irrevocable fact.” And in 1947 she reflects, “we ask ourselves terrified, if it was all true, that we could survive all this?”

The purpose of the women’s travels? To share first hand experience with students to serve as an inspiration for learning. What resulted was an interactive scrapbook filled with rare ephemeral components and Althea’s personal notes.

So how did we get from before treatment to after treatment? A bit like eating an elephant. One bite at a time, with a team of people who broke down larger goals down into manageable, digestible parts.

We first defined the Mission, Workflow, and Scope from which all else trickled into place.
The mission: improve accessibility, both in digital content and physical use.
The multifaceted project had a defined workflow that helped to serve as measurable milestones:

Conservation evaluation and treatment in preparation for digitization → led to digitization of full pages and parts → which was followed by final conservation treatment, encapsulation and housing.

Since the experiential importance of the tactile components was determined as equally important as the intellectual content, the overarching goal was to preserve the interactive nature and original organization of the binding. It was also noted, the parts were particularly rare on their own as standalone objects. In short: a Level 5 treatment according to Jennifer Hain Teper’s guidelines for managing scrapbook treatments in libraries.

Three of the most important resources for the project was a model I created of various encapsulated page solutions, an archival pigmented ink printer for printing surrogates, and an ultrasonic welder for encapsulating individual components.

Outside of shared problem solving, team roles were defined early and shaped by a combination of a staff’s skill and passion.

A rough survey categorized treatment needs for each page. The survey itself was cut up into slips that traveled with individual pages as pages were batch processed by one team member to the next.

Notes written directly on the slips of paper served as both our indispensable communication plan and tracking system.

The lab’s internal workflow was a simple yet effective solution. Labeled carts held groups of pages that physically traveled from one treatment stage to next. For example, when pages filled senior conservation technician, Veronica Sorcher’s treatment pile, she immediately knew that they were surface cleaned by Chris and were ready for tear repair.

We also discovered that decisions, such as what tissue paper to use for repair, were helpful to make collectively as a group to ensure effectiveness and consistency.

As the technicians began their roles, we outlined treatment parameters and solved challenges until a game plan was formed. Throughout the project I was often consulted, however, the techs quickly built areas of expertise that they naturally gravitated toward. Conservation technician, Chris Voynovich’s previous expertise was in encapsulating posters, which easily translated into creating encapsulated pages. After teaching additional welding techniques and strategies for retaining original placement, he was soon incorporating Hollytex hinges and polyester pockets on top of full page encapsulations and devising systems with blue tape to register complicated page parts.
Heavy components or extra parts without support leaves were also incorporated into the binding by Chris. Using my model as a guide, he constructed mat board support pages to mount objects housed in four flap enclosures.

A few attached booklets would have been problematic to remove, such as pamphlets with clay coated covers. As an alternative, our printer was used to recreate attached parts from digitized images. Senior conservation technician, Catarina Figueirinhas, took quickly to understanding ICC color profiles since one of her first projects in the lab was assisting in creating exhibit surrogates. She was designated as the project’s printer and utilized a multitude of fine art papers. Inkjet prints were created in such similar appearance to the originals that labels were required to identify surrogates.

Catarina also prudently printed labels as visual clues to identify contents within pockets and boxes.

Discovering a solution to incorporate the original covers into the new encapsulated binding without causing irreversible damage was no easy task. Luckily, with the technicians tackling other parts of treatment, I was able to invest time experimenting with Vivak. After some trial and error, I was able to weld polyester sleeves to the clear support to include attached components, as well as use the clear sheet as a backing for a sink mat package to hold the covers.

In the end, we were proud to meet the needs of numerous clients. A team of 3 people spent 53 total hours for treatment to improve handling and legibility for Digital Services.

After digitization, 126 hours of treatment were invested by a team of four staff and one student to meet the needs of the Public Library librarians. Collaborating with special collections staff, we were even able to add a customized Table of Contents and an introductory paragraph to the front of the volumes.

The entire project from start to finish took a full calendar year, with a grand total of 183 hours. I’d like to note, while the project took longer than usual since it was a learning opportunity, only 43 treatment hours were invested by the project conservator, and the project was able to be worked in alongside the usual lab workload. The use of the students and technicians significantly reduced the overall cost by using the best person for the job.

The increased visibility has brought users to the Main Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, both locally, and abroad from Italy. The Italian magazine, Internazionale, traveled to the US to experience the materials in person.

Subsequently, they featured the Althea Hurst Scrapbook in a 6-page spread.

To conclude the project, the lab held an in house workshop where we archived our inventive encapsulated page solutions. Staff made two models– a post bound structure with a plethora of attached parts – and a side sewn version. Since Althea, the lab has tackled treatment of over a dozen other scrapbooks – including an oversized album with an opening spread of over 4 feet. Having tackled such a complex encapsulated binding as one of our first endeavors, we’ve developed our own language for scrapbook parts, such as “Chibap” (which refers to the acronym CHBAP, a Cloth Hinge Board Attachment Part), and the techs have discovered that they are armed with skills to problem solve any scrapbook that comes their way.

Special thanks to all Preservation Lab staff, Public Library librarians, Digital Services and conservation colleagues who shared their knowledge on bindings with encapsulated pages.

If you’d like to create a scrapbook comic of your own, here is a link to our 8 sided zine comic strip, created by, Chris Voynovich. Check out this link to WikiBooks for instructions on folding your own one page wonder

Ashleigh Ferguson Schieszer (PLCH) — Conservator, Conservation Lab Manager

The Preservation Lab…in the news

Check out this new article about the work of the Preservation Lab by our collaborator Melissa Norris, with assistance from Ashleigh Schieszer, Jessica Ebert, and Kevin Grace at https://libapps.libraries.uc.edu/source/preserving-taft/.
Isn’t Preservation just so cool!

Ashleigh Schieszer works on Taft’s maquette. (Photo credit Jessica Ebert)

And for our loyal followers a bonus image of the housing of the William Howard Taft letters…

Encapsulated binding by Chris Voynovich, design by Ashleigh Schieszer (photo credit Jessica Ebert)

Cincinnati Human Skin Bindings: Anthropodermic Bibliopegy

What is Anthropodermic Bibliopegy?

Anthro is a prefix meaning human, podermic is a suffix referring to skin, and bibliopegy is the art of binding books. The practice of binding books in human skin began in the 18th century for reasons foreign to our American culture, contemporary to today.

Before the digital age, family members found unique ways to honor and remember their loved ones. Beyond painted portraits, women commonly saved lockets of hair and integrated braided strands into unique and personalized jewelry. In the early days of photography, family portraits were an expensive and rare endeavor for most families. As a result, post mortem photography became common practice during the Victorian era. It’s possible that a post mortem photograph may be the only image a family would ever own of that person!

Likewise, not all anthropodermic books stem from a gory past such as tales told of procuring human corpses for the sake of science. Surprisingly, there are a handful of libraries around the country that claim to have a book or two within their collections with a direct connection to a historic figure, that are bound in honor of that person.

Discussions today surrounding the preservation of skin tattoos are not too dissimilar.

Cincinnati Bindings

In 2016, the lab was asked to sample the leather of not one, but two bindings for a national survey confirming the existence of these anthropodermic curiosities.

As part of the Anthropodermic Book Project, two Cincinnati books were sampled, one owned by the University of Cincinnati and another owned by the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library. Both were identified as bound in human skin.

Interestingly, both bindings contain 18th century works by Phillis Wheatley – one of the earliest African American writers, titled Poems on various subjects, religious and moral.

Frontispiece and title page of the ARB binding is identical to the CHPL copy.

Both books appear to be bound by the same binder showing similar gold tooling along the spine, but with one major difference. The UC binding is a half leather binding, covered in parchment boards while the PLCH boards are covered in full leather. The source of the human skin – we do not know.

Public library copy on the left is covered in full human leather. The UC copy on the right is covered in half human leather with sheep parchment covered boards. Both contain the title tooled in gold on the spine.

Provenance of Cincinnati Bindings

Documentation of the CHPL copy shows the Phillis Wheatley poems were presented to the Director of the Public Library in 1958, Ernest Miller, by the General Manager of Acres of Books, Bert Smith. Smith refers to, “two copies” of this title which he was able to obtain (the other copy owned by UCL). These were once owned by the Charles F. Heartman Collection as evidenced by the CHPL bookplate. At the bottom of the correspondence to the public library Director, Smith notes that the particular copy is “referred to in paragraph three, page seventy eight, of Walter Hart Blumenthal’s Bookman’s Bedlam…”, where he infers these books may have been bound by Zaehnsdorf bindery in London.

Documentation stored with the CHPL binding

Scientific Test Results

In 2016, samples taken from the books by the lab conservator were sent to scientists to confirm the source of the covering materials. Peptide Mass Fingerprinting (PMF) analysis concluded that there were three species involved with the bindings: human, cattle, and sheep. All leather showed positive results for human, the parchment for sheep, and traces of cattle were most likely present as an adhesive.

Closing Thoughts

Books such as these remind us that in the 18th and 19th century, the human experience of death was much different than we experience today. While today we tend to think of death from a more sterile and distant vantage point, the experience was much more personal in the past. Books bound in human skin would not necessarily have had held the same macabre connotations as they do today.

I especially like how Chris Harter from the Archives and Rare Books department frames the subject, “As uncomfortable as they make us feel, we can’t undo what has been done to create such books, but our main goal should be to be good stewards of the books and their histories.”

A Tale of a Preservation Horror: The Mystery of William Howard Taft’s Oozing Head…

Photo Credit: http://libapps.libraries.uc.edu/sites/lookingeast/taft-and-uc/

William Howard Taft’s family has strong historical connections to both the city of Cincinnati, and the University. Taft served Cincinnati both as a federal circuit judge and as Dean of the Cincinnati College (the forerunner of The University of Cincinnati). In honor of Taft’s contributions merging the UC law department with Cincinnati College in 1896, a statue was erected in front of the Law building in 1992.

Photo by Andrew Higley, Photo Credit: http://magazine.uc.edu/content/dam/magazine/images/0413/Taft_influence/Taft%20statue.jpg

And now, for Halloween, William has made it across campus to the Preservation Lab. And this surprise has taken a gruesome turn. A maquette of Will’s head from the Archives and Rare Books Library collection is aging poorly and in need of treatment and preservation storage. In preparation for bronze casting, Will’s head was sculpted by an artist out of a moldable putty and mounted to a metal rod. It is where the two materials meet that the preservation horrors arise!

A reddish-orange, oily slime is oozing from the interior of the putty down to where the rod stand is secured into a wooden base.

Preliminary research indicates the head is sculpted from a material commonly referred to as plastiline, Apoxie or Milliput. Recipes of putties such as these are vast, but generally contain a filler, a wax, and an oily component such as castor oil or petroleum jelly. Fillers might include clay, starch, talcum or even sulfur depending on the proprietary or homemade concoction. By the 1990’s the negative effects of using sulfur would have been known, so it’s possible that the putty is sulfur-free; however, the possibility should not be discounted. According to plastiline research by Gerhard Eggert, located on the Museum of Fine Arts CAMEO website, putties containing sulfur were preferred by artists for their superior sculpting properties. Another likely alternative is that the putty is suffering from its own inherent vice. In other words, the weeping could be due to the putty’s unstable chemical composition that is leading to its own demise… not to mention off-gassing that might be corroding the metal below!
While the specific type of metal that the head is mounted on is currently a mystery, we do know it is ferrous. Using a magnet, I discovered the metal rod contains a magnetic pull, indicating it is at least partially comprised of iron.
Despite this research, there is one pressing questions left to answer:
Is the weeping due to an inherent vice of the putty alone… or is oozing liquid created by a unique chemical reaction resulting from contact between the putty and the metal rod?
The answer to this question will help us to determine whether a barrier between the two materials might help prevent weeping in the future.
In order create a more informed treatment proposal, more research and analytical testing will need to be conducted in order to better understand what is leading to this mysterious preservation horror. Since this project ranges out of scope for the Preservation Lab, the expertise of an Objects Conservator will be sought!
Happy Halloween!

Photograph Filter by Jessica Ebert

Ashleigh Schieszer (PLCH) – Book & Paper Conservator
Resources and Further Research:
http://magazine.uc.edu/issues/0413/taft_influence.html
http://libapps.libraries.uc.edu/sites/lookingeast/taft-and-uc/
https://sites.google.com/site/ucwalks/points-of-interest/william-howard-taft
http://cameo.mfa.org/images/c/c8/Download_file_542.pdf
http://resources.conservation-us.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2015/02/osg019-05.pdf
http://resources.conservation-us.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2015/03/osg020-01.pdf
http://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/2011/06/what-do-julia-childs-spatulas-say-about-preservation.html

The Codex Symposium

On August 4th, the Ohio Preservation Council hosted a full day symposium in celebration of the book, The Codex: History, Art, and Practice. The lab shut down for the day so that staff could attend this great event.

Keynote speaker, Julia Miller

Panelists James Reid-Cunningham, Macy Chadwick, and Bonnie Mak discuss the idea of a post-codex at the Jessing Center in Columbus.

Panelists James Reid-Cunningham, Macy Chadwick, and Bonnie Mak discuss the idea of a post-codex, with moderator Ed Vermue.

Julia Miller shows off historical examples of various codices.

Kyle Holland from the Morgan Art of Papermaking Conservatory and Educational Foundation discusses his project that’s been years in the making.

Symposium attendees admire Kyle’s finished product.

Carrie Phillips, archives and special collections librarian from Bluffton University, shares one of the most significant codices to be produced in pre-revolutionary America.

Attendees peruse vendor goods during one of the breaks.

Conservators Jayme Jamison and Ashleigh Ferguson Schieszer discuss two Ohio Public Library conservation treatments performed on scrapbooks significant to the collection/the community.

Many thanks to all the wonderful guest speakers, exhibitors, and fellow Ohio Preservation Council members for a wonderful day dedicated to celebrating the history of the book!
Ashleigh Schieszer (PLCH) – Book & Paper Conservator
Jessica Ebert (UCL) – Conservation Technician

Fun with PhotoDoc – RTI (Edition 5)

At the beginning of April I was lucky enough to attend a RTI (Reflectance Transformation Imaging) workshop offered by Cultural Heritage Imaging (CHI) at Yale University. CHI is a non-profit organization that shares and teaches RTI and Photogrammetry technology with cultural heritage institutions around the world. The class I attended was a 4-day NEH grant sponsored course taught by three RTI experts from CHI, and it was amazing!

This is a composite image of all the highlight points from one RTI section. The software uses these highlight points to map the surface shape and color of your object.

So, what is RTI? CHI describes it on their website as “a computational photographic method that captures a subject’s surface shape and color and enables the interactive re-lighting of the subject from any direction”. For highlight RTI, which is the least expensive and most accessible method for most institutions and what I was taught in the class, you basically take a series of 36 to 48 images of an object where everything is constant (settings and position of objects, camera and spheres) except for the light position. With a reflective black sphere (or 2) set up next to your object, you move you light source around the object at varying angles. Then, you take that set of images and plug them into the free RTI software provided by CHI and the algorithm detects the sphere(s) and the highlight points (from your light) captured on the sphere(s) and voila!…you have an fun and interactive way to look at your object’s surface texture.
Before I attended this fantastic training opportunity, our conservator and I knew right away what the subject of our first capture would be when I returned…a 16th century German Reformation text by Martin Luther with a highly decorated cover that is practically invisible under normal illumination.

Here’s a time lapse video of our first (and second) capture in the Lab…
That day (Tuesday) were were able to capture the upper and lower covers of the Reformation text (from ARB), the original silk cover from a 17th century Chinese manuscript (from Hebrew Union College) and an illuminated page from a German vellum prayer book (from PLCH). And here our some snapshots of our results from two of those captures (click on the thumbnails for a larger view of the image)…

This possibly 13th century German Prayer Book has a full stiff vellum binding and an illuminated first page. The varying modes highlight condition issues like worn/abraded parchment and flaking gold illumination, as well as the overall surface texture of the illumination.

I hope you’ve enjoyed getting a little sneak peek into RTI. I will be demoing and discussing in further depth this afternoon from 1:30 to 3pm at the Lab’s annual Preservation Week Open House. I also hope to do more RTI captures/processes in the future and share them here.
Jessica Ebert (UCL) – Conservation Technician

Polyester Encapsulated Page Binding *Part Two: The Components

This past year, the Preservation Lab was recruited to conserve the Public Library’s scrapbook of Althea Hurst.

Scrapbooks are complex library materials. They are conduits to stories told through the use of collections of ephemeral materials (a.k.a. materials meant to be thrown away and not meant to last), such as newspaper clippings, letters and postcards, and maps.
Due to their collection of content, scrapbooks usually are bursting with problematic preservation issues. Often, fragile pages hold stiff, brittle, or heavy parts that are adhered and folded. Components are frequently found layered and overlapping. These parts are filled with information and are intended to be handled and experienced; however, as the parts become fragile with age they are nearly impossible to touch without causing damage.

Althea Hurst scrapbook with adhered components, before conservation treatment.

In most situations, it’s often best to digitize an object and protect it by storing it in an enclosure. I often recommend patrons reference the digital copy rather than handling the physical object. Alternatively, if an object will be handled (and the importance of the object warrants conservation treatment) another solution is to support the pages by encapsulating them within clear polyester film. The polyester film encapsulations are then bound into an encapsulated page binding. This format help preserve the parts in the author’s intended order, however, this course of treatment must be carefully considered as it can sometimes be an invasive solution if disbinding is required.
In the case of the Public Library’s scrapbook, the scrapbook had been previously reformatted by a prior owner due to its poor condition. At some point in the object’s history, each page and cover had been separated from the binding and stored in non-archival plastic sleeves to protect the pages from breaking. Oversized rubber bands held the album in two manageable stacks.

Althea Hurst scrapbook as received, before conservation treatment.

When the library received the object, the pages were in dire need of stabilization before it could be digitized and also needed improved storage. Because the scrapbook was already disbound into pieces (even the covers were detached) an encapsulated page binding was selected as the most fitting option for storage. The local historical importance of the scrapbook warranted full treatment.

Althea Hurst scrapbook, view of inside upper cover and first page, before treatment.

Being a novice in encapsulated page bindings, I reviewed a few binding structures and wrote about my discoveries here. I settled on constructing a modified screw-post binding to fit the needs of the Public Library’s scrapbook.
Now armed with a direction for constructing the album structure, the next challenge was:
How do I encapsulate a scrapbook that houses a variety of adhered material, such as pamphlets, postcards, letters, maps, and more, and still make the parts accessible?

Encapsulation Techniques

To determine a solution for preserving the arrangement of parts, I researched various methods of welding paper, polyester film, and spun bond sheets of polyester webbing to encapsulated pages. I compiled the methods into a model binding for reference in preparation for treatment.

Below are a list of experimental solutions for housing and encapsulating the scrapbook’s multiple parts. Many of the techniques were utilized in the final treatment, as you will see in the photographs below.

1. Traditional Encapsulation

This technique was used to fully encapsulate scrapbook pages overall, or to encapsulate removed single sheets that needed extra support
Pages or parts were sandwiched between polyester film and ultrasonically welded on all four sides:

Gaps along the corners were left to encourage air exchange and to prevent buildup of acidic off-gassing of the historic materials.

2. U-sleeve: welded on 3 sides for top edge access

Useful for items that may need to be handled outside of the plastic and are thick or heavy

Hinged U-sleeve allows access to the card as well as stability for storing next to the envelope.

3. Polyester sheets welded on two parallel sides

Could potentially be helpful in the right circumstance for thin items that may need to be handled outside of the plastic. Two access points are helpful for reducing static cling and suction, however, items may accidentally slide out more easily (see next technique for a similar yet preferred method).

4. L-sleeve: welded along the left side and bottom edge (in the shape of an “L”).

Alternative technique to the U-sleeve for storing parts that may require future handling.
An L-sleeve can be welded to one side of an encapsulated page binding with an ultrasonic weld after the L-sleeve is created.
For thicker materials, an additional small weld along the bottom right edge is helpful to prevent materials from sliding out of the sleeve when the page is turned.

5. Spot welds: heat or ultrasonically welded

Technique used to hold materials in place and prevent them from sliding within an encapsulation

6. Thin overlapping attachments

Overlapping parts that need to be kept in a specific composition can be carefully removed from the page by a conservator and individually encapsulated. The encapsulated components can then be welded to the upper sheet of the polyester page using a variety of techniques to preserve the original orientation.
Using these techniques allows access to all the components on a page that would otherwise be inaccessible in a traditional encapsulation, and keeps the author’s intended composition.
Parts must be oriented and welded to the upper sheet of polyester before creating the finished encapsulated page, i.e. before encapsulating the lower sheet of polyester to the upper sheet.

7. Hollytex hinge

A strong synthetic hinge (made from spun-bonded polyester) that is welded to the clear polyester sheets with ultrasonic welding.
Useful for easily viewing the front and back of overlapping parts or loose bits.

Detail of Hinge

Overlapping Components, Before Treatment:

Hinged Overlapping Parts, After Treatment:

8. Paper Hinge

Usu Mino tissue is welded in between two sheets of polyester
The extended Usu Mino hinge can then be brushed with paste and adhered directly to a paper leaf.
Useful in other applications, for example preserving loose components in paper textblocks, such as pressed flowers or handwritten notes.

9. Polyester four flap attachment

For small but thick objects
To secure thin components with multiple parts on top of an encapsulated page while still allowing full access

10. Paper spacers

Strips of acid free paper can be placed within an encapsulation to prevent smaller components from moving within larger encapsulated pages.
The paper space holders are visually pleasing so the viewer is not distracted by the page below.
Static holds thinner sheets in place
Thicker textblock leaves may need to be spot welded in-between the document and the paper strip

11. Stiff support leaf with cloth hinge

To support heavy page encapsulations AND/OR include heavy components in pockets on a strong page within the binding
Constructed out of 2-ply mat board, PVA, and Canapetta cloth

Before Treatment:

After Treatment:

12. Stiff flyleaf to support encapsulated pages when laying open

Constructed out of 4-ply mat board, PVA, and Canapetta cloth
The stiff flyleaf contains a smaller hinge than the interior support leaves

*Bonus Experimental Technique:

13. Welding polyester film to Vivak

Even the cover contained an attached component!
As per a request by the curator, the original cover was incorporated into the new binding with reversible methods. The original cover was hinged into a sink-mat package that was sandwiched between a cloth covered mat and a sheet of Vivak.
After a bit of experimenting, a polyester L-sleeve was ultrasonically welded to the Vivak “pastedown” so the original arrangement could be preserved

Before Treatment & After Treatment:

A flyleaf of polyester film was hinged onto the “pastedown” to protect the attached component from being abraded by the edges of the textblock leaves:

Two volumes, after treatment:

Final challenge: how to manage the scrapbook’s large treatment effectively and efficiently.

To read about our collaborative treatment workflow, please see the next upcoming installment: Polyester Encapsulated Page Binding *Part Three: The Workflow.

Ashleigh Ferguson Schieszer (PLCH) — Conservator, Conservation Lab Manager
Photographic Documentation – Jessica Ebert (UCL) – Conservation Technician

Nineteenth Century Buddhist Religious Treatise

In August of this year, the Lab received a Palm leaf book from Archives and Rare Books library during one of our usual monthly meetings. This item was brought to the Lab to receive a new enclosure for a better long-term preservation storage and easier access. Along with a new enclosure, the Lab was asked to create two surrogates of one of the original Palm Leaves for classroom use. Under the direction of Ashleigh Schieszer, lab conservator, technician Chris Voynovich constructed the housing working closely with Catarina Figuierinhas who created the surrogate leaves.

Creating Surrogates

In order to create an accurate surrogate of one of the Palm leaves, the Palm leaf book was taken to the University of Cincinnati Digitization Lab to be photographed with a PhaseOne Reprographic System. This system includes 60 MP PhaseOne digital back, DT RCam with electronic shutter, Schneider 72 mm lens, and a motorized copy stand. At the digitization Lab, one of the Palm leaves was digitized, recto and verso. The collaboration between labs allows the Preservation Lab to obtain a great quality image of a Palm leaf to print a high quality surrogate.

Once the Preservation Lab received an image with enough quality to work with, the process of creating a surrogate started.
In order to create a surrogate, it is important to have in mind several different aspects such as the purpose of the surrogate and the physical characteristics of the original object (texture, thickness and colors). When thinking about the purpose of the surrogate one has to answer questions such as: Is the surrogate going to be displayed or handled? If so, how? Behind a glass case? Will it need a presentation enclosure?
In this case, the purpose was for the librarian to be able to show a “real” palm leaf page without having to actually handle the original fragile leaves. Also, having a surrogate of a palm leaf would allow patrons and scholars to handle a replica of an original object without having to unwrap and open the book.
Our goal was to create two surrogates; one in color, true to the original Palm leaf page; and another black and white, allowing the writing to be read easier.
Since we wanted to create a surrogate as identical as possible to the original, it was necessary to study the original object’s texture and thickness, as well as consider specific details such as gilt edges or punched holes.
The first step was to select several papers to test for printing. Selected papers had a similar texture and thickness to the original Palm Leaf and/or were selected because they contained a handy ICC profile.
Once the papers were chosen for texture, thickness and color profiling, the image obtained from the Digitization Lab was enhanced in Adobe Photoshop CC 2015 and several surrogate samples were printed using a P7000 Epson Printer pigmented ink jet printer.

Middle holes were punched with a Japanese hole punch.

Surprisingly, papers containing ICC profiles did not necessarily produce a more accurate color representation.
Finally, after several trials and errors, a different paper was chosen for each surrogate. The colored surrogate was printed on an archival UltraSmooth Fine Art Epson paper. The black and white surrogate was printed on an acid-free Curtis Brightwater Artesian white smooth paper.

Edges of the colored surrogate were pained with iridescent gold acrylic paint.

Once the surrogates were printed and cut to the exact dimensions, the final finishing touches were made. On both surrogates, the middle holes were punctured in the same fashion as the original palm leaf. For the colored surrogate, the edges were colored with an iridescent gold Golden High flow Acrylic. Once the surrogates were complete, the process of constructing an enclosure for both the surrogates and the original object began.

Constructing a new enclosure

I’ve heard the joy should not be in the finished product but in the process. I have to say I agree with that theory. I love receiving a challenge like this and pounding out a solution. This particular enclosure had many facets which turned out to be exciting as well as rewarding to problem solve together with lab staff.

Using a structure engineered by our lab conservator, first, I created a double-sided sink mat with two open windows to display both sides of the two surrogates. Rare earth magnets were introduced as fasteners to hold the objects secure inside each mat. The surrogates are supported and viewable through a Vivak and polyester transparent L-sleeve, which is removable. The Vivak and polyester sleeve was welded together on the lab’s Minter ultrasonic welder.

Volara supports were constructed to cradle the book so the gilding would not touch any abrasive surfaces, and so there would be a support for the cover once opened. The surrogates help provide information to patrons without causing wear and tear on the fragile book through handling. Originally, we considered storing the surrogates in a tray below or above the book to conserve shelf space, however by arranging the mats next to the object, they could immediately be on display when the enclosure is opened. I am pleased with the outcome. It is now possible to enjoy all the parts of this amazing work within the enclosure itself while minimizing the opportunity for damage, as well as providing a “wow!” factor.

Final enclosure with the original palm leaf book and surrogates.

Catarina Figueirinhas (UCL) — Senior Conservation Technician

Ashleigh Schieszer (PLCH) — Book and Paper Conservator

Chris Voynovich (PLCH) — Conservation Technician

Photo credit: Jessica Ebert (UCL) — Conservation Technician

A Blog of the Preservation Lab at UC