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
