Tag Archives: Classics Library

300 photographs?! More like 4800 photographs!!

This past March, at one of our Special collections meetings, the Lab received a photographic project from UC’s Classics Library. This was a large German collection comprised of 16 series, each series with approximately 300 photographs, a total of about 4800 photographs!! These are silver gelatin photographs that depict ancient sculptures. The photographs are important since in some cases they show sculptures that may have been destroyed during the WWII.

Before Treatment – Series 5 of the 16 series of photographs
Before Treatment – Original enclosure – Book board with cloth ties
Before Treatment – Curled photographs

All the photographs were curled, some showed silver mirroring, and minor tears along the edges, or creases. Most of the conservation treatment focuses on humidification and flattening of each photograph. With such a large number of photographs, the project was divided between Chris (Senior Conservation Technician), Hyacinth (Conservation Technician), and myself (Assistant Conservator).

Before Treatment – Photographs as they were received in the Preservation Lab. Overall, curled with small tears along the edges.

We each took a series of photographs to work on. Ahead of starting the project, we conducted some tests, along with Ashleigh (Conservator), to understand how long we should humidify the photographs, we create the pressing stacks that would be used for the flattening, and some guidelines that we could all refer to throughout the projects.

Before Treatment – Curled photograph, tear, and creased corners (Recto)

We concluded that we would obtain the best results by only humidifying the photographs for a maximum of 20-30 mins and then pressing them. First, we pressed the photographs between pressing stacks of thin Hollytex, blotter, Rising Museum Photomount mat board and binders board for two days. Then we pressed them in a book press or under weights between Photomount mat board until the compression enclosure is created. Before humidification, each photograph was surface cleaned with a hydrophilic sponges.

During Treatment – Small batch of Photographs being humidified in a cold humidity chamber.
During Treatment – Photographs being prepared for flattening by being pressed in a pressing stack.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by The Preservation Lab (@thepreservationlab)

After being humidified, small cracks on the emulsion and small tears were repaired.

Chris is usually faster with any treatment, so his batch has been fully treated, and now he is in the process of making an enclosure, a cloth clamshell compression enclosure to ensure the photographs don’t start to curl again.

During Treatment – Chris working on the cloth clamshell compression enclosure.

I am still working on my batch. I currently have one-fifth of the photographs being pressed and the rest are awaiting humidification and flattening. This is a long project that requires constant monitoring and time for pressing, but it is so satisfying to see the photographs slowly relaxing and flattening. It will probably take us a few years or more to fully complete the entire 16 series, but once the project is complete each series will be safely housed and repair.

Catarina Figueirinhas [UCL] – Assistant Conservator

An Oversized Enclosure that “Slays”

Winter is approaching here in Cincinnati, far too quickly for my taste! But at the Lab we have been thinking about a winter staple a bit differently… The sled! A book sled, that is. This open-topped carrier of bound treasures has become the newest edition to our enclosure family. It is perfect for housing oversized books to be stored flat, as it enables easy transport of these large tomes, without adding too much extra weight.

The sled has been honed and developed over the years by conservation professionals, but it has its roots at the Newberry in Chicago, where they were used to house their large antiphonary collection. I had the privilege of working at the Newberry prior to joining the incredible team here at The Preservation Lab, so the idea of starting to create book sleds at the Lab has been lurking at the back of my mind. At the Newberry, I was able to create my very first book sled, and understand the simple, yet highly functional structure.

Photo of a sled at the Newberry Library courtesy of Henry Harris.

The book sled was refined by Ann Lindsey and Melina Avery from the University of Chicago when they treated and housed a 52-pound antiphonary from their collection. They were able to design a sled with additional walls and stronger reinforcements. Chris Saclolo from the University of Central Florida further enhanced the book sled by adding wall reinforcements and a removable lower tray.

When the Lab received an elephant folio from the University of Cincinnati Classic’s Library that needed treatment and housing, we were able to create the very first book sled at our Lab! Housing a book over 20 inches tall is no easy feat, so we were thrilled to be able to use the experience and advice from our fellow conservation professionals. I worked alongside Chris Voynovich and Catarina Figueirinhas (because 3 minds are so much better than 1) where we problem solved, planned, and constructed this large book sled. The finished sled design closely follows Saclolo’s recommendations, with minor adjustments to the tray, as our book did not have bosses.

Kasie and Chris working together to construct the book sled.

Ultimately, the book sled will allow the book, Facsimiles of National Manuscripts of Ireland, to be visible on the shelf while also aiding in transporting the book through the library when needed. It will also prevent additional damage and abrasion to the leather at the spine, which received a reback during treatment.

*Facsimiles of National Manuscripts of Ireland* in the finished book sled.

We already have additional oversized books in the Lab for treatment, so more sleds will be on the docket this winter!

Kasie Janssen (CHPL) – Senior Conservation Technician

Partners in Crime: Digitization Meets Preservation

Book & paper preservation and digitization seem antithetical in many ways; the former focuses on the physical and the hands-on, while the latter hones in on the digital and the technical. Even though there are differences between the fields, I like to think of them as partners in crime. Both preservation and digitization work to ensure that books filled with precious knowledge are around for learning well into the future; they just take different (often intersecting) paths to get there.

A few months ago, I had the opportunity to digitize a beautiful choir psalter from the UC Classics Library. This large book is theorized to have been used as a choir book in 15th century Italy, possibly the north-eastern area of Veneto. Its knowledge laden parchment pages and mysterious past rendered it the perfect candidate for both preservation and digitization. After it received treatment from the Lab’s conservator, I whisked it away to be digitized.

A book this distinguished required the care and attention of more than one person (it had nothing to do with how heavy it was… really). I was joined by the Lab’s photographic documentation extraordinaire Jessica, and that’s when the collaborative magic between preservation and digitization happened. Jessica and I sprinkled in some preservation-oriented photographic documentation as we digitized, allowing us to get a closer look at the materiality of the book while we had it on the copy stand. One of the most impactful imaging techniques we used on the antiphoner was that of raking light.

Raking light involves the use of one lighting source to illuminate an object from a low angle, highlighting texture and depth. Using this technique on the choir book allowed us to see and feel the true age and history of a book that survived centuries of use; the mountains and valleys of each aged page suddenly revealed themselves in the same places they hid in normal illumination.

The normal illumination used to digitize allows us to read the book as it was meant to be read, and preservation-focused raking light allows us to experience the materiality of the object. The combination of both techniques allows for those who cannot physically interact with the book to experience (almost) all it has to offer. While there’s really no substitute for seeing the antiphoner in person, we’d like to think we can replicate the experience a little better by utilizing tools provided by our partners in crime: preservation and digitization.

You can read more about the research done on this choir psalter in the Classics Library’s blog post, “Mystery at the Library”.

Also, make sure to check out of our Instragram (@thepreservationlab) where Jessica will be sharing some conservation photography of this beauty.

Sidney Gao [UCL] – Digital Imaging Coordinator

Two minds think better than one

The lab received this book from the UC Classics Library in very poor condition. Ashleigh identified that the red cloth cover was not original to the textblock and overtime it had fallen off, exposing prior binding repairs. Paper fragments along the spine indicated to her that the binding was once originally cased in a paper wrapper before being rebound in a variety of ways. The book, originally sewn with only two sewing stations, had also been side stapled (!!).The staples were extremely corroded, staining the textblock and causing tears along the spine of the textblock pages, however; the original folded gatherings were mostly intact with original sewing stations revealed.

Since this book was important to the library and the librarians wanted the book to be handled by patrons and available to all, we needed to come up with a solution for a new cover that would be supportive of the textblock, flexible and could withstand handling from patrons. We also wanted to conserve the binding in a sympathetic structure to how the text was originally cased and sewn.
While talking with the Lab Conservator, Ashleigh, we explored various ideas for the new conservation cover, and ended up combining what we both had in mind. Clearly, our ideas had been influenced by our professional development opportunities that we attended in May; the AIC meeting Ashleigh attended and the weeklong workshop I attended on historical book structures with Karen Hanmer.
Inspired by the Smithsonian Archives AIC poster, Ashleigh suggested a combination of a sewn boards binding from Gary Frost and a limp vellum binding, adapting the structure of a non-adhesive paper case I learned with Karen Hanmer. Together we decided to explore a combination of all binding structures. Using the sewn boards binding for inspiration, we sewed on library boards as an extra set of endsheets, in addition to paper endsheets. Conservation endbands were sewn on with a back bead, similar to a vellum binding, and were laced through the endsheets and cover, providing extra support and flexibility to the two sewing stations.
To test our idea, I created a small model (as we always do for new ideas). By creating a model I could explore our ideas without causing any harm to the original object.

Model: Sewn boards binding, limp vellum binding and non-adhesive paper case combination, with conservation endbands.

Textblock sewn through the original holes

The model structure was a success! Therefore we proceeded to conserve the original book, starting with removing the staples. After Ashleigh removed the staples, I guarded several gatherings throughout the textblock with Japanese tissue and the textblock was sewn with a link stitch through the original sewing holes with an 18/3 linen thread.

In preparation for the new cover, a combination of sewn boards binding by Gary Frost, limp vellum binding and non-adhesive paper case by Karen Hanmer, two folios of 10 point board Bristol were sewn onto the textblock, one on each side, and lined on the inside with a sheet of 20 point board adhered with PVA.

Conservation endbands of a laminate of alum tawed leather and parchment were sewn, providing extra support for the cover attachment to the textblock.

Sewn boards onto the textblock with conservation endbands

The new cover was created with Cave Paper and adhered to the textblock by wrapping the paper case around the sewn boards and lacing the endbands through the cover.

And the final result…You can see, two minds are better than one…

Detail of the conservation endbands

Catarina Figueirinhas (UCL) —- Senior Conservation Technician

Images from the Smithsonian Institution Archives poster at the 2018 AIC annual Conference:

Slipcase Race

One of the Lab’s big projects recently has been to help the University of Cincinnati’s Classics Library with preparations for a move of a large section of their collection’s rare books. Moves like this are a great opportunity to assess the condition of a collection, and to provide enclosures for more vulnerable materials so they are protected in transit and beyond. In this particular case the Librarian also requested the lab maintain visibility of the original books as much as possible.
There are quite a few vellum books in the Classics Library collection. Vellum bindings are generally pretty sturdy, but may become brittle over time. They can also expand and contract quite a bit more than other types of bindings, depending on the relative humidity where they are stored. The Image Permanence Institute at the Rochester Institute of Technology has a fun time-lapse video demonstrating this effect – the book looks as if it’s haunted! Given time this expansion and contraction can cause distortion.
Hard-sided slipcases do make it possible to protect most of a book while keeping its spine decoration and information visible, but they are not generally a preservation go-to. They can abrade the edges and covers when pulling the book in and out, and they don’t usually hold up over time because it can be difficult to insert fingers around the book to pull it out if the case is tight, resulting in a broken box or, alternatively, damaged endcaps.
A soft-sided slipcase can work well for vellum-bound books. The vellum is smooth, so abrasion is not a concern. The flexible sides give a little when reaching fingers in to remove a book, so the box won’t eventually fail and there is no need to grab the book from its endcap, damaging it. The cloth allows the book to breathe and flex somewhat, while at the same time preventing it from expanding too far at the fore edge, and squeezing its neighbors.
With a deadline looming we needed to figure out a way to produce soft-sided slipcases quickly and easily. Our solution was to create a template in an Excel spreadsheet, allowing us to simply plug in the book’s measurements and know exactly what size to cut the cloth and where the creases need to be, without needing to have the book handy.
We measured several books where they were, then took the measurements back to the Lab, where we used the spreadsheet to make a handful of slipcases. I was holding my breath when the time came to unite them with their books. Much to my relief they fit perfectly!
Check out this picture showing 4 vellum books – the one on the left was already housed in a hard-sided, cloth-covered, board slipcase, while the 3 on the right are in the brand new soft-sided cloth slipcases. The books are protected, but the spines are still visible. Win, win.

Now that we know it works it’s time to go ahead and make the rest of them!
We’d like to share the Excel spreadsheet used to create these slipcases – Soft-Sided_Slipcase_template. Try it out and let us know what you think!
Veronica Sorcher (PLCH) – Conservation Technician

NEW! Preservation Lab Channel on UCL MediaSpace

The Preservation Lab now has its own channel on the UC Libraries MediaSpace, a YouTube-like media platform powered by Kaltura! You can find the Lab’s channel, here.

We currently have 8 videos on the MediaSpace, most of which relate to RTI. But I recently created this fun little time-lapse video of sewing conservation endbands on a Classics collection item. (If you enjoy twangy bluegrass music, then make sure to turn your volume up!)
Stay tuned for future videos from the Lab!
Jessica Ebert (UCL) – Conservation Technician

18th Century Poetry Pamphlets

This past April, during one of the UCL Special Collections meetings, the Lab received a new stabilization/housing project; a collection of Latin poetry pamphlets translated into German from 1830-1917. This collection of 79 volumes is part of the Classics Library’s collection. While the Lab will be treating and housing all 79 volumes, the collection is being brought to the Lab in small, manageable batches. The first batch received by the Lab were pamphlets bd.66 to pamphlets bd.79.

After consulting with the Lab’s conservator, each pamphlet was evaluated and treated individually. The condition of each pamphlet greatly varied; some pamphlets were in good condition, with only small tears along the outer joints of the paper cover. Other pamphlets were in poor condition, with missing covers, detached covers, split textblocks, torn or missing covers.

After the first batch of pamphlets was evaluated and treated, four stabilization treatment types were established for future batches. According to the condition of the pamphlet, from good condition, fair condition, poor condition, to severe condition, each pamphlet received either no treatment, a minimal treatment, a minor treatment, a major treatment with stabilization though encapsulation, respectively. For future batches received by the Lab, the same treatments will be applied with small variations when needed.
No treatment: For any pamphlets in good condition do not require treatment, these pamphlets will simply be surface cleaned and receive a polyester film jacket.
Each image below shows an example of the treatments mentioned above. Click on the photo to view the full size image:
Fair condition/ minimal treatment: This group of pamphlets were in fair condition. There were minor tears on the cover that were mended.

Poor condition/minor treatment: This pamphlet was in poor condition. The cover was torn and detached and the textblock was broken with loose gatherings. The cover was mended and the textblock was repaired. The cover was reattached to the textblock.

Severe condition/ Major treatment – stabilization through encapsulation: This pamphlet was received in severe condition. The covers were detached from the textblock and showed major losses. The textblock was stapled and the staples had corroded overtime which stained the paper. The staples were removed and the textblock was sewn. The covers were encapsulated and sewn onto the textblock using Usu Mino tissue hinges.

Once the treatment of the first batch of pamphlets was concluded, the pamphlets were housed together in a custom made corrugated clamshell box with a clear spine. This model of a modified corrugated clamshell box will be used for the future batches of these pamphlets that the lab receives from the Classics Library.

Modified corrugated clamshell box with a clear spine.

At the moment, I am working on the second batch of pamphlets; pamphlet bd. 50-bd. 65. On this second batch most pamphlets are in poor condition. The covers are detached and some pamphlets have missing covers. However, the textblocks are in good condition. Below you will find a sneak peak of this ongoing treatment.

Pamphlets bd. 43 – 49 – small portion of the second batch of pamphlets received by the Lab.

Catarina Figueirinhas (UCL) — Sr. Conservation Technician
Photographic Documentation: Jessica Ebert (UCL) — Conservation Technician