Tag Archives: Long-term storage

Hidden Treasures in a 1791 English Bible

The lab received a heavy bible in exceptionally bad condition. The spine was almost nonexistent, with the leather fragments that were hanging on “by a thread.” There were many breaks in the sewing and the book block was in many pieces. The boards were also completely detached making it nearly impossible to handle. With pages that were water stained, the culmination of condition issues demonstrated how the bible had been around the block (a couple times!).

Bible as received
Hidden treasures discovered

While examining the book in preparation for constructing a housing solution, there within the pages I unexpectedly discovered plant specimens! There were quite a few different types. While impossible to know for sure, it seemed to me at one point these specimens were added to mark significant passages. For example, there is a passage in the Christian bible that reads, “And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations,” Revelation 22:2. When I saw the added plant specimens near this passage, my mind immediately went there.

Before preservation
After rehousing

It’s funny how things can trigger thoughts and emotions. With a religious item such as a bible, the dried plant fragments made me imagine how a reader might be moved spiritually to express something they felt deeply in the text in a material way. I was also inspired and glanced at passages beneath the plant specimens seeking out hidden connections. My quest sometimes proved rewarding while others I was left to ponder the hidden meaning.

After rehousing, book is wrapped in foam with cloth ties

The unique plant specimens were retained and stored in polyester sleeves in the same position on each page as they were discovered.   Upon the completion of sleeving, I also consolidated and performed minor leather repair and care to prevent leather fragments from falling off. For long-term storage I created an archival blue corrugated clamshell and wrapped the fragile binding in a sheet of polyester foam.   

Chris Voynovich [CHPL] – Senior Conservation Assistant

Photography by Ashleigh Ferguson Schieszer

Working with Abe

I love matting projects! Matting is an elegant way to present images and documentation for exhibition. We received a collection of letters and images from Abraham Lincoln in the lab from the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library (CHPL) for preservation and conservation. After our conservator Ashleigh Schieszer completed the preliminary work of removing the artifacts from all the acidic and harmful elements they were previously in contact with, we collaborated on the matting choices. One cool thing I just love about this job is the opportunity to make tiny models of our intended work. Obviously, we can iron out some of the bugs and problem solve unforeseen obstacles with models, but making a tiny representation of my work is not only great to have as a future reference but is just really cool.

Matting model on left, original objects on right

So, for one of the previously matted compilations the curator suggested retaining the beautiful custom mat for the finished system. This presented a problem because of the acidity in the original mat. The solution we came up with was to create an archival buffer mat between the original mat and the artifacts. Easy-peezy.

To mount overlapping objects, we decided to secure them to different mat board layers.  For example, the document on top will be attached to the back of the archival buffer with a polyester sling while the letter and portrait will be mounted to the backing board with edge strips or photo corners.

The archival buffer mat is hinged below the opened original mat.
View of the artifacts below the archival buffer mat. Parts are mounted to different layers in the model.

We also added a custom portfolio for transportation and long term housing.

Chris Voynovich (CHPL) – Conservation Assistant