Tag Archives: Preservation Week

Sneak Peek into Preservation

After a two year hiatus, the Preservation Lab once again was able to celebrate the American Library Association’s Preservation Week.  And this year, the lab decided to take Preservation Week to the public. 

On the morning of April 21st, Catarina and Jessica took one of the lab’s rolling work tables to the entrance of the Langsam library. There they set up a demonstration area with some very dirty books, to show the public a little bit about surface cleaning. They brought out the different supplies used in surface cleaning (such as hydrophilic sponges, smoke sponges, eraser crumbles and vinyl erasers). In addition to surface cleaning materials, Jessica and Catarina also brought some Japanese tissue for the public to touch and learn about tear repair.

A few members of the public were too nervous to even try to surface clean a little bit of the dirty books (all filled with soot from coal burning stoves), but others were brave enough and felt that surface cleaning was a very satisfying and relaxing treatment.

In the afternoon of the same day, Chris and Hyacinth showed the public a variety of enclosures and how they are made from beginning to end. There were corrugated clamshell boxes, one with an integrated cradle, cloth clamshell boxes, tuxedo boxes and a Japanese four-sided enclosure.

Chris also brought a corrugated clamshell in its early stages to show the public how the process of making a corrugated clamshell begins.

The crowd favorites were the elaborate cloth covered clamshell box made by Chris, and the beautiful Japanese four-sided enclosure made by Hyacinth.

Even though this was a smaller event compared to our open house tours of the past, the event was a success; allowing the Preservation Lab staff  to share with the  UC community a peek into our daily work and explain what goes on in the Preservation Lab. But Preservation week is not done yet…

This upcoming Friday, April 29th at 1 pm, join Holly and Ashleigh at the Clifton Branch of the  Cincinnati and Hamilton Public Library, .They will be showing some books models, explaining how books are made and what materials are used. You can find more details in the following link: https://cincinnatilibrary.bibliocommons.com/events/625422b5cd8e792f000bcfc5

Catarina Figueirinhas (UCL) —- Assistant Conservator

Celebrate Preservation Week with Us!

In celebration of ALA’s annual Preservation Week (April 24th-30th), Preservation Lab staff will be offering live demos and show & tells this week and next, both at UC Libraries and the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library:

Each session will be unique, with different staff members showing off different aspects of preservation and conservation!

Jessica Ebert [UCL] – Sr. Conservation & Photographic Documentation Specialist

How to Make a Collapsible Punching Cradle: New Video on Our YouTube Channel

We’ve reached the end of Preservation Week and what better way to celebrate than with a fun how-to video on our Lab’s YouTube channel?!

This video goes over how to make a collapsible punching cradle, step-by-step. Punching cradles are a useful bookbinding tool to have on hand in your toolbox. They allow you to create uniform sewing stations in your signatures or gatherings when you are preparing to sew a textblock. Best of all, this type of punching cradle is fully collapsible and easy to store while not in use; especially when you make one of these simple slipcases to hold all the pieces.

Here you can see a collapsed punching cradle stored in a paper slipcase made with marbled paper (left) and a punching cradle assembled and ready for use (right).

Don’t forget to “like” our video and subscribe to our YouTube channel to stay in the loop when we post new videos to the channel. If you decide to make your own punching cradle, we’d love to know what you thought of the video or, even better, tag us in a photo of it on Instagram (@thepreservationlab).

We hope you’ve enjoyed celebrating Preservation Week 2021 with us! We look forward to celebrating our 11th annual Preservation Week next year…maybe even in person this time?!

Jessica Ebert (UCL) – Conservation Tech & Photographic Documentation Specialist

Playing Favorites: Lab Staff Share Their Most-Loved Treatments & Projects

To celebrate national Preservation Week (April 25 – May1, 2021), staff at the Preservation Lab are sharing the following answers to the question below as they reflect upon the wealth of library resources located in the Cincinnati community: 

What is your favorite treatment or project that you have worked on in the Lab?


Jessica Ebert:

Learning a new photographic imaging technique, RTI

In April of 2017 I had the amazing opportunity of attending a 4-day workshop at Yale University to learn Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) from the experts at Cultural Heritage Imaging.  It was one of the most exciting experiences of my career, and when I came back to the Lab to show the staff what I had learned, Aller Bucher Und Schrifften volume from Martin Luther was one of the first items we captured with RTI.  I remember that moment when Catarina and I completed the capture and processed the images – we were just in awe of everything we could see with RTI that we couldn’t under normal illumination.  Since then, we’ve made changes to our equipment and our workflow, so now the results are even better than they were back then…but this will always be my favorite. 

Catarina Figueirinhas:

Treatment of Diseases of the Sexual Organs, Male and Female from the Winkler Center

Of all the projects I have worked on at the Preservation Lab, this item is by far one of my ultimate favorite treatments I was able to perform. This book was brought to the Preservation Lab in poor condition. The book had no binding, the text block was split in multiple areas, the sewing was broken, and several pages of the text block where either torn or had extensive loss. In addition, most of the text block showed signs of water damage. Since this book was in such poor condition and the curator of the collection wanted the book to be handled by scholars and the public, it was necessary to do a full conservation treatment.  

I was thrilled when I got assigned to this book treatment. I love to work on any book, but the more complicated or involved treatments the better and this was definitely the case. In this treatment, I was able to repair the text block, reduce some of the tideline staining, fill losses and resew the entire text block, while also creating a new binding (called a split board binding) that is strong and flexible to allow such a heavy book to be read.  

This treatment took a long time to complete, and to this day it is still one of the projects that I have enjoyed the most. Click here to see the complete treatment report and all the photographic documentation. To learn more about conservation split board bindings, check out the Preservation Lab blog post by Kasie and Jessica. 

Kasie Janssen:

Iron gall ink treatment of the CHPL Jones Account Book  

Washing and rebinding treatments are always a favorite when they come across my bench, as they allow a highly damaged item to become usable and accessible once again. An account book of Jones and Rammelsberg offered one such treatment as it came to the lab with a myriad of issues: a damaged book block without a binding, corroding iron gall ink, previous mold damage, and a shocking amount of pest evidence. The treatment is incredibly memorable because to tackle the issues of aging iron gall ink I was able wash the pages of the book block using a calcium phytate bath to stabilize the manuscript. Once the washing was complete, I was able to resew and rebind the book block, making it whole, functional, and protected once again. It is rare and special to have done such an involved treatment, but in this case the in-depth steps allowed previous damage to be treated and helped remedy the inherent vice of aging materials.  

Curious about what some of this process looks like? Check out our Preservation Lab Instagram, @thepreservationlab, and see our Phytate Treatment Stories

Holly Prochaska:

Creating the Italian ledger binding for our teaching model collection 

The lab creates a lot of models. Many of these models are made in preparation for treatments.  However, some models are created with instruction or engagement in mind.  These models, such as the Italian stationery binding (laminated archival bind) I created, help illustrate the history of the book as its form and manufacturing process change over time.  Check out the model at the blog entry where you can see a video of the binding being handled.  Follow the instructions on the blog make you very own, and in the future, come see it for yourself when our in-person open houses resume in the future. 

View of the cover fully opened that shows the overband lacing pattern, the front fore edge flap, and the buckle clasp.

Ashleigh Ferguson Schieszer:

Treatment of a Haggadah owned by Hebrew Union College 

I particularly enjoy the problem solving nature of special collection treatments and thus, my “favorite” treatment is usually the one I’m working on. Currently, I’m treating a Haggadah owned by Hebrew Union College that dates to 1526 or 1527. While I’ve treated other haggadahs from HUC, including this one, this project involved iron gall ink treatment AND rebinding a textblock with two different sized leaves, or pages, into its original historic leather cover.  Because the binding had been previously treated and reformatted with materials that did not age well, collaboration with the librarians at HUC required exploration into whether we wanted to re-create the past reformatting option with longer lasting materials, or perhaps, explore a new option altogether. Before we committed to a solution, I created a model to test out a new option since unanticipated questions or outcomes often arise during experimental pursuits.  For that reason, it’s better to problem solve on a model, rather than on an actual special collection material.  In the end, the librarians and I were happy with the results of the new option, and I’m currently at the stage where I’m ready to start rebinding the pages of the actual object.

Not only was this piece based on a favorite subject of mine (I love Shakespeare!), this was a historic photograph treatment I was able to handle with just a little guidance.  I was able to properly identify the photographic elements on the first try, performed a surface cleaning on the piece, and created my very first cloth-covered clamshell and cradle to house it. It was such a wealth of learning experiences within one project, which is the best part of my work! 

Chris Voynovich:

Constructing a custom cloth-covered enclosure to house the Public Library’s  William S. Porter Collection of photographs 

One of my favorite aspects of the job here, in the lab, is designing and creating custom enclosures. This collection of rare daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, and tintypes is an example of adapting a standard cloth covered clamshell to accommodate a collection. I created two trays with pull tabs that are removable for easy access and display. Each photograph has its own tuxedo box and is set in polyethylene foam (Volara) for protection. The tuxedo box enclosures are identical in size to reduce confusion while repacking. Check out this blog created by Jessica that shows a gif of the enclosure opening and closing, and this blog post showing a similar enclosure I created for a dairy collection. 

In case you missed, head over to the Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library’s blog where Holly shared some of the Lab staff’s favorite tools and equipment yesterday.

Today at 3pm (EST) join Jessica and Catarina on the Preservation Lab’s Instagram (@thepreservationlab) for a quick, informal Instagram Live.

Then tomorrow, make sure to tune into the Public Library’s Instagram (@cincylibrary) at 12pm (EST) for an in-depth Instagram Live event where Catarina and Jessica will be sharing treatments they are currently working on; giving you a behind-the-scenes look and answering all your questions “Live in the Lab”.

Finally, Friday a new video will be posted on the Preservation Lab’s YouTube channel.

Ashleigh Ferguson Schieszer [CHPL] – Rare Book and Paper Conservator, Lab Co-Manager

Preservation Week 2021: Preservation in Action

Join the Lab in celebrating ALA’s Preservation Week next week, April 26th-30th. We have a lot of fun virtual happenings to check out:

Monday 26th – The Lab will be taking over the @cincylibrary Instagram stories to break down all the different facets of preservation.

Tuesday 27th – Head over the Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library’s blog to see what our “Favorite Tools” are and why we chose them.

Wednesday 28th – We’ll be sharing our “Favorite Treatments/Projects” right here on our blog.

Thursday 29th – Catarina and Jessica will be “Live in the Lab” at 12pm for an Instagram Live event hosted by @cincylibrary

Friday 30th – We will have a new video up on our YouTube channel – “How to Create Your Own Collapsible Punching Cradle”.

We hope that you can join us for all the activities we have in store for Preservation Week 2021. If you can’t wait for the celebration to begin, then check out our past Preservation Week activities!

Jessica Ebert (UCL) – Conservation Tech & Photographic Documentation Specialist & Catarina Figueirinhas [UCL] – Senior Conservation Tech

Preservation Week – Celebrations past and looking forward to the future

Welcome to the final day of Preservation Week. Though we were unable to have our traditional open house this year, the Lab staff (see our glamour shots below) hope you enjoyed our week of blog entries. Though a blog can’t replace the energy of meeting in person, we hope we offered new insights into the profession of preservation, the work we are currently doing from home, our individual research interests, and how we’ve come together to make The Preservation Lab a productive and collaborative team.

This year ALA’s Preservation Week marks its 10 year milestone. The Lab is proud to have participated since the beginning of our institutional collaboration in 2012. Our first few open house events were an opportunity for staff from both the public library and UC to see our facility, meet the lab team, and learn about the types of treatments and repairs available to them. As time has gone on, we have opened the event to the public and delved deeper into the research and expertise required to do our work, such as knowledge of historic structures, the materiality of the book, and photographic techniques that make the invisible visible.

Image of cookies with the preservation lab logo.

We look forward to seeing everyone in person for next year’s Preservation Week. 2021 will be a banner year for the Preservation Lab as we will embark on our 10th year of collaboration, preservation, stewardship, and team work. Expect an open house celebration worthy of such an anniversary. And as always, there will be cookies. We have much to look forward to; hang in there!

We’ll say goodbye to Preservation Week with a walk down memory lane…Preservation Week Open House invites from 2012-present.

Wishing you all well.

Holly Prochaska (UCL) — Preservation Librarian

Sharing Our Work With The Public

Happy Preservation Week 2020 – Day 3!

Working in the basement of Langsam Library, we’re not often afforded many opportunities to connect directly with the general public. As Catarina mentioned yesterday, therefore, our usual “go-to” is to host an open house once a year during Preservation Week. Since we’re all hunkered down at home, we’d like to invite you check out some of the work we do, DIGITALLY.

If you’re curious about what we’re working on at home, be sure to check out this prior blog post.

This Friday, May 1st, 2020 at noon:

Please join Special Collections Conservator, Ashleigh Ferguson Schieszer on Facebook Live to talk about scrapbooks.

Facebook Live with the Public Library, May 1st, 2020

Designed as a family event, there’s a little something for all ages:

  • During the session, we’ll fold a One-Page Wonder coloring book comic strip (created by Senior Conservation Technician, Christopher Voynovich) that highlights treatment of a 3 x 4 foot oversized scrapbook!
  • We’ll also talk about typical condition issues found in historic scrapbooks, such as those owned by the Public Library
  • As well as answer any questions you might have about preserving your own at home.

If you were unable to join, you can still check out the FB Live archived event here.

You can also download and print Chris’ comic and check out this video on how to fold a One-Page Wonder:

Airing after May 2nd:

Be on the lookout for the Lab’s 30-minute segment with Cincinnati’s Waycross Government TV station, or watch below.

This video highlights the collaborative nature of the Lab’s work that spans a variety of preservation and library-related activities. Meet conservation staff and hear stories from each staff member about some of their favorite projects, including the treatment of an iron gall ink manuscript, as well as where you can check out the lab’s online treatment documentation.

Stay tuned for more Preservation Week updates tomorrow, and don’t forget to check out ALA’s Preservation Week resources: http://www.ala.org/alcts/preservationweek. Take advantage of free webinars, information on preserving oral history, and more!

Ashleigh Ferguson Schieszer [PLCH] – Lab Manager, Conservator

A Long Journey of Model Making – The Nag Hammadi Codices

Preservation Lab Open House 2019 flyer

Each year, the Preservation Lab hosts an annual open house during ALA’s Preservation Week, inviting the entire community to visit the Lab and tour our facilities. Each Preservation Week we choose a theme and dedicate our annual open house to that theme. For instance, last year was dedicated to the history of the codex, where the community was able to discover and explore hands-on the evolution and history of the codex, through various book models created by the Preservation Lab staff. This was a great opportunity to share, with the public, the importance of the materiality of the book and how we can use primary resources as teaching tools.   

The history of the codex is a subject that I am deeply interested and has led me to meet and learn from great scholars such as Julia Miller, an expert in early book forms. As a result, I have been developing my own research skills, learning more about the history of the codex, creating historical book models, and sharing this knowledge with my colleagues and with different communities through opportunities such as Preservation Week. 

One of the most famous pictures of the Nag Hammadi Codices. Image retrieved from https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-artifacts/the-nag-hammadi-codices/

My interest in the history of the codex has led to a fascination for the Nag Hammadi Codices (NHC), also known as Gnostic Gospels. The Nag Hammadi Codices were discovered in 1945 in Upper Egyptian town of Nag Hammadi. The Nag Hammadi Codices appear to have been written during the fourth century. These codices are among some of the oldest codices to have survived with their bindings still intact. There were thirteen codices found, but only eleven bindings have survived. At the time of the discovery eleven covers were found with their texts, text fragments of a twelfth codex, and one text unbound (Codex XIII – tractate (treatise))1.The codices were leather bound with Coptic text written on papyrus sheets. The writings in these codices include fifty-two mostly Gnostic treatises, but they also include other works, such as the Corpus Hermeticum.  

This discovery was extremely important, since there were many texts within the Nag Hammadi Codices that were not known elsewhere at the time. For instance, one of the most famous writings is the Gospel of Thomas which is only complete in the Nag Hammadi Codices2. This was an incredible discovery not only in the world of paleography, religion but also codicology.  

Because of my fascination with the Nag Hammadi Codices, I decided to dedicate some time to creating my own Nag Hammadi models over the years; creating to-scale the eleven bindings found in 1945.  

There are many reasons one chooses to make a model of a book structure, to learn its unique features, how the different materials work together, among others. In my case, I wanted to understand the differences between each of the covers, what features made each cover unique and not exactly the same as the others, and the differences between cover and quire attachment, as well as why some of the codices were more elaborate than others, with cover decoration and blind tooling. This has not been an easy task and has become much longer journey than expected. The tremendous research conducted by scholars and researchers over the years on the study of these texts within the Nag Hammadi Codices, as well as the bindings itself, has helped a great deal in my task of model making. I still have so much more to learn.

The long journey of model making 

I should start by saying that over the years, Julia Miller has been a great mentor to me; providing resources, guidance and advice throughout my endeavors to complete my full set of the NHC models.  

My first NHC model with its many mistakes, such as parchment tackets (not found in any NHC).

My first attempt to create a Nag Hammadi Codex (NHC) model was back in 2013. I started by reading The Archaeology of Medieval Bookbinding by J.A. Szirmai, where the NHC are explored in the first chapters related to single-quire codices. I also based my initial model from one created by the Lab’s conservator, Ashleigh Schieszer. At that time, I knew little about the unique features of each Nag Hammadi Codex and their bindings.

In 2017, I was able to attend a week-long course at the American Academy of Bookbinding (AAB) on early book forms with the conservator and researcher, Julia Miller. It was at the AAB that my interest for these historical structures solidified and where I learned a lot more about early codex forms. It was also in this workshop that I learn about the mistakes I had made with my first NHC model. This only deepened my interest and conviction that I had to make my own set of NHC to understand how these early codices were made.  

I would come to learn from Julia Miller again when I attended a weekend workshop at the Morgan Conservatory. During this weekend workshop, I created my first full-scale Nag Hammadi Codex VI model. In addition, as a side project I was able to create a small version of Nag Hammadi Codex VIII. This was a great opportunity to learn about each codex and their unique binding and quire attachment features.  With the full-scale model of Codex VI, I was on the right path to continue with my other full-scale models.  

Two resources that have been extremely helpful in creating the full-scale models are the Meeting by Accident, by Julia Miller, where there is a dedicated chapter on the Nag Hammadi Codices with full descriptions, measurements and pictures of each codex; and The facsimile edition of the Nag Hammadi codices by James M. Robinson. At times I became lost reading Robinson’s description of the measurements of each codex cover, and other features as it is all written in a continuous text. Luckily, Julia Miller’s book has each description organized, which makes the task of taking notes and model making a lot simpler.  

Another resource that has helped me immensely in this process was studying Julia’s own set of NHC models and paper templates. Seeing Julia’s physical models provided me further insights into visualizing and understanding the descriptions within her book and Robinson’s descriptions.  

For the rest of the NHC models, I started by attempting to make Codex I without any paper template. I soon learned that this was a big mistake, as I ended up making the wrong dimensions of the cover and ruining the model. I realized that by first making a paper template, it allowed me to make mistakes without wasting materials such as leather and papyrus. Even though these were only models, representations of the NHC, I wanted to be as accurate as possible. 

As I mentioned before, my model making journey has been long; each model beginning with research and note taking.  Once I am satisfied with my research, I create a paper template that I will use to create the model with materials used at the time, such as leather and papyrus. This process of model making has been a great learning opportunity for me.

This past Spring I was able to share what I had learned more broadly when the Preservation Lab co-taught a Book Arts class with UC’s English Department. I taught our students about the Nah Hammadi Codices, and together we created a small model of a Nag Hammadi Codex VIII.  

As we continue to work from home, I have been able to dedicate time to continue my model making of the NHC, and research more about early book structures and their discoveries. So far I have completed the following NHC models: 

  • Codex I 
  • Codec IV 
  • Codex VI  
  • Codex VIII 
  • Codex X  
  • Codex XI 
  • Codex XIII 

These models are not perfect, but they represent the unique features of the different Nag Hammadi Codices found in 1945. I am hopeful that these models will be a great addition to the teaching collection at the Preservation Lab, and that perhaps I have inspired others to start their own model making journey during this Preservation Week 2020! 

All the models that I have created so far: Codex I, IV, VI, VIII, X, XI, XIII.

References: 

  • Miller, J. (., Spitzmueller, P. J., & Legacy Press. (2018). Meeting by accident: Selected historical bindings. Ann Arbor, Michigan: The Legacy Press. 
  • Layton, B., & Sieber, J. H. (1991). Nag Hammadi codex VIII. E.J. Brill. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.proxy.library.kent.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip&db=cat02507a&AN=ohiolink.b31949312&site=eds-live&scope=site 
  • Robinson, J. M. (1972). The facsimile edition of the Nag Hammadi codices. Leiden: E. J. Brill.  
  • Robinson, J. M. (2000). The Coptic gnostic library: a complete edition of the Nag Hammadi codices. Netherlands: Brill.  

Additional sources for more information: 

Catarina Figueirinhas [UCL] – Assistant Conservator

Make sure to check out our Instagram (@thepreservationlab) where we’ll share Catarina’s process of making her Codex X model later today. And, if you missed yesterday’s Instagram stories where Jessica shared the exciting journey of photography the choir psalter then take a look at our “PresWeek 2020” story highlight (see below).

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