Tag Archives: we made that

Challenge of a Millennia: How to Store an Oversized Clay Tablet?

The University of Cincinnati’s Archives and Rare Books Library owns a few cuneiform tablets that date around the 1st century BCE.  Most are small enough to fit within the palm of your hand.  However, the clay tablet in question measures 14 inches (W) by 14 inches (T) x 4.5 inches (D) and weighs roughly 40-50 lbs.

Assyrian cornerstone during surface cleaning

More accurately, it is thought to be an Assyrian cornerstone that dates between 860 and 824 BCE.  It is described in the catalog record to be from the ruins of Calah (near Ninevah) on the Tigris River.  It is likely the cornerstone of a temple or palace erected by Salmanser III, king of Assyria. The provenance of how the University acquired the tablet is uncertain.

A translation of the cuneiform writing reads, ““Salmaneser, the great king, the mighty king, king of the universe, king of Assyria, son of Asurnaserpal, the great king, the mighty king, the king of Assyria, son of Tukulbi-Ninib, king of the universe, king of Assyria, and indeed builder of the temple-tower of the city of Calah.”

After surface cleaning and digitizing the cornerstone, finding suitable storage for an Assyrian cornerstone tablet seemed like a straightforward task in the beginning.  I thought, “Let’s get it off the floor, house it, and protect it from dust!”  No problem, right?

But once we got the item back in the lab, the weight of the object combined with its fragility proved more of a challenge after Chris, Holly and I began thinking about how the object would be retrieved from storage and how it would be handled.  Rather than being stored in specialty shelving (such as items might be in a museum), this item was a library item.  We needed to fit the tablet amongst archival book shelving.  We were also faced with the prospect of transporting the cornerstone up and down a flight of stairs from the secure rare book storage. There is no easy elevator access!  And finally, once it was put in an enclosure, how would a librarian get it out to show researchers and students?

We decided on an industrial case with wheels that could be transported and stored anywhere. I knew I wanted a device with handles to pull the object in and out of the case, but immediately decided against the idea of ratchet straps. The threat of fracturing would be too great if the ratchet straps were over-tightened.

After careful thought (and the creation of mock up solutions!) the following custom design was created in five stages:

1. A waterproof, shock-proof rolling Nanuk 950 case (similar to a Pelican case) was purchased.  

2. The interior was customized with foam and supports.

3. The lid was fashioned with a Tyvek pillow screwed to the top with an interior Coroplast sheet.

4. The cornerstone was wrapped around all sides in a foam sheet with four flaps.

5. A cloth wrapper with custom handles was sewn to support the tablet during insertion into and retrieval from the case.

In addition, life-size surrogate photographs were printed by Jessica Ebert and stored in a polyester sleeve within the case.  These images may prove even more useful during exhibition or teaching than seeing the actual tablet as they were captured with raking light that beautifully highlights the cuneiform writing.  They could even be used as an alternative to handling the heavy tablet.

To help guide future librarians on how to handle the cuneiform tablet in the future, handling instructions were provided, a handling video was created, and a QR code of the video was pasted onto the case. Check out the video below.

I was appreciative to have been able to hearken back to my object’s conservation experience working at the Musical Instrument Museum. My prior experience helped guide me to dust the tablet and store surface cleaning samples, however, this was a project that took me out of my library conservation comfort zone.  The knowledge required to house such an object (and the amount of textile sewing used to create the cloth wrapper!) gave me even more appreciation for the work objects and textile conservators do to preserve our oversized and heavy materials – especially when transporting and taking them on and off display!

Ashleigh Ferguson Schieszer [CHPL] – Rare book and paper conservator

Video by Jessica Ebert

Book Arts – 3 simple structures

variation on a blizzard book

Crown book completed during workshop


Occasionally the lab is asked to teach simple book structures to students in other academic departments, usually to assist with the physical presentation of their final projects.  Here is the slideshow presentation that accompanied our on-site training for a photography class for the College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning on 7/15 and 7/16/2019.
Structures included an accordion book and crown book, with bonus instructions on a one-page wonder that can be made outside of class.  Click the link below to access the slideshow and Enjoy!
https://mailuc-my.sharepoint.com/:b:/g/personal/prochah_ucmail_uc_edu/EXm-2wHSzLtGqERd9T2UaSYBfDnS6ArPWSJdX-Ei4cQxCw?e=lhE9Rz
 
 

The Preservation Lab – in the news!

The Preservation Lab and lab staff were in the news twice this week.

UC's newspaper from March 2019

The News Record 3/27/2019


 
Check out a nice write up on the work of the Lab in the student newspaper, The News Record, HERE.
“Below the main floor of Langsam Library, where students bustle about studying, researching and caffeinating, there’s a lab where books with torn pages and cracked bindings fall into the capable hands of a team of technicians who spend their days quietly restoring texts back to working order.”  —- Sami Steward
 
 
 
Cake of an octopus

Edible book by Jessica Ebert


 
Also, Jessica Ebert was interviewed about her participation in the annual University of Cincinnati Libraries’ Edible Book Festival by the local news station.  Check it out HERE.
 
 
Holly Prochaska (UCL) — Preservation Librarian

Happy 20th Anniversary, Holly!

Our Preservation Librarian and co-manager, Holly Prochaska, is celebrating her 20th year at UC Libraries today!  Holly is such a great advocate for the Lab and the Lab staff.  She cares so much about the Lab and we wanted to show her just how much we care about her, so we planned a little surprise…See Holly’s reaction here:


Congratulations on this milestone, Holly!
Check out the Lab’s Instagram @thepreservationlab (especially our story highlights) to see more fun photos of the Rock (Dwayne Johnson) around the Lab.
Jessica Ebert [UCL] – Conservation Tech/Photographic Documentation Tech

Tracking treatments

Most preservation labs track their conservation treatments through a database that links to, or shadows, their institution’s library or museum catalog.  For many years these databases were home grown, with labs using Access or FileMaker Pro – and that is what The Preservation Lab opted to do.   While there are now commercial and consortial alternatives, we are still using our homegrown Access database for now.
Occasionally the lab is asked to share what we use.  So, by semi-popular demand, attached please find the Treatment Database!  Though not perfect, it might serve as a good model to those beginning to organize their treatment documentation beyond printed sheets and physical file cabinets.  Some data has been kept so that you can experiment with the functionality.

Access database, conservation treatment

Screenshot of Treatment Database


To download the treatment database go to the following web address – https://uc.box.com/s/8sq75e5dxe889ezwzteh2dsrrbkmt7t1.  Read this file first, https://uc.box.com/s/rn34n4we0wrxpdj1s2p7xg6abg7mavdx, to help make sense of the databases organization.
[Note:  Access databases won’t PREVIEW in this cloud based storage, but once you download the database it will function just fine.]
Once you download them, make them your own…they are clay ready to be molded to your needs!  Go forth and be productive!
Holly Prochaska (UCL) — Preservation Librarian

To our Provost and 29th President

As a farewell gift and appreciation for all the work and time dedicated to the University of Cincinnati, The Preservation Lab was asked to create a custom binding for an Album for the Provost and 29th President Beverly J. Davenport. UC Government Relations and University Communications provided the lab with single sheets printed with photographs of Dr. Beverly J. Davenport during her time at the University of Cincinnati.
IMG_5456To create the custom binding the single sheets had to be cut using one of our board shears. All the sheets were precisely cut to the same dimensions and a textblock was created.
IMG_5457Once the textblock was ready, endsheets and pastedowns were selected. In this case since this book was dedicated to our Provost and 29th President, the color of the endsheets where the colors of UC, red and black. A white paper was chosen as a pastedown.
IMG_5458Since the pages were single sheets, the finished book would need to have a simple structure: a double fan adhesive binding. This structure is perfect for a textblock of single sheets as it provides a strong binding that allows the text block to be opened almost flat without causing the pages to separate from each other and break free. The adhesive is pasted onto the spine of the text block with a double fanning technique, where the pages are fanned in both directions allowing the adhesive to reach about 1 mm into the text block pages. After the pages are fanned in both directions, the spine of the text block received a lining of Cambric Cloth to provide support and an attachment for the cover. The spine was also lined with a handmade paper further strengthen the spine and prevent it from breaking from heavy use.
IMG_5460Once the textblock was finished, the cover was created, a cloth cover quarter binding. To continue with the theme of UC colors, a marbled paper with red and black tones was chosen. A black cloth was chosen for the spine lining. The album received striped red stuck- on endbands.
IMG_5469 IMG_5482
After the cover was made and the textblock was cased in and the album was ready to receive a title. The title was created using the Lab’s hot stamper. Several titles were made using the same black cloth used on the spine. A silver title stamped on a black cloth was chosen, since it best matched the theme and colors of the cover.
IMG_5472 IMG_5477
And the final result:
IMG_5478 IMG_5480 IMG_5479
 
The Lab deeply appreciated this opportunity to contribute to the farewell gift and wish our 29th President Dr. Beverly J. Davenport all the best.
Catarina Figueirinhas (UCL) — Senior Conservation Technician

We love artists' books: the finished boxes!

You may recall that back in July I blogged about these two beauties that came to the Lab for custom enclosures.  They both returned to PLCH at the beginning of September in their custom enclosures, so I thought I’d share what type of enclosures we came up with to address all the fragile elements of these particular artists’ books. Continue reading

Just Can’t Get Enough

For some of us here at the Lab it’s not enough to work with books all day, we even work with them in our spare time!
The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County collaborates with the Cincinnati Book Arts Society every year to put on Bookworks, an exhibit celebrating the work of book artists. We’re thrilled that four staff members (we’ll always think of Pat as staff, no matter how long he’s retired!) have pieces in Bookworks XVI .
Pat Schmude’s leather-bound “Zombies,” made with techniques learned from bookbinder and conservator Jeff Peachey during a 2013 workshop at the Lab on Eigteenth-Century French Bookbinding.Zombies“The Red Door” is a piece Pat worked on over many years, adding a detail here and there when the inspiration came to him. All of us at the Lab fell in love with it. Don’t you just want to walk through that door and see what new world it takes you to?
RedDoorJessica Ebert’s “Curiosities Behind Glass” shows off the carousel form we learned during our December “fun day” to great effect.
Curiiosities Behind GlassAshleigh’s “Study of Impermanence of Early Contact Printing Photography” is research and binding skill rolled into one!ImpermanenceStudyShe also saved neat old spine linings she had to remove during treatments over her years as a student worker and turned them into a nifty and whimsical documentary for “Spines.”
SpinesMy own wee accordion book, “Wholehearted” uses techniques I learned for toning paper for treatments.Wholehearted
If you’re in the area check out the show in the Atrium at the Public Library’s Main Branch. It’s up from June 10th to September 6th, 2015.
Veronica Sorcher (PLCH) — Conservation Technician

Rolling out Elizabeth Rideout’s collapsible book cradle

Last month our lab hosted a little workshop, taught by talented conservation technician, Chris Voynovich (PLCH), on collapsible book cradles. The workshop came about after our conservator shared images of Elizabeth Rideout’s collapsible book cradle with us and explained how beneficial this would be for the special collections holding libraries to have cradles like this on hand. Chris, who is usually the go-to technician in the lab for tricky enclosures, jumped at the opportunity to create a cradle. So without any instructions available he made a collapsible, adjustable cradle based on the images of Rideout’s cradle online. Chris then wrote up some instructions for a standard size cradle that fits most books. With the instructions on hand we went ahead and planned the workshop, inviting colleagues from both UCL and PLCH.
 

Chris explaining the collapsible cradle and how it works.

Chris explaining the collapsible cradle and how it works.


Continue reading

The Collapsible Book Cradle

I love to design and make things work! Recently I have had the opportunity to kick around a new contraption for displaying or otherwise supporting books, the collapsible book cradle.
These guys are handy for keeping a book stable for viewing which greatly reduces the wear and tear on the object through excessive handling. The cradle is also useful as a support for a book in delicate condition for the conservator or tech to perform repairs.
This particular cradle design also has the feature to collapse to a book like shape which can be stored on the book shelf next to the other books when not in use. Thus the name “The collapsible book cradle”.
cradle
Since creating one from a web blog by Elissa Campbell, I have made one for a miniature book (it’s so cute!) and several to distribute to various departments. I’ve just finished one for an oversize book that was just treated in the lab for the UCL’s Classics Library.
In about 2 weeks I am going to be holding a workshop to make the cradles here at the lab. I think these are a great versatile tool easy to make and easy to store when not in use.
Chris Voynovich (PLCH) — Conservation Technician