Category Archives: Book

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:

A Little Box Magic

I just had to share this beauty of a box that was made by conservation technician, Chris Voynovich, to house the Public Library’s collection of Marguerite Lloyd’s diaries. These ten diaries are part of the library’s Genealogy & Local History Department. Marguerite Lloyd was the daughter of Major Harlan Page Lloyd, the former law partner of Alphonso Taft, the father of President William Howard Taft.

Chris created this lovely cloth covered clamshell box with two removable trays that each house 5 diaries. The compartments for the two smaller diaries have a custom fill to accommodate for their smaller size. All the diaries have received a polyester jacket and the linen tabs under each volume make them easy to remove and handle.
Jessica Ebert (UCL) – Conservation Technician, Lead Photographic Documentation Tech

Two ways to compensate for loss. Textblock loss, that is.

Before the age of endless digital writing space, it’s easy to forget that blank paper was a commodity. Below are two fun examples of writing ledgers that remind me just how precious paper was.
While it’s possible that salacious writings were once written and removed from the back of these bindings… another theory is that the blank pages were no longer needed for their original intended purpose, and since they were going to waste… an opportunistic writer hastily cut and ripped out pages, seizing the goods for use elsewhere.

Half leather binding with cloth boards, Registry of the Leonard Hotel, 1886 – contains a page that features Grover Cleveland’s signature. Pages are lost from the back of the textblock. Fragments of pages remain sewn along the gutter where pages were removed.

So what does that mean for the ledgers left behind whose guts have been partially removed?
The covers no longer fit the pages inside. The spines sag or pop off, and the covers extend beyond the fore edge of the book’s textblock – making both handling and long-term preservation problematic.

Registry of the Leonard Hotel, 1886, view of the head

Registry of the Leonard Hotel, 1886, view of fore edge and head

In order to relieve stress, conservation treatment can be undertaken to compensate for loss. For extremely important bindings, treatment may entail replacing lost pages with new paper, resewing the sheets into the binding.
However, in the following two examples below, the textblocks were otherwise in fairly good condition, so the Lab explored a lower cost route by inserting foam spacers.
The Leonard Hotel registry (which contains Grover Cleveland’s signature from 1885!) was treated overall to reback and consolidate deteriorated leather. A closed cell polyethylene foam was loosely inserted as a placeholder for the missing text. In this case, the foam can be removed at any time and the jagged edges of the page fragments can be observed. Simple, yet effective!

After treatment, foam is loosely inserted in the back of the binding to help the textblock fit inside its covers.

Before treatment images are displayed on the left, after treatment images on the right:

A similar treatment taken a step further builds upon the treatment solution above. The following ledger contains early Cincinnati baptismal, marriage, and funeral records that predate city records, dating to 1838-1885. A large section of lost paper in the back of the binding has caused the stiff spine to pop off. The loose covers no longer support the textblock pages.

Volume 2 of a collection of “Third German Protestant Church of Cincinnati Records”. Full suede leather springback binding with stiff board spine. Sewn on cloth/linen tape supports. Receiving stabilization treatment in preparation for future digitization. A large section of the textblock is lost in the back of the binding.

Treatment was conducted by our senior conservation technician, Catarina Figueirinhas, to stabilize the ledger for digitization out of house, as well as long-term storage. Rather than insert foam loosely, this book was in need of a rigid support that would not be in danger of becoming lost. Therefore, foam was sewn into the back of the binding as if it was a gathering. This was achieved by wrapping the foam in an archival e-flute cardboard. Essentially, the blue cardboard was folded into a “u-shape” with sharp corners and treated as an outer folio. The corrugated cardboard was then sewn through each fold onto the original sewing supports, as though the cardboard was two gatherings. The foam was adhered inside the cardboard with adhesive.

Volume 2 of a collection of “Third German Protestant Church of Cincinnati Records” after treatment.

Because this condition issue is unique – it’s part of the object’s history, yet presents us with preservation challenges – treatment solutions are not one-size-fits-all. Each book calls for solutions based on how it will be used and interpreted.
In these cases, the foam gatherings, both sewn and loose, functioned well in the back of the bindings while also retaining the history of use. The constructed gatherings helped to improve handling and support the bindings in a cost effective and reversible way (with differing levels of reversibility). I imagine this will not be the last book to come across my bench with chunks of missing text; I am excited to be armed with these simple solutions.
Ashleigh Ferguson Schieszer (PLCH) —- Book and Paper Conservator
Photographic Documentation by Jessica Ebert & Ashleigh Schieszer

Fun with PhotoDoc: Infrared Again (Edition 8)

It’s been a while since my last Fun with PhotoDoc post, so I wanted to share some progress I’ve been making with Reflected IR. You might remember from my last PhotoDoc post, we purchased a modified UV-Vis-IR camera from MaxMax at the end of 2017. Our first two objects we (Ashleigh and I) examined and documented with the camera were a great learning experience, but didn’t exactly leave me with goosebumps. Still it was a good experience and we worked out the use of the various filters and the general IR workflow.
Fast forward to April when the lab received not one but two books from UC in need of IR photography. The first was the Masters thesis of Ralph E Oesper from the Oesper History of Chemistry collection. The curator wished to exhibit several of the pages from the volume, but upon inspection Ashleigh (our conservator) was concerned that the purple text ink might be dye based, which is very light sensitive.

: Normal illumination image

: Near infrared image

The ink disappearing under near IR is a clear indicator that the ink is most likely dye based, and while that made Ashleigh very happy and validated her choice to create printed surrogates of the pages for exhibition, I still felt a little less than wow’d. I was still waiting for a really compelling and dramatic IR example.
Enter volume 1 from the Third German Protestant Church of Cincinnati collection, an 18 volume collection of early Cincinnati baptismal, marriage, and funeral records from the Archives and Rare Books Library that pre-dates the city records. In this case, Ashleigh wanted me to examine and document 4 pages within the volume with faint graphite inscriptions on paper with heavy foxing.

Side by side comparison of one page under normal illumination and near infrared

Finally! A satisfying IR session with helpful results. Documenting all four pages using reflected IR allows for the foxing to disappear from the page, thus making the faint graphite inscription easier to read. After converting the IR image to grayscale I also upped the contrast significantly, allowing for better readability of the handwriting. In the end, we now have four pages of legible inscriptions and I’m very happy with the results.

Click on an individual image to see the gif in action for that page…

I definitely still have a lot to learn when it comes to near infrared photography, but I would call this, not only a satisfying experience, but progress that will hopefully lead to a better workflow. This round of IR photography definitely was not seamless, but I did learn more, as I do every time I shoot, and it is my hope that the more I do the more I will streamline and improve our IR workflow.

Jessica Ebert (UCL) – Conservation Technician, Lead Photographic Documentation Tech

Flowers for Clara

I came across these pretty Arts and Crafts period endpapers in a German multi-volume set of books about Clara Schumann belonging to UC’s Albino Gorno Memorial Music Library, and wanted to share:

Veronica Sorcher (PLCH) – Conservation Technician

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

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

Welcome President Pinto!

Dean and University Librarian Xuemao Wang and President Neville Pinto

The Preservation Lab had the opportunity to collaborate with our Director of Library Communications, Melissa Norris, and the Head of Archives and Rare Books Library, Kevin Grace, to create a hand bound writing notebook full of fun facts about the Library system. The book was bound by Jessica Ebert, conservation technician.
Also pictured is a custom bind of Dot Christenson’s book Keep On Fighting: The Life and Civil Rights Legacy of Marian A. Spencer, also bound by Jessica created to mark the gift of the Marian Spencer collection to the Archives and Rare Books Library.

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 29^thPresident 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.
To 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.
Once the textblock was ready, endsheets and pastedowns were selected. In this case since this book was dedicated to our Provost and 29^th President, the color of the endsheets where the colors of UC, red and black. A white paper was chosen as a pastedown.
Since 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.
Once 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.

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.

And the final result:

The Lab deeply appreciated this opportunity to contribute to the farewell gift and wish our 29^th President Dr. Beverly J. Davenport all the best.
Catarina Figueirinhas (UCL) — Senior Conservation Technician

Polyester Encapsulated Page Binding *Part Two: The Components

This past year, the Preservation Lab was recruited to conserve the Public Library’s scrapbook of Althea Hurst.

Scrapbooks are complex library materials. They are conduits to stories told through the use of collections of ephemeral materials (a.k.a. materials meant to be thrown away and not meant to last), such as newspaper clippings, letters and postcards, and maps.
Due to their collection of content, scrapbooks usually are bursting with problematic preservation issues. Often, fragile pages hold stiff, brittle, or heavy parts that are adhered and folded. Components are frequently found layered and overlapping. These parts are filled with information and are intended to be handled and experienced; however, as the parts become fragile with age they are nearly impossible to touch without causing damage.

Althea Hurst scrapbook with adhered components, before conservation treatment.

In most situations, it’s often best to digitize an object and protect it by storing it in an enclosure. I often recommend patrons reference the digital copy rather than handling the physical object. Alternatively, if an object will be handled (and the importance of the object warrants conservation treatment) another solution is to support the pages by encapsulating them within clear polyester film. The polyester film encapsulations are then bound into an encapsulated page binding. This format help preserve the parts in the author’s intended order, however, this course of treatment must be carefully considered as it can sometimes be an invasive solution if disbinding is required.
In the case of the Public Library’s scrapbook, the scrapbook had been previously reformatted by a prior owner due to its poor condition. At some point in the object’s history, each page and cover had been separated from the binding and stored in non-archival plastic sleeves to protect the pages from breaking. Oversized rubber bands held the album in two manageable stacks.

Althea Hurst scrapbook as received, before conservation treatment.

When the library received the object, the pages were in dire need of stabilization before it could be digitized and also needed improved storage. Because the scrapbook was already disbound into pieces (even the covers were detached) an encapsulated page binding was selected as the most fitting option for storage. The local historical importance of the scrapbook warranted full treatment.

Althea Hurst scrapbook, view of inside upper cover and first page, before treatment.

Being a novice in encapsulated page bindings, I reviewed a few binding structures and wrote about my discoveries here. I settled on constructing a modified screw-post binding to fit the needs of the Public Library’s scrapbook.
Now armed with a direction for constructing the album structure, the next challenge was:
How do I encapsulate a scrapbook that houses a variety of adhered material, such as pamphlets, postcards, letters, maps, and more, and still make the parts accessible?

Encapsulation Techniques

To determine a solution for preserving the arrangement of parts, I researched various methods of welding paper, polyester film, and spun bond sheets of polyester webbing to encapsulated pages. I compiled the methods into a model binding for reference in preparation for treatment.

Below are a list of experimental solutions for housing and encapsulating the scrapbook’s multiple parts. Many of the techniques were utilized in the final treatment, as you will see in the photographs below.

1. Traditional Encapsulation

This technique was used to fully encapsulate scrapbook pages overall, or to encapsulate removed single sheets that needed extra support
Pages or parts were sandwiched between polyester film and ultrasonically welded on all four sides:

Gaps along the corners were left to encourage air exchange and to prevent buildup of acidic off-gassing of the historic materials.

2. U-sleeve: welded on 3 sides for top edge access

Useful for items that may need to be handled outside of the plastic and are thick or heavy

Hinged U-sleeve allows access to the card as well as stability for storing next to the envelope.

3. Polyester sheets welded on two parallel sides

Could potentially be helpful in the right circumstance for thin items that may need to be handled outside of the plastic. Two access points are helpful for reducing static cling and suction, however, items may accidentally slide out more easily (see next technique for a similar yet preferred method).

4. L-sleeve: welded along the left side and bottom edge (in the shape of an “L”).

Alternative technique to the U-sleeve for storing parts that may require future handling.
An L-sleeve can be welded to one side of an encapsulated page binding with an ultrasonic weld after the L-sleeve is created.
For thicker materials, an additional small weld along the bottom right edge is helpful to prevent materials from sliding out of the sleeve when the page is turned.

5. Spot welds: heat or ultrasonically welded

Technique used to hold materials in place and prevent them from sliding within an encapsulation

6. Thin overlapping attachments

Overlapping parts that need to be kept in a specific composition can be carefully removed from the page by a conservator and individually encapsulated. The encapsulated components can then be welded to the upper sheet of the polyester page using a variety of techniques to preserve the original orientation.
Using these techniques allows access to all the components on a page that would otherwise be inaccessible in a traditional encapsulation, and keeps the author’s intended composition.
Parts must be oriented and welded to the upper sheet of polyester before creating the finished encapsulated page, i.e. before encapsulating the lower sheet of polyester to the upper sheet.

7. Hollytex hinge

A strong synthetic hinge (made from spun-bonded polyester) that is welded to the clear polyester sheets with ultrasonic welding.
Useful for easily viewing the front and back of overlapping parts or loose bits.

Detail of Hinge

Overlapping Components, Before Treatment:

Hinged Overlapping Parts, After Treatment:

8. Paper Hinge

Usu Mino tissue is welded in between two sheets of polyester
The extended Usu Mino hinge can then be brushed with paste and adhered directly to a paper leaf.
Useful in other applications, for example preserving loose components in paper textblocks, such as pressed flowers or handwritten notes.

9. Polyester four flap attachment

For small but thick objects
To secure thin components with multiple parts on top of an encapsulated page while still allowing full access

10. Paper spacers

Strips of acid free paper can be placed within an encapsulation to prevent smaller components from moving within larger encapsulated pages.
The paper space holders are visually pleasing so the viewer is not distracted by the page below.
Static holds thinner sheets in place
Thicker textblock leaves may need to be spot welded in-between the document and the paper strip

11. Stiff support leaf with cloth hinge

To support heavy page encapsulations AND/OR include heavy components in pockets on a strong page within the binding
Constructed out of 2-ply mat board, PVA, and Canapetta cloth

Before Treatment:

After Treatment:

12. Stiff flyleaf to support encapsulated pages when laying open

Constructed out of 4-ply mat board, PVA, and Canapetta cloth
The stiff flyleaf contains a smaller hinge than the interior support leaves

*Bonus Experimental Technique:

13. Welding polyester film to Vivak

Even the cover contained an attached component!
As per a request by the curator, the original cover was incorporated into the new binding with reversible methods. The original cover was hinged into a sink-mat package that was sandwiched between a cloth covered mat and a sheet of Vivak.
After a bit of experimenting, a polyester L-sleeve was ultrasonically welded to the Vivak “pastedown” so the original arrangement could be preserved

Before Treatment & After Treatment:

A flyleaf of polyester film was hinged onto the “pastedown” to protect the attached component from being abraded by the edges of the textblock leaves:

Two volumes, after treatment:

Final challenge: how to manage the scrapbook’s large treatment effectively and efficiently.

To read about our collaborative treatment workflow, please see the next upcoming installment: Polyester Encapsulated Page Binding *Part Three: The Workflow.

Ashleigh Ferguson Schieszer (PLCH) — Conservator, Conservation Lab Manager
Photographic Documentation – Jessica Ebert (UCL) – Conservation Technician