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.
Normal Illumination
Raking 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.
Despite working from home right now, we here at The Preservation Lab are getting very excited for ALA’s Preservation Week, which starts on Monday, April 27th! If you are familiar with us at all, you know we love to host our annual Preservation Week Open House. We truly treasure opening the doors of our lab to the community to talk about our work caring for the collections from both the University of Cincinnati and the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County. And of course you might remember those delicious cookies we like to share too!
Well, I hope you are stocked with your cookies at home this year, because while our in-person open house is cancelled, we will be fully celebrating Preservation Week virtually this year!
Stay tuned throughout all of Preservation Week as we post a daily blog (right here!) to highlight some of the great things we are working on. We’ll cover the digitization of an antiphonary (and if you don’t know what that is, be sure to check out the post!); share some content and media we have been creating while working from home; have a blast from the past with a look at past Preservation Week Open House events; and more!
The Lab and our annual Preservation Week open house were recently featured in Cincinnati Magazine. You can read more about it via Twitter and on Cincinnati Magazine’s website.
Remember to follow us on Instagram @thepreservationlab, if you aren’t already!
As mentioned in an earlier post, this Spring the Preservation Lab is partnering with the English Department to co-teach Book Arts (ENG3097), with the Lab staff leading the hands-on experiential learning portion of the course. Unfortunately due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all courses needed to move to a remote learning curriculum for the remainder of the semester. So far one of the biggest challenges has been student access to supplies and materials – papers, leathers, book cloths, etc.
In recognition of this obstacle, I created four different books using the same series of black and white 8.5″x11″ laser prints as the base structure. Ideally the exercise communicates the advantages and disadvantages of each form in expressing my loose narrative, and shows the variety of structures that can be achieved using cheap printer paper. The four structures used are – snake book, accordion with pocket, volvelle inside a scene, and Hedi Kyle’s pocket-link book.
Base images for the snake book and accordion with pockets. I added some color using watercolor pencils.
First up, an exploration of the snake book.
(FRONT) The snake book requires the image to be cut into small sections along a circuitous route.
(REVERSE)
(FOLDED) Because the snake book has folds that go every which way, it is hard to understand the overall image, without unfolding it completely. There are few opportunities to provide additional text or images if this is viewed, or interacted with, as a traditional book.
I’d say that the snake book isn’t a successful structure for my image. Next, let’s try the accordion with pockets.
(OUTSIDE) Cutting the 8.5×11 sheet in half and pasting it together at the short edge, an 8 panel accordion was created.(INSIDE) By folding the outside bottom of the accordion towards the inside, a small pocket is created. In the pocket I placed images of items found in my house…that’s why these two little examples are titled “Household Objects.”
The accordion seems to work better for my image. The outside image is clearer and easier to interpret and the inside blank space provides room to tell a story.
Next, using the same base image, I incorporate two techniques that we covered in class – the construction of volvelles and the use of pochoir (adding color with stencils).
(FRONT) A double sided-volvelle. The front side poses a question or makes an observation.
(BACK) The back side makes a statement on the same topic, but is perhaps a little grim.
Musings on staying at home these past three weeks turn a little grim in this small (8″x7″) scene with an internal volvelle. Turn the wheel and two conversations take place, one on the front and the other on the back, both a bleak internal dialog. The paper dolls are on Neenah UV/ultra translucent paper allowing much of the background drawing to show through, giving the impression of haunting or drifting, not being fully present. These dolls line-up and are sewn together with small pamphlet stitches, with the printer paper substrate in between.
Watercolor paints and stencils, a quick way to make multiple color prints.
The last book builds upon the volvelle scene, expanding the content and transforming it into a traditional codex using the pocket-link structure. The structure has pockets created by the way the pages are linked, you can see them on the left side of the double spreads. I’ll be filling these pockets with mementos of my time haunting my house.
Click on this LINK, or the image below, to flip through the book – Ghost in my home.
All four of these books are just models, but I think they all have potential! Maybe you do too and want to try your hand at these simple forms. If so, check out these “how to” links on snake book, accordion book, and volvelle inside a scene. [Unfortunately, I don’t have an authorized set of instructions for the pocket-link structure to share.]
I hope you’ve enjoyed this little diversion into book arts and wishing you well…
The Preservation Lab staff are all settled into the new reality of working from home. Today marks the close of our third week working remotely and quarantining ourselves during COVID-19, and after two weeks of adjustments, realizations, and finding our grooves, we thought week three was the perfect time to tackle a fun group project! You may recall last April when we were fortunate enough to have the wonderful Julia Miller come to the lab and teach us a variety of historical structures. In that one week with Julia we learned so many structures, from tablets to scrolls & rolls to a model of Ms 815. Julia also left each of us with a packet of all the materials we needed to create a model of Ms 987; a single-quire codex containing the proverbs of Solomon, which is part of the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin’s collection. But in the past year, our day-to-day priorities always took precedent over model-making and we just never found the time to work on it together. Well, what better way to relieve a little stress and commemorate the anniversary of our workshop with Julia than with a little coordinated model-making!?
Since Catarina had made an Ms 987 model in a previous workshop she had taken with Julia [pictured below], she was kind enough to guide us through the steps in two Microsoft Teams chat sessions. She was also available via chat to answer any questions we had as we went along.
Catarina’s model from a previous workshop that we used as a reference during our at-home-model-making
Here are the finished at-home models:
Catarina’s model that will become part of the Lab’s permanent model collection
Sidney’s model
Hyacinth’s model
Jessica’s model
Jessica’s model
Holly’s model
Kasie’s model
Kasie’s model – like several of us, Kasie created a cutaway model, not fully pasting down one side of the leather and turn-ins and not attaching the pastedown
Kasie’s model featuring her furry coworker, Ru!
Many of us also took photos of our progress as we were making the models and we posted them in our Instagram stories. You can find those images within our story highlight entitled “Ms.987 Models” in the profile. We also shared our models with each other in our scheduled Friday morning video chat!
Where you can find our highlighted stories of our Ms 987 models
Kasie, Catarina, Holly, Ashleigh, and me (in the corner) showing off our models
We are so grateful to Julia for preparing all the materials for this model, as part of our workshop last April. The preparation she did for us made it so easy to construct these models at home. I would also like to thank Catarina for walking us through the construction process and for answering all our questions throughout.
Happy Friday everyone! Stay happy, stay healthy and stay safe!
Earlier this March I was able to attend The Conservation of Leather Bookbindings at the University of Notre Dame. The American Institute for Conservation (AIC) and the Foundation for Advancement in Conservation (FAIC) supported this 5-day workshop that was taught by book conservator and tool-maker Jeff Peachey. Conservation is a field that requires a constant love of learning new skills and techniques, so when I saw this workshop was hosted not too far from Cincinnati, I jumped at the opportunity to increase my knowledge on the conservation of leather bookbindings.
Leather is an
interesting topic in book conservation, as many of the historic books we work
on have full or partial leather bindings. Leather, like paper, comes in a
variety of qualities, and has inherent issues as it ages over time. And we, as
conservators, have many ways to combat these issues to make the books in our
collections accessible to all.
This workshop offered
an in-depth look at the many ways leather can be conserved, while also
discussing the pros and cons of the various types of treatment options. This
level of understanding is crucial part for us.
Think of it like taking a test – you can simply have the list of
answers, or you can study and understand why the answers are in fact correct
(any teacher will tell you they prefer the latter of these two options, and we
do too!).
While the leather on the outside of a book is what most of us see when we look at our books and bookshelves, a large portion of the workshop focused on how those books are put together. If you’ve seen a leather book, you have likely seen a book that has its covers detached or missing. We talked about reattaching covers using techniques such as joint tackets, sewing extensions, slitting and slotting the boards, and tissue repairs. These are techniques that need to be considered before a leather reback, which was the final technique we learned, would take place.
One of the most beneficial aspects of the workshop was that
we were able to practice these techniques on our own books. (I’ll take this
time to note that these were not collection items! We like to practice on models or personal
books first.) Being able to learn about the techniques and then practice them
was a great way to use the hand skills needed for these types of treatments.
Having our own personal models that were treated also provides an application
of how these techniques work and wear over time.
The workshop also covered leather dying, as well as knife
sharpening – a crucial tool for working with leather, and leather paring
techniques and tools.
I have to say, the workshop happened in the week before Covid-19 began impacting the United States on a massive scale. All of the attendees remained in contact with their home institutions and families throughout the week as news progressed. The workshop, though, provided a sort of conservation utopia where we could turn off the news and focus on the profession that we all love. Jeff Peachey was an incredible instructor, offering vast amounts of knowledge and insight that we can apply to our day-to-day work. And the staff and facilities at the University of Notre Dame provided the perfect environment for our leather conservation deep dive. A sincere thank you to Jeff, the University of Notre Dame, AIC and FAIC for the wonderful workshop.
While I continue my work-from-home, I will be finishing a few of the treatments I had started during the workshop, and also practicing things like leather paring, leather dying, and repair techniques. This will ensure that when we are back in The Preservation Lab, I’ll be able to provide assistance on many of the damaged leather books that are waiting for our tender loving care.
In the meantime check out some more photos from the workshop on our @ThePreservationLab Instagram! And follow us if you don’t already to see what we are up to in our work-from-home spaces.
As things change daily in Ohio, we’re staying informed by listening to Governor Mike DeWine’s press briefings at 2pm, in addition to updates from UCL and the Public Library.
In particular, we recommend accessing the Public Library’s COVID-19 web page to see what info and resources the Library is sharing daily, such as how to obtain after school snacks provided by the UMC Food Ministry.
Another resource we’d like to pass along is about the management of collections when faced with a public health emergency. Please see the MassachusettsCOSTEP website about collections maintenance, environmental cleaning, and library lending:
*Update 3/27/2020: The American Institute for Conservation (AIC) has also published a useful list of Collections Care Amid Covid-19 resources to check out. See the Ohio Preservation Council’s COVID-19 page as well.
As of Monday (3/16/2020) the Preservation Lab staff are practicing safe social distancing by sheltering in place. We have packed up our benches and transformed our personal living spaces into productive places to work from home.
Holly’s adorable nook with typewritten words per day!
As well as a space-efficient standing Ikea desk made from book shelves on either side…
… and she even has room for a guest, as well as…
…a productive administrative space.
Catarina has intelligently taken over her kitchen for a multipurpose space…
…since kitchen counters are the perfect height for working while standing!
She has a separate clean administrative space for conducting research and writing reports…
… and of course bookbinding models in progress and Nag Hammadi codices!
Ashleigh’s home office also doubles as a guest room.
The guest room closet is retrofitted to hold bookbinding supplies.
A side table next to the bed doubles as another working surface…
…And empty dresser drawers are now filled with book parts.
Ashleigh also uses her dining room as a research library.
While her husband has taken over the front porch – many of our family members are also working from home.
Here, Chris is being assisted in constructing a cradle by his puppy Jillian.
And works in a separate room for administrative work.
Jessica has been hard at work at her cozy home bench.
Here, Jessica is in the process of cleaning a book spine…
…and in this photo she’s working on textblock paper repairs.
Kasie created a beautifully organized workspace this past weekend to hold her tools…
…her books and supplies…
And a spot to work with a view!
Hyacinth’s kitchen table setup is perfect for sewing music. Upsides: great natural light and proximity to coffee. Downside: too close to cookies!
To stay connected, we use iPads or laptops and have a Preservation Lab Microsoft Team set up for instant communication, video chat, and file sharing. VPN and Remote Access were also heroically provided in extremely short notice by UCL IT staff.
Our work from home projects range from online learning opportunities, research we wish we always had the time to do, report writing, model making, exhibit preparation from pre-cut materials prepared ahead of time, box making (from pre-measured books), and general collections treatment.
We also have a longer list of work-from-home-ideas should the pandemic sheltering last more than a few weeks. These include:
Professional organization committee work (such as AIC/MRCG/& OPC)
Disaster preparedness updating
Creating videos
Writing blogs
Updating procedures and guidelines
Preparing instructional materials
Curriculum creation for teaching
Fabricating book furniture for Gothic binding treatments
Making book futons
Constructing silk screens for washing
Organizing emails and photography files
Sierra (online catalog) record cleanup
Uploading reports to the Preservation Digital Resource Commons
Creating databases such as one to record exhibition lighting
…And more such as the list provided by Duke’s Preservation Lab Team:
For those interested in learning along with us, the lab’s short list of at-home professional development opportunities include the following FREE courses/webinars:
This Spring the Preservation Lab is partnering with the English Department to co-teach Book Arts (ENG3097). The Lab is leading the hands-on experiential learning portion of the course, with Gary Weissman (Associate Professor and Director of Literary & Cultural Studies, Department of English) leading the seminar portion.
During the Lab portion, students will be exposed to a brief history of the codex, make western-style paper, learn to a variety of sewn structures, have an overview of printing techniques, and explore ways to add interest to the codex structure (movable structures, closures, enclosures, material choice, etc.), among other activities.
For the February 5th class session, students made a model of the Nag Hammadi Codex VIII. Catarina Figueirinhas, Assistant Conservator, began the session with a short lecture on the discovery of the codices and the importance of the find to papyrologists, and book history and religious scholars. She then led the students through the creation of the half scale model.
It was a wonderfully successful afternoon thanks to a group of very engaged students and an amazingly prepared, as always, Catarina Figueirinhas.
Catarina Figueirinhas building up the cover structure – cartonnage.Nag Hammadi models created by Catarina Figueirinhas.
Holly Prochaska (UCL) — Preservation Librarian
All images provided by Melissa Norris (UCL) — Director of Communications
You may recall back in September of 2018 when we shared an article I had written in our UC Libraries’ newsletter about photographic documentation in the Lab and a recent workshop I had attended through FAIC: http://libapps.libraries.uc.edu/source/photo-documentation-in-the-preservation-lab/ If you missed it, basically the workshop focused on a standardized and replicable UV/visible fluorescence documentation workflow, and was taught by Conservator Jennifer McGlinchey Sexton at Duke University. It was a fantastic workshop and I came back from it with a plan for a new UV workflow and a list of equipment for an improved UV setup. However, conservation photography equipment can be pricey, especially when you are embarking on improving a very specialized setup, like UV. On top of that we had just included a Near Infrared workflow into our photography repertoire and our budget was feeling the strain. So we took the smart approach and slowly bought equipment, here and there, when the budget allowed. Finally, we now have all the equipment we need for the new setup. Check out the results from today’s session:
Left: normal illumination, Right: UV radiation
Lucky for me, when it came to refreshing myself on the actual workflow I had learned at Duke the binder that Jennifer had put together for each workshop participant was incredibly thorough and all I needed to replicate the workflow in the Lab. Before we dive into the aspects of the new workflow and why it is “improved”, let’s discuss our previous workflow for a second. Like most conservation labs, we refer to The AIC Guide to Digital Photography and Conservation Documentation (currently on sale for $20!) for almost anything PhotoDoc-related. For UV, the book details the different types of ultraviolet radiation, various types of UV lamps, safety (both for the object and yourself), setup, filters, and workflow. In this volume the basic workflow describes using the camera’s “shade” white balance setting and then adjusting the temperature to 10000K and the tint to +35 in CameraRaw. Exposure is determined by the photographer using visual cues alone, as there is no way to white balance using a standard color checker; the Neutral 8 (N8) patch will no longer be neutral grey under UV fluorescence.
While this workflow produces very usable images that illustrate the fluorescence of materials, inks, pigments, adhesive and staining, it is subjective and makes replication of results more difficult. While our prior workflow for UV photography could use improvement, the workflow itself was not the main issue, in fact, this is the workflow used in many other labs. The problem child of our setup was the equipment, and I’m sure any lab trying to piece together a completely brand new PhotoDoc studio (which happened six years ago for us) on a budget can relate. Behold our previous “UV” lamps, which I affectionately referred to as the “Home Depot setup”:
Good ole black lights! Though, unfortunately, we did not have a velvet Elvis black light poster hanging in the studio to really take full advantage of these babies.
If we’re being honest, these low-pressure fluorescent lamps were super cheap and served their purpose for 6 years. Shooting with them was a bear; since the intensity was very weak, I would have to shoot with both lamps and we did not have any clamps to hold them in place. I had to either get someone to assist me or, once I got a wireless mouse, I got even more creative (ask me about it sometime – it’s pretty funny). The downside of these inexpensive lamps is the significant and noticeable visible light leakage. Since the fluorescent tubes are not properly filtered, the image you are left with has a blueish-purple cast to it:
Notice the blue cast to the background in this image.
In this image the blue cast is more apparent on the parchment page and the color checker.
Now onto the new
setup! The main components include:
1 – REL C4 Magnum-GO lamp* – this is an LED lamp with a peak output of 368nm. It comes with a filter over the radiation source, therefore eliminating visible light leakage from the lamp.
Taget UV and UV Gray Card – this color checker and gray card are specially designed for UVA fluorescence photography and allow you to white balance prior to imaging (gray card) and identify the RGB values (target).
Filters (which you should have regardless of your setup, but we did not have them previously) –
2E – cuts UV and blue
PECA 918 (or equivalent, we have a Hoya IR Cut filter) – cuts IR even more
We also purchased an adapter in order to fit both filters on our smaller 50mm lens
UV Glasses (always part of our setup but worth mentioning) – safety is very important and we purchased these goggles because they easily fit over eyeglasses.
Right to left, top to bottom: filters, SuperClamp, UV Glasses, Target UV, UV Gray Card, REL lamp
Fun facts about the REL lamp: The intensity of the lamp and the handle make it great for quick examination. It has a normal LED built in as well and you can have both functions on at the same time, making it easier to see if you’ve turned your studio lights off or if you want to do a quick comparison of normal illumination vs UV radiation. As with any UV radiation source you want to keep it away from your object until you are ready to image. When using a radiation source you also want to let the lamp warm up for at least one minute before imaging (away from the object or with the object covered). This is because when a lamp is initially turned on it can emit up to eight times more UV radiation, and allowing the lamp to warm up gives the output levels a chance to even out, making it much safer for the object.
Fun facts about the Target UV & UV Gray Card: I know the target and gray card are extremely expensive and not feasible for everyone, but there are definitely advantages to them if you have the budget to invest in the pair. Not only do the target and gray card allow for white balancing, thus giving you a more accurate color temperature and color representation, but the target is also double-sided and has 4 separate intensity levels: low, medium, high and ultra. This basically means that you can image a wider variety of fluorescence intensities without sacrificing exposure or color representation. For example, if you have an object with a layer of varnish on it that only mildly fluoresces, you would probably use the “low” intensity patch to white balance, whereas if you have an object with optical brighteners (extreme fluorescence), you would likely use the “ultra” intensity scale. This makes it very handy if you have one object that has multiple materials/inscriptions/staining that are fluorescing at very different intensities.
Normal Illumination
Low-low intensity
Low intensity
Medium intensity
High intensity
Overall, I am very happy with the new setup and workflow, and I am looking forward to using it more and more in the future.
*In the workshop we used by the REL C4 Magnum LED lamps and these UV Systems SuperBright 3 LW370 lamps. Both worked beautifully but it seemed as though two of the UV Systems lamps would be needed while I could get away with just purchasing one of the REL LED lamps. The UV Systems lamps would have also required a much more robust mounting system beyond the SuperClamp because of their weight and orientation.
In July of this year, I had the pleasure of assisting on a photograph treatment of Ronald Reagan, which came to us as part of a collection of items belonging to UC alumnus Benjamin Gettler. It came with a small handful of very old jelly beans from President Reagan’s desk that Mr. Gettler had taken as a souvenir during his visit. While the image itself was in very good condition, it was mounted to an old backing board, which required removal and cleaning so that the image could be digitized and rehoused.
Photograph of Ronald Reagan, with backing
We started by carefully peeling away the old board. This had to be done very slowly, in order to prevent creasing of the high-gloss surface of the image. The adhesive was rather old, and quite a bit of backing was left behind that would require manual work to get at any information that might have been hiding underneath. Next, Ashleigh and I set about the finer cleanup. With cotton swabs, very thin spatulas, and generous amounts of methyl cellulose, we removed the remainder of the board and adhesive. This had to be done in stages:
Part one was a very general and simple cleaning of the unmarked portion of the back of the photograph. This portion was mostly yellowed water soluble adhesive that was removed with poultices.
After backing removal. Look at all that yellowed adhesive!
Part two was much more methodical and time-consuming to clean the center area, as it contained ink and graphite that were vulnerable and also water soluble – which we did not want to loose! The smallest working areas around the ink were very lightly mechanically scraped with a scalpel to remove adhesive and small paper fragments.
After cleaning was largely completed. The newspaper ID stamp is completely visible.
When the work was complete, we revealed what appeared to be a handwritten graphite inscription, and an identifying stamp belonging to the late Bernie Boston (1933-2008), a photojournalist who was the director of photography for the now-defunct Washington Star at the time the photograph was taken. Mr. Boston was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 1987, and his best-known photograph is known as “Flower Power,” a Pulitzer-nominated 1967 photograph depicting a Vietnam War protester placing a carnation into the barrel of a soldier’s rifle during a protest march in Washington, D.C. Discovering the stamp was a truly unexpected discovery that provided a new layer of importance! For long term preservation, the newly unmounted photograph was humidified and flattened and stored in a polyester L-sleeve.
Sleeve photograph after treatment.
The sleeve image was stored in an unbuffered rag mat board package that passes the Photographic Activity Test (PAT), mounted with pressure sensitive photo corners. A surrogate of the image was created and housed with the jelly beans for context.
Sleeve photograph mounted with photocorners.
Photograph is stored long-term in a mat board package with a window and cover.
The Preservation Lab is gearing up to co-teach a Book Arts Course with Gary Weissman in the English Department, Spring 2020. Jessica Ebert and I prepped for the closure session by securing these two books. The idea of creating this sampler was borrowed, with permission, from our friend and fellow bookbinder Fran Kovac.
That’s a lot of security! From top to bottom – bone clasp, two hole tie, O ring wrap, toggle, and 6th century wrap (wrapped two directions so as to see the design). Holly Prochaska (UCL) — Preservation Librarian
