Catarina and I are working on rehousing a large series of College of Engineering class composites from the mid-1950s through the early 2000s. It is a fantastic visual timeline of 20th century photographic processes. It also perfectly charts cultural shifts through the decades (so many haircuts and mustaches!) There was even a gentleman that I sang in Chorus with during my years as a student here! But even beyond all of that, there were some unexpected tiny bits of Cincinnati history. The University handles its own photography now, but that wasn’t always the case. The early class composites were done by local businesses. The bulk of them were done by three now-defunct studios: Pogue, Shillito’s, and Rob Paris Photography. If you are a Cincinnati native, you may have heard of them. If you are of a certain age, you may even have had your portraits done by one or all of them. (I personally had portraits taken at Shillito’s as a child.) What a fun little piece of history. Of all the things that I enjoy about working with the photographs in our collections, I think the unexpected finds may be my favorite!
The imprint of the H & S Pogue Department Store.
Imprint of Rob Paris studio.
Photographer’s stamp found of the verso of several of the Rob Paris composites.
Imprint of the Shillito’s photo studio.
Hyacinth Tucker —- (UCL) Conservation Technician and Bindery Coordinator
I recently had the privilege of sitting down for a talk with the newest member of the lab staff, Matt McCoy. Matt is a CPHL employee who comes to us from…well, I’ll just let him tell it.
[edited for clarity]
Hyacinth: Alright, so first off, how did you come to be here in the lab?
Matt: I became aware of the lab at an open house; I think it was 2017 or 2018. I was working in Materials Retrieval downtown. I did the tour here, and I knew Cat [Catarina Figueirinhas, Assistant Conservator in the lab] because she used to work in my department. My boss picked a couple of people to go to the open house, and I got to check it out.
It was really cool, and I thought, ‘this would be a cool place to work someday.’ At the time, libraries were sort of just a side job for me. They’ve become more of a focus, especially over the pandemic. I started an MLIS but decided not to continue with it after getting a taste for the public librarianship. I guess I wouldn’t say I’ll never pick it back up again, but who knows?
I’ve always kept an eye on job postings, and I saw this one, I think it was over winter break. At that pont I had been working as a customer service substitute for CHPL for about a year. Then I saw the job posting and it just it sort of was like they have an opening there; I feel like that was the first time I had ever seen an opening pop up when I was here.
H: Yeah, it doesn’t happen often.
M: So I was like, you know what, I’m just going to apply for that. I was a little worried I’d missed my shot because I think it had been posted for a month or so. I had a friend who was staying with me over the holidays, and I applied for it the first day he was out, just kind of on a whim. Things just sort of fell into place from there, and here I am.
H: Well, you’ve been with us for nearly three weeks [at the time of the interview.] How are you liking it?
M: I love it so far. Even just the general collection stuff I’m doing so far, it’s very interesting. There are hand skills, but since I’m starting on general collections, it hasn’t been super stressful. The days fly by really quickly. I really like improving skill sets, so just getting to go through the training and practice different things and assessing how’d it go, what can I do better or what do I need more work on, that’s been fun and satisfying to do. I’m really liking that.
You guys have all been great so far, real good staff to have around. Everybody’s been really helpful and friendly. I’ve felt very welcomed here from the start and it’s been cool just getting to see all the stuff you guys have been working on, both at the open house but also the…I guess the pre-return meeting? That’s what it was, right?
H: Yeah. [nods]
M: Yeah, that was really cool to see too, and just get a feel for how things work with the special collection stuff, and how the process goes from an item first arriving, to you guys doing treatment on it, and then sending it on its way.
H: It’s a whole thing. We have a flow chart.
M: [laughs] I’ve noticed that a couple of times, as I’ve been leaving for the day, and think that I need to read that and then forget, and then I’ll walk by it again.
H: It’s a lot of flow chart. I mean, you get the hang of it, but it’s a lot of flow chart.
M: And the flow of my life has been really nice since starting this job. It’s a short commute, and the fact that the days go by quick. I feel like I never have enough time to…I’ll get into something and then I’ll hear the [closing] announcements go on. I’m like, ‘shoot, I was just getting into this!’ I was also a little worried, I wondered how much energy I’d have at the end of the day, to work on music and whatnot, but it hasn’t really been an issue so far.
It’s cool being on a college campus too. It’s sort of lively. I know it’s going to get more lively as we go along, but it’s a lively place to work. And I like being around people, so that’s been cool. It’s also nice that it’s not the place where I went to college. I don’t feel like ‘oh, shoot, back here again.’
H: So what’s the most fun or interesting or fascinating thing you’ve done in your training so far. I know it’s going along really quick.
M: I really like the – and I feel like it’s probably the thing I’ve had to work at the most – I like the hinge-in, doing hinge repairs. They’re just very satisfying. It’s either, you know, pages have fallen out of a book, or it’s structurally compromised and then all of a sudden, oh look how nice! It’s all nice and sturdy now, putting it back together, so I really like those. I enjoy any sewing I’ve done so far too. Once it’s all nice and tight and looking prim and proper, that’s been pretty gratifying.
H: It is very gratifying. And Jessica [Ebert, Sr. Conservation Specialist] is a good person to learn it from.
M: Absolutely! She’s been a great teacher.
H: Her sewing is fantastic. You’ll never be as fast as her.
M: She really does just fly by!
H: Even I’m not as fast as she is.
M: Yeah! And then I also like the tear repairs too. Those are nice, once everything’s all dry and put together, it’s like there we go, that looks nice.
H: What are you looking forward to learning?
M: Definitely down the road, but I’m looking forward to getting into some of the special collection stuff. Getting to have a project. I mean, I have had a couple of projects that I’ll start and finish up the next day, but I haven’t had any long-term things. And I’m sure it’s different for every item, like I’m not sure how long each of you spends on a particular treatment, but I’m sure that there’s some where there’s a lot of different steps, seeing something throughout the whole process on a broad scale, that sort of thing. I think it’d be neat to work on something like pieces of artwork or maps. I’m also excited to get into any kind of bookbinding stuff, like the models you guys have made of different types of books. The more complex things like making a cover or something like…I forget what it was, the sermon that Jessica worked on.
H: The split-board binding.
M: I think that looks really cool, yeah. I always enjoy a well put-together book and that is a nice one.
H: Well, I have found that there are two kinds of library people. There’s the kind that’s born and raised in the stacks – that was me, my family was into libraries from the time I was really little – or people who kind of stumble in one day and realize that it’s great, and then they just never leave. Which kind are you?
M: I did go a little bit as a kid, sort of here and there. I remember would do summer reading. But then I got into my teenage years and early adulthood and didn’t really utilize them that much. I think it was later in college that I started going to the downtown library because they had – this was before I got into the streaming music services – they had such a good jazz CD collection. I think it had been donated by a radio station that used to play a lot of jazz stuff, the Oscar Treadwell jazz collection. That’s what got me into it. Then I thought this might be a cool place to work, and that’s what led me here.
H: What sort of things do you like to read, and what are you reading right now?
M: Mostly fiction. Although I’d like to read more nonfiction, I think sometimes reading is a nice sort of escape from reality. So I like reading fictional stories. I’m reading this Cormac McCarthy book right now. It’s the third part of a trilogy he has called the Border Trilogy.
H: Cormac McCarthy is so bleak!
M: Oh I know, that was the exact same reaction Holly [Prochaska, Preservation Librarian] had!
H: Oh he’s a wonderful writer. Just bleak.
M: Yeah, he’s great, one of my favorites. His prose is so beautiful, but the actual contents of the story is so dark and depressing sometimes.
H: You read it and you gotta take a break.
M: Yeah, so I’ve been chipping away at this one and afterward I’m going to take a break. I’ve also gone through phases where I’m really into science fiction and kind of fantasy stuff sometimes. I think maybe when I get done with [the Cormac McCarthy], I’ve been wanting to maybe start Dune.
H: I’ve tried Dune like three times. It’s so dense.
M: That’s what I hear.
H: It has a glossary.
M: I’m wondering if I can get into it or not because I was really into Tolkien. I did The Silmarillion a few years ago, and that was the only book where I’ve had a little sheet that just had notes on it.
H: Then you’ll probably be fine. I had an ex who read it. He loved it, but it was a lot.
M: Some other favorite authors…I like [Kazuo] Ishiguro a lot, probably one of my favorites, and Vonnegut.
H: Vonnegut’s great.
M: I really like his sense of humor, it’s very much up my alley. I also don’t think I mentioned the name of the book that I’m reading, the McCarthy one, it’s called Cities of the Plain. The most famous of the trilogy is the first one, All the Pretty Horses, and then The Crossing, and this is the third one.
H: Do you have a favorite book?
M: Let me think…I really love the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I could pick out a favorite of the movies, but not the books. I also liked Blood Meridian; I read Song of Solomon, a beautifully written book. I also enjoyed Never Let Me Go. That was Ishiguro, a really sad one, very beautiful.
H: That was adapted into a film.
M: I haven’t seen the movie yet, and I think I started it one night but then…I think I got worried. The story has such a high place in my head, it might live up to it. Sometimes for that reason if there’s a movie version I’ll watch it first and then read the book. But yes, those are a few of my favorites.
H: So you are a jazz musician. What led you to that?
M: That’s a good question and kind of similar to what you’re saying about how there’s like kind of two types of people who get led into libraries. I found there’s sort of like two kinds of a paths that lead people into jazz, and I was kind of in the middle of it. It’s usually either band kids in high school –
H: [raises hand] I was a band kid.
M: – they get into it, but then also it’s also people that like the hippie Grateful Dead sort of jam bands.
H: I like those too.
M: That’s how they get into it, more improvised music.
H: It’s very technical.
M: Yeah, so that kind of start it for me. I started playing electric bass when I was probably 14 or 15. I got really into it, I wanted to learn everything I could about it. And then I started learning about all these jazz musicians and hearing some good bass players. You check a record out and that led me down that path. I had a lesson teacher, and he pitched the idea of going to school for music. There’s a couple of programs where you can do what they call commercial music, if you want to study music in college, a jazz or classical degree. I thought, ‘Oh yeah, I wouldn’t mind going to school for a jazz degree’. Through that I got really immersed in the jazz world and fell in love with it and have been doing that ever since.
H: So not the Miles Davis route, starting with classical and hanging out in jazz clubs?
M: Yeah, there’s a lot of people who do that, it’s funny. I feel like a lot of the famous acts were classical musicians who kind of got into jazz, which is also cool.
H: What other musical genres do you listen to?
M: It’s kind of all over the place. I like a lot of hip-hop, the current modern stuff and some more classic stuff too. I like folk music and I play in a folk band, although we’re kind of losing momentum right now. Everybody in the band other than me keeps having kids, which make rehearsing a little difficult. But I grew up in the time where the pop punk emo thing was real big, so I will always have a soft spot for that in my catalog. Usually if I like something, I’ll just save it. I was listening to Bob Marley recently; I mean, everybody knows he’s great, but I couldn’t remember the last time I just sat down and listened to him. So, a pretty wide range of stuff, but there’s a few things I gravitate towards. I will end up listening to indie rock and folk more than other genres.
H: Is there a piece of music that you’re obsessed with at the moment?
M: That’s a good question. Let me look here and see if something stands out. [He flips through his phone briefly.] There is a Gregory Allen song called Dark Dark Dark that I really like. I’m going to go with that one.
H: Do you have any other hobbies?
M: I like going to the gym, although I can sometimes kind of slack on that. I feel like lately my life has just been a lot of music stuff and this job and I haven’t been doing too much else, but I really do like being outside, just hiking and stuff. I want to go camping more.
H: We’ve had good weather for it.
M: Absolutely! I also like traveling. I mean, everybody does, but you know, I like getting out to see stuff. Other than that, I’m somewhat into movies, TV shows, nothing super wild at the moment though. I have a bunch of hobbies that I’ve been meaning to get to, that I want to give a shot. I just never seem to find the time for it.
H: I know you’re a coffee guy, you come in with one every morning.
M: [laughs] Yeah.
H: So instead, Coke or Pepsi?
M: I would say Coke over Pepsi. Not that I have anything against Pepsi! In terms of cherry cola I used to like Wild Cherry Pepsi better, although I feel like I never see it around anymore. But yeah, I would say Coke.
H: Do you have a favorite movie or movie genre?
M: I really like science fiction movies. That’s maybe my favorite genre. And I’m going to Cormac McCarthy again, but I really like No Country For Old Men. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, that Wes Anderson movie, that’s up there. As far as sci-fi goes, I liked Arrival; it really stood out to me.
H: What is your favorite time of year?
M: Fall, especially living around here. We have all the leaves changing, and the temperature is nice and not too humid. You can still go outside and do stuff.
H: Do you have any pets?
M: I have a dog named Baby Redbone. He’s a rescue. A significant other and I found him living on the street. We lived in Northside at the time and we used to take our other dogs out together. There was a school that has since been turned into apartment complex, it was abandoned at the time and we used to run with the dogs and wear them out real quick. One day he was just sort of back there. We initially weren’t going to keep him. She mentioned that he was just a baby, so we were calling him Baby. We thought maybe he was a Redbone coonhound because he’s got this real reddish coat, like he’s definitely part pitbull. So the name just kind of stuck. When we parted ways, she kept the other dogs, and I kept him. We weren’t having any luck finding anyone to take him from us. People don’t like having dogs sprung on them! He’s a decent-sized dog, 63 pounds or so.
H: Yeah, we have a pit/rot mix and he’s like 100 and he’s so much dog, but just the sweetest thing I’ve ever met.
M: Oh goodness, yeah. They’re so sweet. My theory is [pits] are very trainable and receptive to things, so if somebody has bad intentions with them, they can get them to be mean, and if someone has good intentions, they can get them to be sweet too.
H: I find that they often work best when they’re mixed with something.
M: Yeah, totally. You’ll have to show me pictures of your dog at some point.
H: And finally, can you leave us with a random fun fact about yourself?
M: I haven’t tried this in a while, but I feel like I could still do it, but when I was in elementary school we had an after school program, a unicycle club where our gym teacher trained us all up to ride unicycles, and we rode in parades and stuff. So I guess my fun fact would be that I can ride a unicycle!
H: That is a very fun fact.
M: It’s been a little bit since I’ve tried it. Somebody had one at a party awhile ago and I tried. It still worked. I feel like my body would remember how to balance like just sort of like a bike.
H: Very cool. Thank you!
I hope you enjoyed getting to know Matt as much as I did!
This semester the Preservation Lab is collaborating with the English department and Associate Professor Gary Weissman to teach ENGL 3097 – Book Arts. The experiential learning portion of the course is taught in the Preservation Lab by Holly Prochaska, with much assistance from Jessica Ebert, Catarina Figueirinhas, and Hyacinth Tucker. The course offers students a foundation in the history of the codex, artists’ books, and zines, as well as a hands-on introduction to paper making, bookbinding, and printing.
Last week the students finally got their hands on our beloved board-shears while making a tux box to house the many models they constructed during the course.
It has been a fun and rewarding spring thanks to the enthusiasm of our 12 students!
If you are interested in learning more about the experiential learning portion of the Book Arts curriculum, please reach out to holly.prochaska@uc.edu.
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.
Jessica is actively surface cleaning a very grimy book.Catarina is surface cleaning a dirty book using a hydrophilic sponge.Another view of the entire set up with a tear repair station.
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.
Jessica encouraging a UC student to try to surface clean.Catarina explaining why surface cleaning was the first step to repair the broken inner joint.
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.
Chris and Hyacinth showing their display of models and enclosures.Hyacinth explaining to some UC students the different Japanese four-sided enclosure compared to other enclosures.The different enclosures that Chris and Hyacinth showed to the public. Hyacinth sharing with an interested public.
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
It’s great to be back in the Lab full-time! And it’s great to be learning new things. I’m up to my eyebrows in General Collection treatment training, and I couldn’t be more excited about it. Today: custom pambinders and manuscript folders.
Hyacinth Tucker (UCL) —- Bindery and Conservation Technician
To celebrate nationalPreservation 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.
The left side of the image shows the front cover under normal illumination, or what you see with your naked eye, whereas the right side is a RTI generated image using the specular enhancement mode.
This generated snapshot illustrates the Static Multi Light mode. Below the center panel that features a portrait of Martin Luther you can see “1571”, and above the panel you can see “ID”, both of which are virtually impossible to see in the normal illumination image.
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.
Before Treatment – Initial condition of the book when it was received by the Preservation Lab. The text block was split, the sewing was broken, and several pages were torn or had paper loss.
After Treatment – Conservation treatment complete. After the text block was repaired and resewn, the book received a new split board binding that allowed the heavy book to be read while mitigating further damage.
After Treatment – The new split board binding provided the book a more flexible opening.
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.
The book block before treatment was highly damaged, so much so, that it was difficult for library patrons and staff to access and use the item without a cover.
Handling the book, you’d never know the hours of labor that went into the treatment (including learning!), but its functional form makes it ready for use once again.
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 Haggadahowned 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.
The top image shows the book open to smaller sized printed leaves before treatment. Leaves are previously reformatted with yellowed tape along the edges, attached to larger paper frames. Paper frames are cockled and distorted. The middle image shows a detail of untrimmed, full-size manuscript leaves. The bottom image shows the fore edge of the binding before treatment.
These images show the model that explores a solution to encapsulate the smaller pages into polyester sleeves that could be sewn into the binding next to the larger pages. This required staff to weld polyester sleeves with paper hinges that could be sewn through like a gathering.
The image shows the binding ready for resewing with its new encapsulated leaves, or pages, next to the created model.
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!
Before cleaning; albumen card (note the finger prints in the upper right corner). The image depicts the photographer as a soldier.
Cloth-covered clamshell exterior.
Cloth-covered clamshell interior, with piece opened to surface cleaned soldier image in integrated cradle.
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.
View of the opened cloth-covered clamshell with the two removeable trays in place. The trays contain the collection of cased photographs in tuxedo boxes with labels for easy identification.
This image shows the bottom tray partially pulled out, displaying the two larger cased photographs.
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”.
Previously, we talked just a little bit about halides, and how they fit into the formation of silver gelatin-based images. Today, we’re going to take a closer look at part of the “how.”
Let’s begin with a brief overview of the darkroom process. As a reminder, the mechanics of creating a black and white print generally include the following steps:
A paper is pre-coated with a halide salt and silver nitrate that are mixed in a binder such as gelatin.
An image is first generated by projecting a source of illumination (like the sun or a lamp) through film onto a coated piece of paper.
Next, the paper or film is developed in a bath of chemicals. This is the part of the process the image seems to “magically” appear!
The image developing chemical reaction is stopped in a “stop bath.”
The paper or film is moved to a second bath to “fix” the image in a fixative bath.
The photograph is rinsed and hung to dry – ready to safely see the light of day.
Now, let’s delve a little deeper into the chemical reaction described in step two, beginning with a bit of a thought experiment. If I say to you, “semiconductor,” what springs to mind? Something involving electronics, perhaps? Maybe chips, lots of little circuits and tiny wires? Maybe, if you’re more photography-minded, a digital camera? All excellent things to think of! With this in mind, what if I told you that our silver gelatin emulsion is also a semiconductor, one that converts light into latent images instead of electricity?
Well, that is what we’re going to explore today, the basics of the mechanism by which light gets our emulsion ready to record latent images. The light shines on an atom (in this case, our silver halide ion), energy is transferred to an electron, and the electron moves to an excited state and is ready to make chemical magic.
If you refer back to your basic chemistry, atoms are composed of three parts: protons, neutrons, and electrons. Protons are positively charged and reside in the nucleus (center) of an atom with chargeless neutrons. Negatively charged electrons orbit the nucleus in bands. When all things are equal, an atom has the same number of protons as electrons, leaving the atom neutral. There aren’t a lot of atoms that are naturally like this, however; an atom will often have too many or too few electrons in orbit. This is a good thing, as it not only makes them stable, it makes them available for bonding with other atoms and creating chemical reactions.
Now let’s apply some of that to our silver halide. The electrons near the nucleus of our ion are in the “ground” state. They’re unexcited. The nucleus has them firmly gripped in its gravitational pull and they’re uninterested in going anywhere. This area of grounded electrons is known as the valence band. In order for them to be available for any sort of exchange, they’ll need to get farther away from that nucleus, and out into an outer band of the ion, conveniently known as the conductance band.
How does this all relate to the parking lots I mentioned in the title? I’m glad you asked. The parking lot analogy is a fantastic illustration of the process by which light interacts with matter. Let’s think of it this way: the nucleus of the silver halide ion is your typical Big Box Store. Directly outside of the store is the valence band parking lot, full of electron cars, all off, all waiting in the ground state. Beyond the parking lot is a strip of grass, which we’ll get to shortly, and beyond that is the conductance band (i.e, the road), where the cars are all in motion, on their way to any number of places.
The parking lot analogy, illustrated, from AIC’s Photographic Chemistry for Preservation, unit 2, “The Latent Image.”
In order for the cars to get out of the valence band, they’re going to need some energy. For our electrons, the needed energy is light. Once they get light to get the engines going, they can pull out of the parking lot and onto the road and drive off to chemical reactions.
Now let’s detour briefly to that grassy strip that I mentioned earlier. It’s known as the forbidden gap. Ideally, this area is empty. However, due to defects such as insufficient energy, an electron may not be able to completely cross to the conductance band, and may be temporarily stuck in this gap. Even here they can be useful as stepping stones for other electrons that need to cross over. Stuck electrons will either receive more energy to get them to the outer bands, or they’ll lose energy and be pulled back to the valence band.
I’ll note here that this structure is characteristic of all semiconductors, including digital camera sensors. In silver halide grains, this excitement of electrons will always happen when it comes into contact with light, as silver halide has a light sensitivity of 100%. No matter what, when a grain of silver halide is exposed to light, it will always liberate an electron. You also needn’t think of it as just one electron at a time being excited in this fashion. The grain can have so much energy that its valence band is completely empty, and vice versa.
What happens after this? Well, that’s an exploration for next time.
Hyacinth Tucker (UCL) — Bindery and Conservation Technician
About two years ago, I set upon a mission to gain expertise in the area of identification and treatment of photographic materials. Under the guidance of our conservator, Ashleigh, I developed an education plan that was split between the theory of learning the ins and outs of photograph identification, and the hands-on work of treating pieces that came into the Lab. Of course, these two things go hand in hand. If you can’t identify a piece, you can’t treat it correctly, right?
Fast forward to last year. With the start of the pandemic and the transition to working from home, my education plan changed radically. If I’m not in the Lab, I can’t spend much time on treatment, so I had to get a little creative and work on other ways to learn more.
I am about halfway through the series; a triumph for me, as I have never been one for the study of chemistry. I will say that while it is still very technical, I’ve had a lot of good pegs to hang the information on, owing both to my earlier studies in photograph conservation and my personal history with film photography. It’s been a tremendous thing, viewing things that I learned as a photography student from a different angle. So far, it’s been a great journey.
In this series, I will share with you some of the most fascinating things that I’ve learned so far. My aim will be to keep the technical as simple as possible, for those of you who are like me, still coming to terms with the deeper science. The small bites help it all make sense, I promise. Hopefully, you’ll find it all as interesting as I have.
Before we can understand anything else, we need to talk about halides. What are those and why are they used in photography? Good questions! Halide salts are derived from halogens, which occupy group 7A (column 17) of the Periodic Table of Elements (see below.) Halide salts are used in photographic emulsions that are spread over a substrate (such as paper or film) before the substrate is exposed to light. The silver halides react to the light to form an image when developed.
I should note here that silver gelatin prints, albumen, and collodion photographs all utilize silver halides in their chemical composition. However, silver gelatin is unique among the three in that it is the only one that uses a true emulsion; in albumen and collodion coatings, the halides rest on the surface.
Photograph – silver gelatin process
Photograph – albumin process
Photograph – collodion process
In forming the silver gelatin emulsion, halide salts are combined with silver nitrate and water to form silver halides, the compound at the core of silver gelatin photography. Silver nitrate is pretty much universally used regardless of halide salt, as it is water soluble (it dissolves) but not too much so. The freed silver will look for a bond partner, and the halides in halide salt fits the bill. As a result, silver nitrate, when combined with a halide salt in water, will result in silver halide and a left over salt.
This reaction, which seems like a lot, I know, is referred to for our purposes as “The Emulsification Equation.” To refresh our memories a bit, an emulsification is a liquid (here, gelatin) that contains fine particles of another liquid (the silver halide) without fully combining. Think mayonnaise, or butter. (This isn’t perfectly analogous, as silver halides are crystalline solids and not liquid fats, but the basic idea is the same.)
Chemically speaking, that reaction looks like this:
Equation for emulsification
As a quick reminder, Ag = silver, N = Nitrogen, O = Oxygen, K = Potassium, and Cl = Chlorine.
Now, if you’ll look at the image of the halogen column of the table below, you’ll see a number of options for salts to combine with silver nitrate. Older emulsions involved bromine or iodine; more modern emulsions tend toward chlorine. Crystals formed from silver chloride salts are much more uniform in structure, which makes its use outcomes much more predictable.
Salts that will combine with silver nitrate
I’m sure you’ve noticed that we’ve got a couple of halogens unaccounted for, namely fluorine and astatine. Neither of these are used for this kind of work, and for good reason. Fluorine, for its part, is very water soluble. Very water soluble. To put it in perspective, sodium chloride (regular table salt) is about 35% water soluble. I’m sure that in the course of cooking, we’ve all dissolved salt in water, and you can recall how relatively simple that is to do, though not without some small effort. Well, fluorine salts are about 172% water soluble! You could use it for your emulsion, but moments after developing an image in a water-based solution, you’d see it dissolve before your eyes.
I’ll note here very briefly that chlorine, bromine, and iodine are also more soluble than table salt, but not nearly as much as fluorine, making them perfect partners for our silver ions.
Meanwhile, astatine is…well, it’s radioactive. I think you can see the problem with this one.
And there you have it, a short and hopefully painless explanation of the humble halide in silver-based photography. In the coming months, we’ll be looking at other fascinating aspects of halides and our Emulsification Equation.
Hyacinth Tucker (UCL) —- Bindery and Conservation Technician
Last month, I showed you how to make a corrugated clamshell. At that time, I mentioned some alternative strategies for special situations, such as considerations of working space, collection size, etc. Pre-made boxes may be the way to go here. They’re generally non-adhesive, and excellent if you have a large collection that needs help, but can’t be worked on right away, for pieces going to off-site storage, or if you’re in a situation where box building space is at a premium, such as many of our work from home setups (I’m currently working at my kitchen table, which is definitely a squeeze sometimes!)
There are multiple ways to obtain pre-made enclosures:
Many commercial binderies offer custom economy boxing. Our Lab uses HF Group (http://www.hfgroup.com/) when needed. Their work is excellent, and their enclosures can be created from sent measurements. This is wonderful for housing items in our collection that require storage, but we feel are too fragile to be shipped.
A pre-made enclosure can also be a great option for very small items, to keep them from becoming lost on the shelf.
Under normal circumstances, a box created in the Lab for a small piece would be lined with foam to keep it from moving around in the larger cavity, but when the pandemic hit, we thought it might be a good idea to find ways to do this that didn’t require foam, which might be expensive or difficult to source or store.
Enter the Kyle Insert. Developed by Kyle Olmon, it is an answer to the ongoing question of new ways to store smaller items that will keep them safe and prevent them from getting lost. It works well for things like artist books, which are often incredibly small. It’s also a time saver in lieu of foams. I don’t know about you, but cutting foam is not my favorite thing. An alternative is always welcome when it is appropriate, and we (and the books!) can always benefit from having multiple ways to solve problems.
Written instructions from Kyle Olmon are available on-line at https://kyleolmon.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/kyle_insert_v2_instructions.pdf . I found that the insert made more sense to me when I had a visual representation. It’s a surprisingly simple structure but may not seem that way on paper. In light of that, I did something a little different and put together a video of my assembly efforts, interspersed with instructions and diagrams from Kyle Olmon throughout. Hopefully the video combined with Mr. Olmon’s excellent instructions will help you get started with this form!
Tuxedo boxes are fantastic, accessible enclosures. Sadly, they do have their limitations, as anything does. If you’re working with a piece that is a larger or heavier (or both!), a piece that is a bit more delicate and in need of more protection, or a piece that isn’t all in one piece, you may want to look at a corrugated clamshell.
The corrugated clamshell is a slightly more complex, yet infinitely versatile addition to a good basic preservation enclosure arsenal. Developed by Andrea Krupp in 1988, it’s great for pieces that are awaiting treatment but need stabilization in the meantime. It also works beautifully for boxing sets of items that don’t quite merit the time commitment that a cloth-covered clamshell might. I have also found a corrugated clamshell to be perfect for things like experimental music scores (which may include cards, CDs, or any number of other unexpected items) that need to be shelf-ready in a hurry.
So let’s make one. The material list for this is actually surprisingly small:
A cutting implement, such as a scalpel or X-acto or Olfa knife
At least one ruler. I generally use two – a meter rule for laying down lines, and a 12-inch rule for most cuts.
A bone folder. This should have at least one end that is fully rounded. You don’t want to push through your board!
PVA; archival quality, of course. While there are a few ways to make a non-adhesive box that I won’t get into with this entry, the method we use here in the Lab does require it.
A way to secure the adhered portions of the box. In the Lab, this would be done with large bulldog or binders clips with board scraps to prevent marring, but if you’re at home without something like those, some strategically-placed weights will do nicely.
And of course, your corrugated board. Again, archival quality. For most projects, we use B flute (3mm thickness), but we do use E flute (1.6mm thickness) as well. E flute is used for my example photographs, throughout the entry.
In the Lab, planning for our corrugated boxes begins with an Excel spreadsheet. Brought to us by Ashleigh via UCLA, this greatly shortens our box making time by automating the measurements needed for each project. With just the height, width, and thickness of your piece, the sheet maps out every measurement you need for a snug, custom enclosure. As you can imagine, in a production lab like ours, this is a huge boon. I highly recommend it, and I would be happy to send it to you! (Feel free to email me any time at hyacinth.tucker@uc.edu or check out this link to past OPC workshop handouts!)
E flute spreadsheet, prepped and ready!
Corrugated board, ready for cutting and scoring.
Once we have our measurements secured, it’s time to cut our board down to size and lay down our guide-lines. Two things to remember: 1) be sure to make all your markings on the side of the board with visible corrugated lines, this way the guide-lines and the less aesthetically pleasing side of the box are on the inside of the enclosure (with the exception of fragile items that might rub against the corrugation such as red rotted leather); and 2) do your best to orient the grain in the proper direction. When the box is finished, the visible corrugated lines should run in the same direction as the spine of the book. The overall board sizing can be done with your larger ruler, rather than a board shear or oversized paper cutter, if you’re very careful. That same ruler can then be used to measure out the cutting and scoring lines.
Work in progress, a closeup of a flap cut.
Next, let’s make our box cuts. If you have one, the smaller ruler is great here. Again, the spreadsheet makes this part simple. Cut on the solid lines, score and fold on the dashed lines. One thing that the sheet doesn’t mention is that the inner corners of each box wall need to be cut. Not much; you don’t want to expose your materials to the elements. Just a little corner to keep them from catching on each other when you close your completed box.
Almost done!
Now that all of the cuts are done, we move on to the scoring and creasing. In the Lab, all of the creasing across the width of the box is done with a large crimper, and the lengthwise work is done by hand. Fortunately, if you don’t have access to a crimper, it’s pretty easy to score with one of your rulers and the rounded bone folder. Just take your time, and don’t press too hard; you don’t want to break through the board.
In the absence of bulldog clips, properly placed weights can help hold everything together while the adhesive dries.
Next, let’s pull it all together. First, fold up the sides of your box, to define your inner trays. If you are using 3mm board, this is a great time to use your bone folder to flatten the flaps, in order to prevent bulk when pasted down. Next, tuck the flaps into the fold over portions at each end. This is where the PVA comes in. Put it on the flaps and the interior of the fold-overs. Be generous, but not too generous; we don’t want it to gush out when we make the folds. Secure the fold-overs with the clips/weights, and leave it all to dry. I aim for overnight, if I can, so that the PVA can off-gas a bit before I put the piece inside. If you can leave it for longer, that’s even better.
And there you have it, a lovely custom corrugated clamshell that’s perfect for your needs. In my next post we’ll look at some non-adhesive solutions, and a great way to customize them.
Until next time!
Hyacinth Tucker (UCL) — Bindery and Conservation Technician
