With Halloween creeping up, it’s either a chance for you to unleash your spooky side or to totally panic and obsess over costumes until the last second. Ghost? Meh. Mummy? Boring. Werewolf? Too hairy. But if you work in a conservation lab, fear not. We have you covered!
This year, we’ve scoured the lab to create costumes that mix chilling creativity with eccentric conservation tools! Each costume has a difficulty rating, so you’ll know if it takes professional skill or just a wildly spooky imagination.
So, grab some supplies, get haunting, and remember: Conservation may be reversible, but goofy Halloween memories are forever!
Edward Scissorhands Difficulty level – Easy Materials and tools needed:
Scissors, tons of scissors
Black clothing
Strong hands (those old scissors may refuse to work properly)
Note –Not recommended for the long-haired among us…so remember, safety first! Keep a safe distance, and beware of those “accidental” snips, unless your colleagues think that you desperately need “just a little trim off the top”.
Crime Scene Tech Difficulty level – Medium Materials and tools needed:
Masking tape
Caution tape
Gloves
Lab coat
Tweezers
Scalpel
Thread (to mimic hair samples)
Binder’s board to create a body/chalk outline (create a tri-fold for easy travel)
Golden gloss/matte media (or anything that fluoresces) to create “blood” splatters
Polyethylene bags (to collect evidence)
UV lamp
Protective UV goggles
Fluorescent scale (optional)
Camera (optional)
Tripod (optional)
A strong stomach, not for the faint of heart
Note – For the body outline, just kindly convince a colleague to lie on the binder’s board. Nothing says “team building” like creating a fake crime scene!
The following costumes can be done as a group effort or a solo act – dealer’s choice!
Vigo the Carpathian (Painting) Difficulty level – Hard Materials and tools needed:
Print out of Vigo the Carpathian – our Lab recently switched to a 17″ wide Epson printer, so we are unable to print large scale items, so Jessica skillfully created the painting with two printouts pieced together.
Corrugated board
Cloth tapes (to create handles on the back of the painting)
Gold spray paint
Double-sided tape
Black/dark clothing
Strong arms and captivating eyes
Note – For that eerie stare DON’T FORGET to remove the eyes from the print out…the creepier, the better!
Happy haunting to you all! May the ghost tyrant and sorcerer Vigo (also known as Prince Vigo von Homburg Deutschendorf, Scourge of Carpathia, Sorrow of Moldavia, Vigo the Carpathian, Vigo the Cruel, Vigo the Torturer, Vigo the Despised, Vigo the Unholy1) protect you in all your spooky endeavors!
Every year the Preservation Lab celebrates Halloween with some fun, spooky and scary content, and this year is no different. However, this year we decided to reach out to our UC Libraries colleagues to hear about their encounters with the unknown, with the paranormal, and share with us any of those stories.
We received a few submissions that were downright spooky, creepy, and just unexplainable. So prepare yourself! Go ahead and settle in, grab yourself a hot chocolate, and cozy blanket and enjoy!! Hopefully you can sleep after this..
General spooky remarks from Mike Braunlin (Classics Library)
“Ghosts – Local lore is that the Blegen building [which is presently home to the Classics, CCM and ARB libraries] has some of them. In the Archives and Rare Books Department on the 8th floor, an apparition has been seen over the years. I read once that the Classics Department had its offices in that space years ago, and that the entity might be one of the professors of that time. I can add nothing to this story, but for years I became very uneasy whenever I had to visit our rare books in ARB and I am not usually bothered by such things. In later years, what used to invariably scare me when I retrieved a rare book was the life size photographic image of former UC president Nancy Zimpher that was placed in ARB’s stacks. They never moved it (something I would have done regularly), so I knew exactly where I would walk past it; but every time I did, it terrified me anew. But the image is now gone, and as I am also entering an age where I may soon number ghosts as my companions, I no longer fear those stacks. ”
The Ghost of Blegen Library by Kevin Miller
Published in Folkstream – volume 3, issue 3, December 1980 [courtesy of Mike Braunlin]
Cincinnati is a city steeped in tradition and folklore. Drawing upon a population of Eastern settlers, European immigrants, and Appalachian migrants, the Queen City has a varied heritage of tales and legends. Some of these, murder legends and ghost stories, have been around for the life of the city. But folklore is always being created and at least one ghost story is recent in origin: the ghost of Blegen Library.
Located at the south end of the University of Cincinnati campus, the Blegen Library is a large, rectangular structure built in 1930. Formerly known as the Main Library and then as the Old Library, the building was rededicated last year in honor of Carl Blegen, an early Classics professor at UC In the cavernous foyer, sculptures and bronze panels depict the heritage of learning while the chandeliers exhibit proverbs in bronze silhouettes, proverbs in Egyptian hieroglyphics, Hebrew, Chinese, Latin, and Japanese which extol the virtues of education. Printers marks, the trademarks of famous publishers in the history of the printed word, decorate the high walls and stairwells. Blegen Library has a scholarly demeanor, but is at the same time a stuffy, forbidding place.
I remember my years as a graduate student at UC, trying to negotiate the confusing stairwells, the maze of book stacks and small rooms. Some of the book stacks were located ‘underground and in the summertime, the dankness and humidity would assault me like a warm sponge. I often expected to come upon one of those career graduate students which infest every library, hiding in his carrell, his hair turned white and eyes pink from years of little sunlight, turning to me with a small, tubercular cough.
Image provided by Mike Braunlin
Atop the library is the Rare Book Room, a secluded area set off from offices, classrooms, and reading rooms. It is a dark room kept at a constant cool temperature and even humidity to preserve the volumes. Little drafts of air waft around theological tomes and travel accounts, in between shelves of poetry and stacks of folios. In 1976, while l was a students at UC, a student worker was shelving books in the Rare Book Room, alone in the quiet gloom, Suddenly she felt a chilling presence and turned to see a man in the stacks beside her, a rather innocuous and shadowy man who had instantly appeared.
Terrified and breathless, she rushed downstairs leaving her work unfinished. Soon her tale of a ghost quickly spread across campus and I heard about it for the first time. Since then, the story of what the student saw has circulated around Cincinnati.
An informal ghost investigation was conducted for her by a UC professor but the spectre did not reappear. Some versions have it that the man was wearing a gray suit and glasses, others that he was short and smoked a pipe, Some folks believe it was the ghost of a former Classics professor who suffered an untimely and tragic death. His office had once been in the room where the rare books are now housed, and it happened to be near the spot where the ghost was encountered. Be that as it may, the student forever refused to return alone to the Rare Book Room for as long as she was in the library’s employ.
Since I’ve come back to UC as an archivist in the Special Collections Department, which houses the Rare Book Room, I’m often asked by friends and acquaintances about the ghost and in turn I listen to what they have heard. Folklore is a dynamic process, always being generated and always changing. Legends are created all the time and spread by word of mouth. Whether there truly was a ghost of Blegen Library or not, its story is becoming a part of Cincinnati folklore, an example of the creative process in folklore.
Today, there are no offices or reading rooms in Blegen Library. The building is being renovated and the sounds of welding torches and drills have for a time replaced the echoes of students’ footsteps on marble stairs. The bronze panels and chandeliers and printers marks will survive the renovation. Perhaps the ghost will too, patiently awaiting another visitor.
The Haunted Basement under the Geo-Math-Phys Library by Anonymous
View from the elevator
“There’s an urban legend here at GMP that long ago, a maintenance man accidentally died while trying to fix the service elevator. Now he haunts the GMP library and particularly can be spotted in the basement underneath GMP. One day I was teaching one of my coworkers how to use the service elevator and we decided to explore the basement since neither of us had been down there before. When we reached that floor, it was completely pitch black before we turned the lights on, meaning no one else was likely down there. As we walked in, we turned the corner and saw a very old work-station. At that station was an office swivel chair that was slightly turning all on its own. When it stopped, the seat pointed directly at us (almost as if someone wanted us to sit in it). We were both freaked out and decided to leave before exploring more. I have been down there a few times since then and luckily haven’t seen any more activity.”
View of the work-station around the cornerTHE desk!
The Haunted Stairwell by Mike Braunlin
“Over the years, however, student assistants have told me they are uncomfortable working on the fourth floor of our Classics stacks. No one has ever reported to me anything extraordinary, but some have told me that something there made them fearful. Some students would go to great lengths to avoid working in stacks 4 and several downright refused to go there. It is most curious that the stacks photo with the shadowy figure was taken on the fourth stack level in the area where students have reported eerie sensations.
I only experienced one unusual incident and I offer the bare telling of it; I put forth no conclusions…
Ca. 45 years ago, when I was younger, energetic, and dedicated, an inability to stay asleep often led me to go to the office early – I often came to work in Classics around 5 AM mornings. I also didn’t have to sign in and out, as now on Flex, so I could get away with that kind of thing. One winter morning (some would call it late-middle of the night) I had entered the north stairwell of Blegen from the 4th floor to walk down to level 2, where the Classics Library was in those days. I was about halfway down the stairwell, which was in darkness, but for the moonlight shining in the windows, when the entire stairwell (all levels) erupted with the noise of dozens of people talking and laughing all together.
Image from Mike BraunlinImage from Mike Braunlin
Illustration entitled “The Party on the Stairs” by British painter Adelaide Claxton from 1875
Imagine, if you will, a cocktail party going on in the stairwell, full of people, all talking and laughing at once – all around me. Except there was no one there. I stood there in the darkness, desperately tightening my sphincter muscles and taking in the unreality of this, until I bolted up the stairs, out the front door, and ran to the Majestic Apartments on McMillan, where 2 of our student assistants lived, Claire Sponsler and Susan Stites. I banged on the door and when they, full of sleep and surprise, let me in, I explained what happened, and lay on their couch until 8 AM, then I went back to work. Nearly scared the crap out of me, hence my sphincter reference several lines up, but I am glad for the experience. Also glad, because, 45 years on, Susan and I have been married for 33 years…”
Per our annual Halloween tradition, we have some spooky happenings planned next week. This year we have ventured into the stacks to bring you some spooky stories, so make sure to check the Lab’s blog and Instagram on October 30th and 31st, if you dare!
Recently Jessica and I started working on a series of special collection items from UC Libraries’ DAAP Library. These were recent acquisitions specifically bought to be used as a teaching collection within the DAAP Library. Most items are small prints and single manuscript leaves that need to be matted for exhibition and prepared for handling during class. We have been working on these in small batches since it is a much larger collection that keeps growing.
Most of the items we have received so far have been very straightforward matting projects, however we encountered one that was puzzling and fun to work on. We received this item: a proof print accompanied by its very heavy, copper engraving plate. The print was adhered to a paper brown envelope with no information and the copper plate was also unhoused.
Proof print (left) and engraving plate (right) before treatment and housing.
The curator of the collection wanted both items to be housed together and housed in a way that would allow students to touch the items, and also be able to use them for exhibits. We decided that both items would be matted individually, and then housed together in a thin corrugated clamshell box. The most challenging part would be to create a matting system that was strong enough to secure the very heavy copper plate and elegant enough to be used for exhibition.
The print itself received minor treatment, with the backing envelope being removed and the print housed in a polyester L-sleeve mounted with photo corners.
Print housed in a polyester L-sleeve and matted with photo corners.
With the engraving plate, I needed to figure out how to create a matting system that was strong enough to hold the copper plate in place, especially if used for an exhibit where it may be propped at a slight angle. After considering some options, I created a sink mat that would secure the plate halfway, and then the rest of the sink mat would be adhered to the window mat so the copper plate, resting on a polyester tray, could be pulled out of the mat easily. How would I keep the matting system closed? ….with magnets, lots of magnets! For this project I used 24 rare earth magnets.
Copper engraving plate housed in a specialty sink mat with magnetic closures.Matting system for the copper plate – a sink mat, half attached to the back mat and half attached to the window mat, all secured closed with magnets.Copper plate slightly removed from the matting system by the polyester film tray.
This was a fun project to work on. After using 24 magnets and breaking a few in the process, the copper plate was securely housed in the sink mat, while also able to be propped up for exhibition and handled for teaching.
Before treatmentAfter treatmentThe matting system in action!
In February 2019, the Lab received a unique item at the special collections’ meetings for the UC Libraries, a Book of Hours (ms.37) from 1475 from the Archives and Rare Books Library. I was so excited when this book came into the Lab.
This 15th century Book of Hours was in poor condition and in need of conservation treatment. Not only was the binding structure failing and the text block broken in half, but this book was also heavily used as a teaching tool at the ARB library, and in its current condition it could not be safely handled. This was the perfect project for Ashleigh and I to collaborate.
From the beginning, it was decided that in conjunction with the conservation treatment of the Book of Hours, I would create a book model like the original Book of Hours, to be used as a teaching tool in the ARB library collection. In addition, the model would have a leather chemise, a common feature in some Book of Hours of the time.
The Book of Hours MODEL with a removable chemise.
Now here is where this story begins with the model of the Book of Hours. Often, here in the lab, we all create book models for various reasons: to learn about a new treatment, test different treatment options, to understand how some materials work together, and as teaching tools.
As a teaching tool in the ARB library collection, this model needed to resemble the original Book of Hours in its structure and materials used.
The primary goal for this model was to show how a Book of Hours was historically built, its sewing structure, the materials used, and also to provide the ARB library with a book that could be easily handled by students and scholars.
Once the treatment for the Book of Hours was fully established and confirmed with the ARB curator, I was able to start working on the book model. I will save you form reading about all the different steps of making the model, but here are the main features of model:
Endsheets with leather hinge – Two bifolios of calligraphy goat parchment skin wrapped along the spine edge with a hinge of Allum tawed leather (later would be used as pastedowns)
Sewing – Sewn on three double raised cords with a linen 18/3 thread. The dimensions of the text block and sewing holes, were guided from the original sewing holes of the Book of Hours.
Endbands – Primary conservation endband with the bead on the spine, and secondary endband with the bead on the text block.
Spine linings:
Reversible layer of Usu Gami thin and Zen Shofu wheat starch paste.
Slotted Airplane cotton cloth with flanges to be used as board attachments.
Cover
Boards – Oak wood
Board attachment – Boards were laced with the sewing supports through carved channels
Covering material – Full alum tawed leather binding with removable chemise
Clasps – Brass tension clasps (these were created in-house by Chris Voynovich, and he did an amazing job).
Upper cover.Lower cover with the tension clasps (created by Chris)
There was no evidence that the original Book of Hours had clasps, but the curator requested tension clasps for the book model. Clasps were common in the 15th century bookbinding, and this would provide the students with the experience of handling a book with clasps and allow them to understand their function.
pine with three raised bands, bottom weighted.Tension clasps were common in the 15th century. Chris created these using brass plates.As a teaching model, the interior of the upper cover was left exposed to show how the boards were laced and what material was used.On the lower cover, the pastedown was adhered. An alum tawed pastedown was not very common for the time of the Book of Hours.
The curator also requested that one of the pastedowns be kept unattached, so the students could see how the boards were attached to the text block and that they were wooden boards.
In addition, I created a removable chemise, also requested by the curator of the ARB library. In some Books of Hours, it was common to have a leather chemise, but most often they were not removable. The chemise was created from a vegetable tanned goat split skin.
Removable suede chemiseBook model with the chemise attached on the lower cover. The chemise in action.
Video tutorial of how to put on and remove the chemise from the model.
Stay tuned for a future blog post where we will dive into the conservation treatment and research we did on the Book of Hours (ms.37).
In celebration of ALA’s annual Preservation Week (April 24th-30th), Preservation Lab staff will be offering live demos and show & tells this week and next, both at UC Libraries and the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library:
Each session will be unique, with different staff members showing off different aspects of preservation and conservation!
As mentioned in a previous blog post, Andrew and Naomi from Case Western Reserve came to the lab in late February to demo the MISHA portable multispectral imaging system, made possible by a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Research Grant awarded to the Rochester Institute of Technology. In total, Naomi and Andrew imaged five objects from the Public Library, UC Libraries, and one of our third-party institutional clients. Imaged books included, one Otto Ege item, two Book of Hours, one undated Latin music manuscript, and a Pentateuch volume from Hebrew Union College. In all, thirteen separate capture sessions were carried out for the five objects. Afterwards, the raw data from the capture sessions was shared with the Lab via OSF (Open Science Framework) so that I could process the data in the NEH grant supported open access RCHIVE (Rochester Cultural Heritage Image processing and Visualization Environment) software.
RGB representationBand 5 with the MNF (Maximum Noise Fraction) algorithm applied and the Gaussian enhancement appliedA false color representation
The image gallery above shows the recto of leaf 32 from the Public Library’s copy of Fifty Original Leaves from Medieval Manuscripts, Western Europe, XII-XVI century, by Otto Ege.
While each of the capture sessions took only two minutes to complete, I found that processing the raw data took me a bit longer to figure out. Processing the data felt very similar to using CHI’s RTI Builder and Viewer software. However, in this situation I did not have a week-long training opportunity to learn the ins and outs of the software and its functions. For the Spectral Analysis App, I had only a couple of brief documents to refer to, so the learning curve was a little steeper. I also experienced some issues with the software while processing the data with the flatfield files provided from the capture session. But in the end, the processed files seemed fine without the flatfield data, so it all worked out.
RGB representationBand 3 with the MNF (Maximum Noise Fraction) algorithm appliedA false color representation
The above image gallery depicts a leaf from Hebrew Union College’s Pentateuch Ms. 1 with adhesive staining, tape, and prior repairs.
What I discovered through processing all the MISHA data and then comparing it to the existing specialized imaging done in the Lab was that the suite of imaging we do in the Lab is very well rounded and, in general, suits our needs and our clientele quite well. In many cases, our results were at least comparable, if not better (specifically within the UV wavelengths) than the results accomplished using the MISHA. And, especially with our UV workflow, though our current capture time might be slightly longer than that of MISHA, the data processing time is significantly shorter and, in the case of UV especially, the side-by-side results of the accurate normal illumination next to the full color UV image(s) is ideal for our purposes.
RGB representationand 2 using the Maximum Noise Fraction (MNF) algorithm with the brightness adjusted
The images above show an example of scraped text on parchment from UC Libraries Hours of the Virgin from 1475, currently in the Lab for treatment. Compare these MISHA generated images to the documentation performed by Catarina Figueirinhas and myself using the Lab’s equipment and processes below.
Normal illuminationUV image (using our old setup without the UV Innovations target)
That said, I am fully aware that not everyone has access to the equipment/training that I have been fortunate to curate/experience over the last five plus years. Also, not everyone uses their finished data exactly how we do. For instance, the needs and expectations of a conservation lab and cultural heritage institutions can be very different. Even within the conservation field, how we use the data provided by specialized imaging in our hybrid book and paper lab is quite different from the kind of data needed by a fine arts conservation lab. Ultimately, I think the core audience for a system like the MISHA system is an organization looking to expand their suite of imaging services, or an institution with no multispectral imaging infrastructure interested in imaging collections in a quick and easy manner. Though for the latter, I would say that there is a big learning curve in manipulating and processing the data, but if greater focus is put into making the software and processing steps user-friendly, especially to novice users, it is completely manageable. And if this step is taken, I think the system could help a lot of institutions dive deeper into the materiality and history of their collections.
RGB representationBand 5 with the PCA (Principal Component Analysis) algorithm applied, inverted with brightness adjustedA false color representation
The images above depict another example of faded, scraped text. This flyleaf is from an undated Latin music manuscript that is part of the Public Library’s collection. The images below represent imaging done by the Lab, both normal illumination and UV radiation, with the goal to increase the legibility of the inscription.
Normal illuminationUV radiation image using our current, standardized workflow that has been further enhanced to bring out the text.
In the end, multispectral imaging is just plain FUN! So, the idea of making it more accessible to a wider audience is extremely exciting and I think the work that NEH, RIT, and colleagues like Andrew and Naomi are doing to share the power and wonder of multispectral imaging is amazing. The idea of a portable multispectral imaging system with free processing software that does not take a PhD to use is boundary-breaking, and it gives us a glimpse into a future of accessible and exciting imaging, which thus allows us to see and understand more of the past. I will always be an advocate for that kind of imaging!
Winter is approaching here in Cincinnati, far too quickly for my taste! But at the Lab we have been thinking about a winter staple a bit differently… The sled! A book sled, that is. This open-topped carrier of bound treasures has become the newest edition to our enclosure family. It is perfect for housing oversized books to be stored flat, as it enables easy transport of these large tomes, without adding too much extra weight.
The sled has been honed and developed over the years by conservation professionals, but it has its roots at the Newberry in Chicago, where they were used to house their large antiphonary collection. I had the privilege of working at the Newberry prior to joining the incredible team here at The Preservation Lab, so the idea of starting to create book sleds at the Lab has been lurking at the back of my mind. At the Newberry, I was able to create my very first book sled, and understand the simple, yet highly functional structure.
Photo of a sled at the Newberry Library courtesy of Henry Harris. Photo of a sled at the Newberry Library courtesy of Henry Harris.
The book sled was refined by Ann Lindsey and Melina Avery from the University of Chicago when they treated and housed a 52-pound antiphonary from their collection. They were able to design a sled with additional walls and stronger reinforcements. Chris Saclolo from the University of Central Florida further enhanced the book sled by adding wall reinforcements and a removable lower tray.
When the Lab received an elephant folio from the University of Cincinnati Classic’s Library that needed treatment and housing, we were able to create the very first book sled at our Lab! Housing a book over 20 inches tall is no easy feat, so we were thrilled to be able to use the experience and advice from our fellow conservation professionals. I worked alongside Chris Voynovich and Catarina Figueirinhas (because 3 minds are so much better than 1) where we problem solved, planned, and constructed this large book sled. The finished sled design closely follows Saclolo’s recommendations, with minor adjustments to the tray, as our book did not have bosses.
Kasie and Chris working together to construct the book sled.
Catarina was able to create a model that we can use as a reference in the future.
Ultimately, the book sled will allow the book, Facsimiles of National Manuscripts of Ireland, to be visible on the shelf while also aiding in transporting the book through the library when needed. It will also prevent additional damage and abrasion to the leather at the spine, which received a reback during treatment.
Facsimiles of National Manuscripts of Ireland in the finished book sled.
We already have additional oversized books in the Lab for treatment, so more sleds will be on the docket this winter!
Please join us for the second lecture in the six-part series – “Making the Fabrica: The Illustrations, Printing, Binding & Publication.” Award-winning cultural historian Dániel Margócsy, PhD, University of Cambridge, will describe the creation of the “Fabrica.” Dr. Margócsy will be joined by Gabrielle Fox, a Cincinnati book binding and preservation expert, who will discuss the bindings of the first and second editions that will be on public display in the Donald C. Harrison Health Sciences Library.
The lecture, free and open to the public, will be held Tuesday, Nov. 16 at 5:30 p.m. in Kresge Auditorium, 231 Albert Sabin Way. In-person activities will be provided under CDC guidelines or local COVID-19 restrictions, with the well-being of all guests remaining the top priority. View UC’s current COVID-19 updates.For those not wishing to attend in person, the lectures will be live streamed via Zoom.
