AIC's 46th Annual Meeting

Lithography is a complex, chemical printmaking process that requires firsthand experience to fully grasp the technique and potential artistic applications. This workshop introduces conservators to various lithographic processes and techniques commonly utilized by artists and studios, historically and up to this day. The curriculum consists primarily of hands-on printing activities but will also include lectures and group discussions. A comprehensive resource binder will be assembled by the participants throughout the workshop from a combination of lecture slides, notes, printing materials (plates and prints), and other useful references. This will allow participants to walk away with a strong understanding of the technique and have invaluable resources at their fingertips when returning to work.

Transportation will be provided from the Marriot Marquis Houston each morning and back to the Marriot Marquis Houston following the workshop each evening. The bus will depart from the Marriot at 8:15am.

Leather has long been used as a repair material for damaged leather bindings. The working properties of historic leathers can be very different than modern ones. In recent years, conservators have begun to employ other materials, such as paper or cast acrylic, as an alternative to leather in book conservation treatments. Tanned animal skins offer less long-term stability and may be more difficult to prepare than other materials, but may also provide better strength and flexibility in a functioning book. Should conservators continue to employ leather using traditional book repair techniques on leather bindings? Should we abandon the use of tanned skins in favor of more chemically stable materials? Do alternative book repair materials really stand up to the mechanical stresses of use? Be part of the debate and register for the symposium.

Here is a brief sampling of the talks:

• A virtual tour of J Hewit & Sons – discover how bookbinding leathers are produced.
• An exploration of over 50 years of book conservation at the Boston Athenæum. 
• A comparison of the use of customized acrylic cast into reusable silicone molds as an alternative to traditional methods
• An examination of SINTEVA Cuir as an alternative to leather
• A study of the applications of Japanese papers as a leather replacement
• An evaluation of the characteristics of bindings suitable for repair using tanned leather and a summary of the training needed to execute these repairs and an exploration of the suitability of cosmetic treatments that may alter the appearance of a historic binding.
• A panel discussion of the Library of Congress’s treatment protocols and case studies of when traditional leather or other materials were used.
• A report on the leather discussion group’s study on why modern leather deteriorates faster than older leather 

Download a complete listing of talks with abstracts below. Lunch is included.

The repair of damaged leather binding of books is a foundation treatment for all book conservators. It poses a constant challenge because of the need to balance the functional intention of using a book while balancing time economy when working with large collections or in private practice. In this course participants will learn and review several traditional and modern techniques for the repair of both tight and hollow back. The workshop will explore the importance of secure board attachment before the application of appropriate outer covering to re-attach the original spine and boards.

This workshop will alternate demonstrations with hands-on treatment under close supervision. Participants will gain experience lifting leather, staining leather to match historical bindings, paring leather, and rebacking in both leather and kozo paper. Discussions will explore board attachment techniques prior to covering, including joint tacketing, board slotting, extended linings, and colored kozo paper mending. There will be presentations on issues relating to leather bindings, including suitable repair leathers and papers, leather dyes, pigments, surface coatings, consolidants, adhesives, and tools for lifting and paring.

This workshop is for all experience levels, although previous work with leather would be helpful. Participants should bring their own paring knife and lifting knife. The workshop will take place in the brand-new state-of-the-art conservation lab at Texas A&M University Libraries, part of a three-year renovation of the libraries. Transportation from the Houston to College Station will be provided (about 90 minutes) and is included in the event start/end time. Lunch and breaks are included in the workshop.

Washi, or Japanese paper, is both a material of cultural heritage and a material used ubiquitously in conservation. Long before it became an amazing conservation material, washi had specific purposes tied to Japanese culture. Japanese papermaking is a historical craft that has experienced significant changes in the past few decades. Sadly, not all changes are for the better—the number of papermakers is dwindling and certain types of washi have become extinct due to closure of papermaking mills responding to various pressures. The accelerated changes in the world of washi compounded by potential language barriers for conservators who are not fluent in Japanese make it difficult for conservators to be certain of how these changes might be affecting washi used for treatment.  Seminal research has been conducted in the past about Japanese papermaking materials and techniques as well as technical analysis of handmade and machine made washi to determine its most appropriate use in conservation. However, these references may not be current enough for conservators to assess papers made in modern times.
 
By maintaining a current understanding of the history and process of Japanese papers we are respecting washi as both an object of cultural importance and as a conservation material that we use so commonly. This presentation seeks to review the history and technical process of Japanese papermaking. It will look at the methods and techniques of the papermakers represented by Hiromi Paper Inc., as well as some of the toolmakers, and raw materials involved in the papermaking process. Related conservation research published to date will be covered, and methods of extracting information through visual examination of washi for practical applications in conservation will be discussed.

There are many types of translucent papers, each with its own set of conservation issues stemming from various manufacturing processes. The characteristic that makes them stand apart from other papers—transparency—can itself be at risk when there is a need for applying mending or lining tissues. This project explores the physical aspects of paper transparency, and investigates the concept of optical clearing (transparentizing) of repair tissues, with the goal of achieving appropriate repairs on translucent papers without dramatically increasing the opacity of treated areas. The term “optical clearing” is borrowed from the fields of biology and medical research; it refers to the process of rendering biological tissues transparent through the application of clearing agents, which minimize the scattering of light and allow greater visibility for microscopy and imaging. This is similar to some historical processes of transparentizing paper, in which oils, waxes and rosins were added to fill light-scattering interstices, allowing more light to travel unimpeded through the paper web. This concept is applied to conservation repair tissues, with the goal of determining a coating to serve dual functions: optical clearing agent and reactivatable adhesive.

A wide range of adhesives and coatings familiar to paper conservation was tested for their transparentizing effects on a variety of repair tissues, including more traditional Japanese papers and the recently developed nanocellulose papers. Opacity measurements were taken using a spectrophotometer and the contrast-ratio method. Acrylic polymer dispersions proved to be the most consistently successful clearing agents. The most substantial transparentizing effects occurred in gampi-fiber Japanese tissues, with some cleared by over 90% of their original opacity. This can be attributed to the superior film-formation qualities of the acrylic dispersions and their amorphous polymeric structure. The heat-reactivation capability of acrylic adhesives also proves advantageous for the treatment of translucent tissues, which tend to react dramatically to moisture.

A range of repair methods was applied to modern translucent tissue samples. These were measured for opacity before and after treatment to compare to repairs made with cleared tissues. SEM cross-sectional imaging was used to visualize adhesive penetration. Attempts at removing each repair were also made to characterize ease-of-reversibility. The long-term stability of optically cleared repair tissues is considered alongside an aging test that measures the yellowing and turbidity of acrylic transparentizing coatings under different light exposures.

The application of the optically cleared tissues is discussed via the treatment of two large objects possessing damaged transparent overlays: Atlas Photographique de la Lune (Observatoire de Paris, 1896–1910) and Frank Lloyd Wright’s “Wasmuth Portfolio” (1910). The suitability of different clearing agents in varying contexts is also considered, such as in the treatment of coated transparent papers.

Cocktails and mixers: Ethanol-modified treatments for iron-gall ink.
The admixture of ethanol to aqueous treatment solutions is commonly used by conservators to mitigate the solubility of water-sensitive media. Prior research and direct observations by Library of Congress conservators have likewise indicated promising applications for the addition of ethanol to treat manuscripts with water-sensitive iron-gall ink. Building on the pioneering research initiated by the Netherlands Cultural Heritage Agency, which demonstrated the efficacy of calcium phytate and calcium bicarbonate to significantly slow the deteriorative mechanisms of iron-gall ink, a team of conservators and scientists at the Library of Congress sought the identify effective "cocktails", or ratios of ethanol and other components in the preparation of phytate and bicarbonate solutions.
This talk will present the results of a multi-year study comparing treatments on artificially-aged iron-gall ink, including washing in ethanol-water mixtures; varying proportions of ethanol in phytate and bicarbonate solutions; comparing ethanol-modified magnesium phytate with ethanol-modified calcium phytate; and ethanol-modified magnesium phytate at different pH values and solution concentrations. The presentation will also discuss the impact of the research on future treatment choices and procedures for iron-gall ink on paper.
Authors in Publication Order: Julie Biggs, Lynn Brostoff, Andrew Davis, Claire Dekle, Cyntia Karnes, Yasmeen Khan, Susan Peckham, and Cindy Connelly Ryan

The focus of this paper is the conservation of a17th c. map damaged by water and iron gall ink. Triggered by a document request for the Victoria County History project, archivist Amanda Bevan discovered the bad condition of a 17th c. map, which is of great historical interest. The map is part of a group of objects (C 110 64-67) dating from the mid-15th c. to the 18th c., which all had been evidence material in a court case: In his will, Samuel Travers dedicated the proceeds from the sale of his land to the establishment of a foundation for poor naval lieutenants. Travers’ will became the subject of much dispute and litigation and the trust relating to the Naval Knights was not validated until 26 July 1793, almost seventy years after his death. The map appears to have been worked with to the extent of its material failing, which led to the production of an 18th c. copy. The transfer process of the ink drawings involved pricking through the paper onto the new support. The map also shows staining from water damage, which would have contributed to the breakdown and removal of the adhesive holding the lining to the paper and exacerbated the iron gall ink damage. The three factors together, the iron gall ink degradation, the pricking and the water damage, led to the paper delaminating in fragments like a jigsaw. New treatment approaches for iron gall ink damage included the use of gels and a heat mat. This conservation project is a reflexion of recent developments in paper and book conservation at TNA's Collection Care Department. It included the identification of materials and the development of tailored conservation treatments with the help of the conservation scientists. It required historical research provided by the archivists and non-TNA historians. As a result, the map is being used as a case study for in-house training and for various outreach events. In the newly created position of the Senior Conservation Manager for Single Object Treatments I have been focussing on high profile documents and conservation challenges and directing the development and adaptation of new treatment methods. The present conservation project lent itself to contribute to TNA’s conservation skill development programme and to improve the organisation’s conservation methodology for single objects.

Armenian prayer scrolls are Christian talismans used to protect bearers from harm, to promote healing of illness, and to ensure good fortune. Hmayil, the Armenian name for these scrolls, means “enchantment ” in Old Armenian. Early examples were manuscripts, but printed scrolls became common with the advent of movable type. There are three printed Armenian prayer scrolls in the collections of the Library of Congress. All were printed at about the same date, in the same city. All are illustrated, but the individual palettes used for coloring the woodcuts are very different. This presentation will focus on the recent conservation treatment of a severely damaged hmayil, and will highlight the complicated and precise procedures of the treatment and housing as well as the scientific analysis of the scroll. The hmayil was printed in Constantinople in 1729; the text was printed on European paper with movable type and the illustrations added as woodcuts. It is about 3.5 inches wide, but 15 feet long. When the Library received the scroll, it was broken into fourteen fragments of varying lengths despite evidence of several efforts to restore and repair it. Stains and surface dirt disfigured the paper and obscured the hand-colored illustrations. Given the size of the object and the labor intensive treatment needed, the conservators considered treatment materials and methods to determine a treatment process that would be both efficient and sustainable. In addition, they carefully organized the project to maintain consistency in procedures while retaining flexibility to respond to new challenges that might arise. The treatment employed materials relatively new to conservation and blended Western and Eastern conservation techniques. For example, fragments were washed on layers of non-woven polyester-cellulose cloth (Tekwipe®), chosen for its strong vertical capillary action and reusability. To stabilize fragments and reconstruct the original sequence of the scroll, primary and secondary linings of two different Asian papers were applied using a combination of traditional Asian and Western lining techniques. To dry the linings, conservators used both Japanese materials and methods for tensioned drying, as well as Western papermakers’ felts. Since the strength and flexibility of the paper did not permit returning the scroll into its original format, a Western method of storage and presentation - window mats – was used, but their structure was tailored to meet the special needs of the curator and researchers. The conservators investigated the colorants used in the scroll by non-destructive analytical techniques: multi-spectral imaging and X-ray fluorescence spectrometer. The findings will be discussed in the presentation. The characterization also establishes a future direction for research by a multidisplinary team to compare different color palettes from the Library’s hmayils and the reference collection of Armenian pigments available to the Library, with the goal of contributing to the knowledge of historical Armenian artist’s materials.

Since this year’s AIC’s Annual Meeting theme has been expanded for the Book and Paper Group session to include re-evaluation of materials used in historical conservation treatments, the speaker would like to reflect back on more than 30 years of training and working in the conservation field and publically review some cases that provided great anxiety at the time or give pause upon reflection today. He will in fact review his own – by now – historic conservation treatments. The cases range from unintended immediate physical and chemical modifications, to unexpected long-term changes that have an impact on the use of collection items. The speaker will review a number of conservation treatments and evaluate how they have stood the test of time. He will also recount his experience as a conservation student, damaging a 16th century Albrecht Dürer print during a conservation approach that he has since then no longer used. He will discuss his experience with light bleaching a 19th century drawing by Joseph Keppler, an action that created unanticipated chemical changes in the paper. And he will delve into mechanical paper splitting and the unexpected long-term effects of this technique on 19th century US newspapers. The speaker ends with an observation made using Russell-effect photography and wonders whether the wide-spread use of the mat window as storage container should receive closer scrutiny in case in certain circumstances this type of housing unintentionally creates an environment that will give rise to a higher oxidation rate within the confines of the window.

The Morian Hall of Paleontology is your back drop as you enjoy excellent food and drink and the opportunity to mingle with your fellow book and paper conservators. Embark on a Prehistoric Safari in one of the nation's top paleontology exhibits.  

Book conservation treatment rarely calls for the full rebinding of a book. Where possible, conservators preserve the material nature of a book by keeping its original components and performing minimal intervention. At times, more interventive treatments are necessary to prepare the book for safe handling. HRC 10, a 15th-century Flemish book of hours from the Ransom Center’s Medieval and Early Modern Manuscripts Collection, presents a case-study where rebinding became essential, allowing an in-depth examination into combinations of different binding components suitable for small, bulky manuscript formats. Prior to treatment at the Ransom Center, HRC 10 was in a 19th-century stiff board, laced-in binding sewn on recessed cords. While the manuscript is small enough to fit into the palm of a user’s hands, its 226-folio text block makes the volume very thick. The opening of the volume’s parchment leaves was restricted by the binding and the text block’s heavily lined spine. To access the book’s contents, users had to exert pressure to open the text block, often with their fingers touching the fragile illuminations and writing that is close to the edges of the pages. As the manuscript is often studied for its illuminations, curators and conservators determined that treatment was necessary to increase the openability of the text block. Multiple conservators worked on HRC 10 over the course of its treatment, and the treatment plan changed greatly from its initial development to completion. When a decision to resew and rebind a text block is made, conservators usually attempt to create a new binding structure that is sympathetic to the period of the text block. For HRC 10, this would have meant resewing on raised supports. While this is a strong sewing structure, it is not optimal for small, bulky text blocks, where the sewing supports tend to restrict the movement of the spine. Resewing HRC 10 in such a structure were therefore not successful in increasing the openability of the volume. Several models with various sewing structures were made to determine the best structure for HRC 10, using different combinations of components such as sewing style, sewing support materials, lining materials and methods of attachment, and endbands. An unsupported link stitch, similar to the sewing used for earlier Byzantine and Coptic bindings, was finally selected. It greatly improved the openability. The binding was then covered in an alum-tawed skin, a conservationally-sound material. The treatment project of HRC 10 presented an opportunity to trace the thought-process of different conservators throughout the treatment of one manuscript, culminating in an in-depth examination of the structural complications of working with small, bulky text blocks to provide a satisfactory treatment solution.

The Texas A&M University Libraries collections contains twenty examples of volumes designated as "primeros libros" and form the basis of international collaboration of nearly thirty institutions to build a digital humanities collections of these volumes available for research (http://www.primeroslibros.org). These Texas A&M University volumes are previously untreated at the libraries and several are in need of intense conservation treatment to bring them back as functional research tools. This presentation will review the unique characteristics of volumes of primeros libros selected for conservation, such as the marcas de fuegos (burned in brand) that is on several foredges of the books, and how those characteristics informed the treatment decisions while preserving the significance as unique artifacts.

Item Background: “Primeros libros” are books first printed in the Americas from approximately 1539 to 1605 in colonial Mexico and Peru. They are part of the Colonial Mexican Collection, which contains thousands of works either produced in Mexico or European imprints concerning Mexico during the Age of Exploration, Colonial, and early National periods and is a significant collecting area for the library as well as resource for the scholarly community in this area. The collection offers a significant number of examples of Mexican colonial bindings, woodcuts, illustrations, illuminated and decorated manuscripts, types, publishers, marginalia, and other information.

The treatment of bound materials in special collections has become more conservative over the past half century. Today, book conservators choose treatments that safeguard physical information intrinsic to early bindings. The treatments focus on mending and stabilizing book structures, which lessen the need for invasive treatments such as rebinding or rebacking covers. However, in repairing rather than replacing older structures and materials, the book conservator is often challenged by the binding's deteriorated condition, which can range from slight to considerable. At the Ransom Center, we have found that the repair of one binding structure can stress and, in some cases, break adjacent deteriorated binding components. This presentation will discuss problems that typical repairs can cause such as a new break in the sewing structure or stiffness in the spine, which changes how a book opens and how the pages turn. Techniques used by Ransom Center conservators to minimize stress to older components in order to preserve early structures and materials will be described using case studies.

Today, transparent graphic effects can be made with the click of a mouse. However, in the 18th century, a specific type of colorant was commercially manufactured to render clear, brilliant, transparent effects. These colorants were called transparent liquid colors. They are little mentioned in the conservation literature and in the history of watercolor. These liquids are very different from water-based media used for other types of objects, such as miniatures and even other types of popular prints. The transparent liquids were commonly used for coloring maps, plans, prints, and even painting on velvet. This paper will examine the history and development of the transparent liquids and will include observations from recreations based on recipes found in historic manuals. The identification of transparent liquids, visually and analytically, may help to answer one of the vexing questions regarding hand coloring – that is “who put the color on the map or print?” The use of the transparent colors may suggest a professional or technical hand, versus amateur, particularly after the invention of watercolor in cake form.

As imaging technology continues to be developed in the service of material identification and mapping, long-standing assumptions about artists’ media and processes can finally be tested. Analytical methods such as GC-MS, SERS, XRF mapping, and hyperspectral imaging represent opportunities to breath exciting new life into exhibitions of works by artists who have become perennial favorites. John Singer Sargent is one such artist on whom numerous tomes have been written and about whom it may seem there is nothing more to say. This talk will contradict that notion by presenting new insights into Sargent’s materials based on the coordination of close visual observation, scholarship, and material analysis using established scientific technqiues as well as techniques that have only recently become available such as hyperspectral imaging and macro-XRF mapping. The present exhibition John Singer Sargent and Chicago’s Gilded Age afforded the opportunity to conduct a technical study of eleven of Sargent’s watercolors at the Art Institute of Chicago. Though the sample set is small for such a prolific artist, the works span nearly forty years of the artist’s watercolor production. He sustained passion for the medium throughout his life and, as analysis revealed, he sometimes experimented by altering his media. These discoveries were made possible through collaboration between curators, conservators, and scientists who are innovators in fields ranging from computer science to spectroscopy. They stress the importance of establishing a scientific basis for claims made about artists’ processes, even if they originate from primary and secondary sources. This information adds to the extensive body of technical work that has already been published on the largest American collections of Sargent’s watercolors, namely those at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, and the Worcester Museum.

The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS)in the Judean seventy years ago, is considered one of the greatest archaeological discoveries in modern times. The scrolls were either written or copied in the Land of Israel between 250 BCE and 68 CE. They represent the oldest written record of the Old Testament, and contain the earliest copies of every book of the Bible, except one. This “Ancient Library” allows us to peer into a period, 2000 years ago, pivotal to both Judaism and Christianity. Thanks to these remarkable texts, our knowledge concerning the origins of Judaism and early Christianity has been greatly enriched. Issues of publication, conservation, preservation and documentation of the DSS have concerned both scholars and conservators ever since the scrolls’ discovery. The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), first embarked on this ambitious project of multi spectral imaging as yet another conservation effort, but it very soon it evolved into an overall project that is gradually changing DSS research environment and methodology. I will begin with a general overview presenting a short historical assessment of the state of preservation and documentation of the scrolls and their availability to the public and to the scholarly community before this project began. The presentation will discuss in depth the technology and sciences involved in the imaging, the development of a noninvasive monitoring system based on the multi spectral images for following the state of preservation of the scrolls; the creation of highest-quality color images and advanced near infra-red images for public and scholarly use; the online digital library, open access, computer generated tools, algorithms, virtual work-spaces, and new studies resulting from these best possible images. Finally, I shall briefly survey future objectives and challenges we still face. The Dead Sea Scrolls are a universal cultural heritage. As such, it is our duty to safeguard and preserve them for future generations while sharing them with the public and scholarly community worldwide.

The Book and Paper Wiki is a collaborative knowledge base of conservation techniques that belongs to all of us. Please come to the 2018 Book and Paper Wiki Discussion Session to keep updated about its progress. We will acknowledge the people who have made contributions, demonstrate new and improved Wiki pages, and gather suggestions for improvement on the Drying and Flattening chapter. Attendees will be invited to comment what the Wiki should focus on in 2018-2019.

The 2017 Book and Paper Wiki Discussion Session in Chicago provided energy, inclusion, and focus to the continuing effort to make the Wiki as relevant as possible. We discussed reformatting and updating chapters; how to deal with outdated (historical) treatments, materials, and terminology; and the importance of including images and videos. With the help of a group of volunteers, we have been following through on your input with great success.

This has been the best year yet for the Book and Paper Wiki.  Let's keep the momentum going. The feedback that we receive during these sessions is invaluable in planning for the future of the Book and Paper Wiki and maintaining an engaged and active membership.

Woodblock prints, first produced in Japan during the sixth to eighth century, progressed from early black line prints, sometimes with hand-applied color, to vibrant full color printed images by late 18th century. Publishing proliferated in response to the literate population’s desire for books and affordable imagery. Prints and printed books, with or without illustrations, became an integral part of daily life. Known broadly as ukiyo-e, literally meaning pictures of the floating world, these prints depicted Kabuki actors, beautiful women, scenes from history or legend, views of Edo, landscapes, and erotica. The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA) collection of Japanese woodblock prints numbers over 50,000, representing the full-range Japanese woodblock printing development. From 1998, when the first conservator dedicated to this collection was hired, work has been ongoing to document, treat, and re-house this vast collection and thus enable its use in exhibitions, scholarship, and research. While numerous literature studies have been conducted on the history of the printing techniques and materials, the MFA’ s study is the first to use a combination of visual and non-invasive spectroscopic techniques to systematically identify the thin layer(s) of inorganic and organic colorants on Japanese woodblock prints. The combination of the large study set and the ideal analysis techniques have provided the MFA with the unique opportunity to fully characterize the palette and techniques on these prints. To illustrate the range of results obtained from this large-scale study, this presentation will examine a sampling of the techniques and palette used for the 1770 printing Harunobu’s five volumes of Beauties of the Yoshiwara. Every illustration was surveyed using a stereo binocular microscope to determine which colors were overprinted to create new tones. The illustrations were also viewed under ultraviolet radiation to reveal the characteristic fluorescence or absorption properties of the individual colors. Following these visual inspections, colors were examined by three spectroscopic analysis methods that did not require sampling. X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) provided information on the chemical elements found in inorganic pigments. The red and yellow organic colorants, such as madder, safflower, sappanwood, turmeric, flavonoids, and gamboge, were indicated by Excitation Emission Matrix (EEM) fluorescence. Fiber-optic Reflectance spectroscopy (FORS) was used to readily distinguish between dayflower and indigo blue, even in mixtures that appear green or purple. The parameters of the analysis methods were thoroughly vetted using printed references of traditional Japanese colors that were prepared in-house. This combination of techniques, both visual and spectroscopic, was critical towards gaining a better understanding of the materials and techniques used for the prints.

Historic scrapbooks are one of the most problematic formats found in many library, archive, and museum collections due to their complicated and deterioration-prone structures. Unfortunately, they are also one of the formats of greatest interest to historians and genealogists, among others. These often bedraggled books offer a wonderful and unique glimpse into history through the eyes of the individual or group who created them. Although some scrapbooks contain only duplicate printed information, such as newspaper clippings of current events on particular topics or collectable printed cards or illustrations, others contain a wide variety of materials such as photographs, postcards, letters, documents, and realia. In either case, however, scrapbooks can serve as a valuable resource for researchers. Unfortunately, due to the nature of their construction, their previous use, and the deterioration of their contents, many historic scrapbooks are in very poor condition and present a myriad of preservation challenges. These challenges range from binding deterioration and dangerously brittle paper to the often dramatic deterioration of their contents.

At the University of Illinois Library we hold a large number of such historic scrapbooks (nearly 1,000) broadly held in the collections of our University Archives, Student Life and Culture Archives, or Sousa Archives and Center for American Music. Condition, curatorial value, and use of these materials vary greatly, as do expectations from our archivists and curators on what “conservation treatment” may mean when items are brought to the conservation lab. Over the last ten years, treatments have ranged from over 100 hours per item for various full treatment approaches (including maintaining and preserving the original format, or completely removing items from their scrapbook format) to simple boxing, and everything in between. This variability in approaches has been particularly heightened recently by the planning for an upcoming exhibition and digitization project focusing on a single historical scrapbook from our Rare Book and Manuscript Library as well as several incoming requests to remove items from scrapbooks to be permanently housed separately from their original scrapbook. In an attempt to better manage curatorial expectations on what scrapbook treatment may involve and better articulate the benefits and drawbacks of more invasive conservation and/or disbinding, our conservation staff have been developing a more strategized and, perhaps, standardized approach to the conservation treatment of historic scrapbooks. This presentation will give an overview of some of our previous scrapbook treatment approaches, analyze the successes and failures of those treatments, and how we propose to better streamline our treatments as well as to better communicate with curators to arrive at agreed upon treatment approaches that meet their collections and users needs.

Asian scroll paintings are executed on delicate and fragile materials such as silk. Many of the aging scrolls already show different degrees of natural deterioration. For treating these scrolls, remounting and replacing the first lining is a crucial step to stabilizing the damages. The first lining is also called Life paper, indicating that it is crucial to the life of a painting. Paintings on silk with the extensive loss to the silk support have been found lined overall with a sheet of silk to compensate/back-fill the losses. This is considered a “lazy” way to disguise losses as opposed to the method of infilling the losses individually with silk trimmed to the same shapes as the losses. Silk bonds much better to paper than it does to another layer of silk; therefore, lining a painting on silk with a whole sheet of silk requires thicker and stronger paste to bind two sheets of silk well. If two sheets of silk are not well adhered they will delaminate more readily with rolling and unrolling; these delaminations can eventually lead to losses to the painting silk. Is it true that lining with silk is a “lazy” way? Are there other reasons why an overall silk lining may be preferable in terms of the scroll’s context or the condition? Some Japanese Buddhist paintings are lined with a whole sheet of silk simply because silk is expensive and considered more luxurious and thus, is the best material to show proper reverence to the deity or deities represented in the painting. At the CMA, a silk painting in a handscroll format had been treated in the past with an overall silk lining. This handscroll was recently remounted due to the delamination between the primary and lining silks. When the lining silk of this handscroll was taken off, extensive tiny losses and spider web-like creases were revealed with transmitted light. Here lies the crux of this discussion: if the losses are compensated using an overall silk lining, it might cause the same problem of delamination. If lined with sheets of paper, the losses then have to be infilled with trimmed silk, and with extensive losses, this is extremely time-consuming. Most of the losses are the size of pencil dots, so infilling with the same size of trimmed silk is impractical: there is not enough material (surface area) to paste down and the infills would just fall off due to poor adhesion. Furthermore, trimming the infill silk to the exact shapes of the losses and then reinforcing the inlaid perimeter would result in too many overlapping reinforcement strips. Finally, a painting will shrink or expand differently than the fills while drying, resulting in gaps around losses; with numerous tiny infills, all of the resulting gaps present a concern. In this presentation, the advantages and disadvantage of lining with silk or with paper for Asian silk paintings are compared and discussed. The filling and lining materials and methods for a 15th-century handscroll at the CMA are introduced.

While trained to work with different types of materials, conservators are sometimes presented with composite objects that are outside their area of expertise. The Newberry Library has some unusual board games in their collection that aren’t always made out of materials a book conservator is accustomed to. The Newberry recently acquired the 1955 board game Mt. Everest that includes a 3-dimentional folding mountain for the game board, designed so that magnets in the playing pieces stick to the board as the players “climb” the mountain. While this was an innovative idea at the time, the long term consequences of layering an iron sheet in the middle of the board were not considered. Now that the iron in the board is rusty, the board is delicate. The mountain is flaking apart at the corners and appears to have staining due to chemical reactions between the paper and iron. Stains are also present in portions of the box that were in contact with the board. The presence of iron precludes treatment with water as migration of iron ions would be detrimental over time, and the board would not survive an attempt to wash and chelate the rusted metal. Book and paper conservators usually work with iron in the form of iron gall ink or impurities left in the paper from contaminated water. While many lessons are transferable to this situation, most of the treatment procedures are not. Local objects conservators with experience working with metallic iron will be consulted for their experience treating corroded iron. The Newberry’s mission is to preserve items while also making them accessible to the public in the reading room. Particularly delicate items are more difficult to treat because they may be used more than would be ideal for their preservation. The condition of the board prevents patrons from assembling the original mountain without damage. In order to preserve the original, a facsimile will be created using archival materials so that library users can still get an idea of how the game was designed. The poster will focus on the tradeoffs between the need to preserve the game and allow researchers to experience the game using as many of the original components as possible. It will also explain the treatment conducted on the original (incorporating collaborative expertise) and the methods and materials used in constructing the facsimile.

A research project was carried out at Queen’s University to determine the effectiveness of an agarose gel-based treatment of iron gall ink corrosion halos using reducing agent sodium metabisulfite and chelating agent diethylene triamine pentaacetic acid. The ink fabricated for this experiment contained the metal ions of iron, copper, and zinc to increase the amount of visible corrosion, as well as replicate historic inks that have metals other than iron in them. The experimental treatment accounts for the chelation of the copper and zinc ions from the paper substrate along with iron, which cannot currently be done using the widely accepted calcium phytate treatment, as phytate is iron selective. The effectiveness of this experimental treatment was primarily determined using qualitative methods of analysis. Photographic documentation, ultraviolet fluorescence, optical microscopy, scanning election microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and electron probe microanalysis were the techniques that yielded the most useful results. Color spectrophotometry and pH measurements of the sample swatches yielded results that support observations made with the aforementioned techniques. Unfortunately, inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy, the main technique that would have confirmed the success of the treatment, did not yield results because of unknown error. Though no definite conclusions could be drawn on the effectiveness of the treatment, suggestions for future research and potential treatment procedures can be considered based on the results from the qualitative analyses.

“Nothing that happens to you is inadmissible: anything that happens anywhere, anyhow, is valid material for poetry. Love, light, loss, liberty and laceration.” Gwendolyn Brooks, 1917-2000

Gwendolyn Brooks is one of the most influential American poets of the 20th century.  Coming of age in Bronzeville, Chicago, her works captured the Black lives, labor and loves of the Southside.  Brooks went on to receive significant recognition and acclaim as the first Black author to receive the 1950 Pulitzer Prize, and she became the Poet Laureate for the State of Illinois in 1968.  In 2013, Gwendolyn Brooks’ archives were acquired by the University of Illinois Rare Book and Manuscript Library (RBML), consisting of over 100 boxes filled to the brim with her personal papers.

Brooks was an avid record keeper. Like her experiences, nothing that she wrote—letters, grocery lists, fragments of thought, food diaries, annotated pictures, homemade chapbooks and more—was inadmissible. Her singular, often editorial marginalia and labelling existed on most items she saved.  Moreover, the purposes of her retained materials transformed over time. Drafts became published works, published works became the starting point for new directions, middles became beginnings and beginnings became ends. And while the idiosyncrasy of a creator/collector might be present in any modern archive, Brooks’ papers are especially revealing of her personality, as well as of her innate need to impose a distinctive organization.  It was such a prominent feature of the unprocessed acquisition that it became a separate aspect of the collection that curators wanted to preserve in addition to the physical papers.

In setting out to stabilize Brooks’ “working documents” for an exhibit at the National Poetry Foundation in 2017, several salient issues came to fore.  Firstly, many of her most important drafts were recorded on poor, embrittled materials (deteriorated composition books, newsprint, fugitive inks etc.).  Secondly, much of Brooks’ creative process included intentional damage to her drafts (lacunae or whole pages purposefully removed or reordered).  Furthermore, as an archival and unprocessed collection in the RBML, a close relationship of communication had to be established between curator and conservator in order to make long-term care decisions that would not risk erasing or obscuring the heart of the material—Brook’s own care and keeping decisions made during her lifetime.

The state of flux of Brooks’ papers is an interesting if not challenging one for conservators. Early, we are taught to understand “ephemeral” objects and “temporary” bindings.  At least in these cases, the intellectual work is finished even if its presentation is problematic. But, what if the intellectual work was unfinished? What if the value of a document stemmed from its lack of finality, the fact that it was paused forever, mid-thought, mid-sentence? What if the content and not the form is “incomplete” or “ephemeral” or by its very nature, “transitory”? This poster will explore these questions through treatment case studies, as well as examine significant value of the curator/conservator relationship when making decisions for the long term care of such a rare and rich collection.

This presentation will provide an overview of an in depth study of humidification and flattening of paper based artworks/artifacts conducted during a Cathleen A. Baker Fellowship at the University of Michigan Library. Humidification and flattening of paper is one of the most fundamental components of a book and/or paper conservator’s practice, and while it may seem basic or rudimentary the finesse required when selecting the techniques, materials and methodologies to employee in a given situation should not be discounted. When it comes to determining the appropriate procedure for reducing planar distortions in a paper support Material Matters! Factors inherent to the paper itself including the fiber type, processing, sheet formation and finishing affect how the paper will react with the environment and in treatment; by isolating variables and using a standard set of sample papers that reflect a wide range of paper supports typically seen in museum, library and archival collections a more comprehensive understanding of the treatment process can be achieved. The primary aim of this project was to combine a through literature review with personal interviews with practicing conservators of various career levels and training backgrounds to formulate a series of practical experiments which would inform my personal knowledge of the subject. Comparative data- both quantitative and qualitative in nature- in the form of dimensional measurements, observations of surface texture and planarity and efficacy provide insight into manipulating the vast array of humidity delivery systems coupled with restraint drying set-ups to achieve the desired outcome. In the end there is no silver bullet, there is no one "go to" system that will work for all papers in all situations but there are ways to tailor most any system to achieve the goal for each paper.

In order to build an alkaline reserve in paper that neutralizes acids already present and protects against acids adsorbed in the future, most mass deacidification processes use a liquid carrier to deliver alkaline particles or solutes. While certain mass deacidification carrier fluids in use today are inert, others are toxic, flammable, and odoriferous. A few significant carriers (heptane, HMDS) are industrial solvents capable of changing the appearance of susceptible media. Although vendors using more aggressive fluids screen collections for media compatibility, given the hundreds of thousands of artifacts undergoing mass deacidification yearly, we can expect loss of historic and artistic content. We have performed several experiments, taking thousands of measurements in the CIELAB color space to quantify the color change of an increasingly large number of relevant media (highlighters, stamp pad ink, colored pencils, markers) on relevant acidic (book and bond) papers. Measuring before and after mechanical action while submerged in relevant mass deacidification carrier fluids in use today (perfluorohexane isomers, heptane, and hexamethyldisiloxane—HMDS) gauges their susceptibility to color change during treatment. We concluded that perfluorinated hydrocarbons seldom if ever cause noticeable changes in color density of even of the most fugitive media. By contrast heptane and HMDS produce changes noticeable to the human eye. Therefore, carrier chemistry is an important though underappreciated criterion in the selection of mass deacidification methods.

This article will introduce “Pineapple paper”, which was developed and produced in Taiwan since 1970. Paper, one of the most important materials in paper conservation. In Eastern conservation field, there are several types of paper that are well-known by conservators, such as Minogami and Kozo Paper from Japanese, as well as Xuan Paper from China. Meanwhile, with the increasing variety of paper material and their characteristic, new conservation papers are then considered using to enrich the choices for conservators and helpfully to meet different conservation needs. Pineapple Paper was produced to conform to this requirement. Pineapple Paper is made in the process similar to traditional Xuan Paper. It presents Taiwanese environmental characters and integrates environment protection. This paper not only has the characteristic of visual pure color and elegant quality as traditional Xuan Paper but also paper strength advantage as Japanese paper. In addition, it hardly shows deterioration or discoloration after aging test procedures. In recent years, Pineapple Paper is starting to be accepted and used by Eastern painting and paper conservators in Taiwan for conservation and preservation. Furthermore, was also made especially for a famous Chinese Artist Chang Dai-Chien. In the article, we will also introduce the production process of Pineapple Paper, its paper characteristics and conservation case studies. We wishing that paper conservators who have not yet aware of this material to have one more choice in his paper material cabinet for future conservation work.

The rapid growth and adoption of 3D printing technologies has or will soon bring a new generation of printed polymer objects into our collections. With almost half a million printers shipped in 2016 alone, 3D printed objects are likely to stay with us for as long as the polymers last. While 3D printing encompasses a variety of distinct processes, fused filament fabrication (FFF) is the most popular and accessible 3D printing technology, utilizing a heated nozzle head to deposit layers of polymer into a computer generated design. FFF is widely used in museums, arts, and educational settings as a low-cost teaching tool. At the University of Florida (UF), we have printed exhibit mounts, archaeological replicas for classroom use, and prosthetics for a children’s charity. Despite the widespread adoption of FFF technology, little testing has been done to either understand the stability of the thermoplastic polymers used in these printers or potential health ramifications of bringing industrial production methods to a desktop printer. To better understand the long-term stability of the variety of polymers compatible with the 3D printers at UF, the UF Libraries are undertaking Oddy testing and Photographic Activity Testing on the commercially available polymers to understand their long-term stability for possible use in collection storage and display. In parallel with the material testing, we will be measuring the emission of ultrafine particles (UFPs) during the printing process. UFPs and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) impact indoor air quality and may be a potential health risk to users. The results of this testing will help conservators make key materials decisions for the health and safety of our collections and our creators. Materials testing will provide insights to potential hazards entering collections as well as potential tools for use in creating custom housings and exhibit mounts. Understanding the emission of UFPs during printing can help guide room and ventilation design to minimize potential health risks to conservators, artists, and other makers.

Our overall goal is to test the hypothesis that biological material, including ancient DNA, can be extracted from 500-plus-year-old Renaissance artworks such as written folios and metalpoint drawings. We report here the preliminary results of a multidisciplinary technical and scientific research study where samples of modern “prepared” paper were analyzed. An IRB-approved human subjects protocol was initiated to allow us to collect saliva samples. The saliva samples were then used to fabricate prepared paper samples according to Cennini’s original description of methods (Broecke, L., “Cennino Cennini’s Il Libro dell’Arte: A New English Translation and Commentary with Italian Transcription”, London: Archetype Publications, Ltd., 2015). We then developed techniques to extract DNA from homogeneous samples of the prepared paper. Using real-time quantitative PCR (polymerase chain reaction, RT q-PCR), we measured the sensitivity of the extraction methods and determined whether the DNA that can be extracted is suitable for DNA sequencing. We determined that DNA from the cells in human saliva used to prepare paper could be extracted quantitatively from various paper types, and that the DNA can be amplified and detected using RT q-PCR. From a 1.2-mm “punch biopsy” we achieved the theoretical detection limit of 6 picograms of DNA, which corresponds to the amount of DNA in one human epithelial cell. On average, the DNA yield from a punch biopsy from the prepared paper is the equivalent of about 7 cells. We have begun to test aged specimens and will further study the inhibitory effects of metalpoint media, paints, resins, glues, waxes, etc. to human DNA testing. We will also employ single-cell Next-Generation sequencing (NGS) in order to obtain genomes from DNA extracted from the paper samples. In summary, we report preliminary results that provide a basis for developing a minimally-invasive method to analyze artworks, such as drawings on Renaissance-prepared paper. The methods we develop are applicable to studies of authentic artworks and paper documents from various periods. Conservation scientists using UV, XRF and X-ray technologies to study artworks should consider that under certain conditions, UV light and X-rays damage DNA, thereby forever removing the possibility of extracting artists’ DNA and other biological information from works on paper or other substrates.

Burn is not a common deterioration in the cultural relics of paper base. Burn may be from the process of material made or the bad collection environment, like the mounting or storage made by the bad materials. “Mazu” journal's first issue collects by National Museum of Taiwan Literature, has a large part loss and burn on the book cover and pages, there is over half of the book cover missing that the item is so weak and unstable. Since this object is one evident of special regime conversion in Taiwan, it’s very important in cultural change, the history of literature and book binding. Therefore, this paper will use present digital printing out technology to restore this important journal, and will make contribution for the condition and consider treatment of the burned object. “Mazu” is a Japanese journal published during the period which Japan colonial Taiwan. ”Mazu”, the name of journal, is the goddess of the sea from the Taiwan traditional belief, and the content of journals is the poems and novels all surrounded by this theme. The magazines are hand binding by the editor, Mitsuru Nishikawa, due to his personal hobby for beauty of the binding and limited book, and publishing for those who collect books. It’s also the first one literature magazine which is combined of literature with art and printing technology. The illustrations of book are the print works all about Taiwanese folk and religious themes, and the pages are Asia handmade paper, on the endpaper stick a sheet of “paper money”, which used to be in the ceremony of Taiwan's Traditional Belie. “Paper money” base is made of straw fiber, and d decorate with gold leaf and red prints, and is incensed with fire to sacrifice to gods in East Asian traditional belief which is meaning for communicate with god and pray for blessings. In this journal, paper money is meaning the decoration of book ticket. The deterioration of this book is serious that the burn, brittle and lose the full cover and pages. The paper supports are dark brown color, and the water stain, tide line on the paper outward diffused from the spine as the center. It’s easily broken and peeling off since burn and brittle when doing the treatment, and that makes it extremely difficult during all the conservation treatment with the choice of treatment materials also have many considerations. At the same time this paper also the basic scientific analysis for burn part of the paper, and compensation large missing by using Asia mounting lining technique with inkjet printing out technology to maintain the texture of the cultural relics and visual continuity.

This research will explore the materials and methods behind the creation of North American paper-based tattoo artifacts from the 19th and 20th centuries. As the folk art canon arguably includes tattoo ephemera, the conservation of these works on paper deserve attention for best practice based on materials, techniques and historical use. These objects include flash (the drawn and printed designs for tattoos), stencils and sketchbooks which intersect as industrial art during the time of their creation, to highly collectible artworks in and outside the tattoo community at present. Vintage flash sheet designs range from rudimentary to ornate in their execution. Although similar images depict ageless themes of love, life and loss, one flash sheet showcasing representations of heartbreak is not the same as another sheet of broken hearts. Artist materials used to create these objects vary widely and invite exploration. The paper objects surrounding the tattoo industry of the past, such as hand-painted business advertisements and flash sheets, were created using an assortment of materials that encompass different substrates, surface coatings, adhesives, pigments and dyes. Most frequently these objects were heavily handled, tacked directly to walls and pork-chopped, the process by which specific designs were cut to be collaged with others on a single sheet. Due to their environment of constant use by artists in stationary shops or more itinerant set-ups, physical damage is common. Signs of structural and cosmetic degradation include water damage, nicotine stains, aged varnishes, paper loss and media disturbances. As a conservator who treats these objects, I have observed that tattoo historians and tattoo history collectors can have different conservation goals. To inform a treatment course for these artworks, if any, it is necessary to compile more studied information regarding the materials and their original context. This project aims to gather and organize findings to build case studies by working directly with original materials. Non-destructive analysis using X-ray fluorescence (XRF) will be exercised. Sourcing archival materials in addition to interviewing current practitioners of this art form will help support a continued dialogue that can help acquaint other conservation professionals to preserving these historical artworks.

Image Permanence Institute (IPI) has been studying the chemical and mechanical stability of collection materials for thirty years. One area of focus has been on the rate of moisture equilibration of library and archive materials. That research has led us to understand that it may take weeks or even months for an entire bound volume to equilibrate to a change in ambient relative humidity. However, experiential evidence demonstrates that the outer layer, or “skin,” of a book can react quickly to certain environmental changes leading to potential mechanical deformation. Studying the mechanical behavior of books is particularly challenging as they are three-dimensional, complex, composite objects made of diverse materials and constructed in a variety of ways. IPI is currently using a photogrammetry technique called Digital Image Correlation (DIC) to further our understanding of the mechanical behavior of common library and archive materials as well as the “skin” of bound volumes. Individual materials such as paper, book cloth, leather, and parchment were tested as well as bound volumes that range in date from early 18th century to late 20th century. Book samples are bound with a variety of materials and have varying structures, including tight back, hollow back, and perfect bindings in full, half, and quarter leather, cloth, and paper as well as full vellum bindings. DIC is a relatively new imaging technology that allows for the study of dimensional changes in two-dimensional and three-dimensional objects. A random dot pattern is applied to the test material and imaged in stereo. Software analyzes the images and measures dimensional displacement within the material producing 2-D and 3-D strain models. Of particular interest is the correlation between moisture transfer and strain, and the amount of strain experienced in bound volumes with changes in environment. This data will help determine the upper and lower limits of temperature and relative humidity necessary to avoid permanent deformation and will better inform our models for sustainable preservation environmental parameters.

As lithography gained popularity during the beginning of the 19th century, Alois Senefelder, the inventor of lithography, marketed stone paper as a cheaper, more accessible alternative to the cumbersome limestones most commonly used for printing. Between 1820 and 1821, Théodore Géricault, one of the early proponents of lithography, experimented with the use of stone paper. The Lion Devouring a Horse stone paper matrix is in the collection of the Harvard Art Museums and is the focus of this study. Stone paper is a lithographic printing matrix made of a heavy weight paper prepared with a special coating. Like other lithographic processes, the image is drawn on the prepared surface with a greasy material and the surface is then processed and printed from. The stone paper matrix for Lion Devouring a Horse sustained numerous losses to the coating, and during printing the losses in the image area transferred to the prints as voids. Through examination and comparison between the stone paper matrix and various impressions of the print, it is evident that some prints exhibit more voids than others. This variation is an indication that the coating deteriorated as the impressions were being printed and these voids helped build a chronology of this coating deterioration. Earlier impressions of prints are typically considered to have stronger impression quality but based on the developed chronology, earlier impressions of Lion Devouring a Horse do not necessarily relate to stronger impressions.
Senefelder described stone paper coatings as compositions of clay, chalk and metallic oxides. X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis of the stone paper coating revealed only the presence of lead. Small samples were taken for analysis by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GCMS), scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive analysis (SEM-EDX) and matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI). Analysis confirmed that the material was dominated by lead white (basic lead carbonate) combined with a drying oil binder, casein and gum. Lead soaps are thought to be present within the medium.
The results of these careful comparisons, the instrumental analysis, and tests carried out on modern examples of stone paper will illustrate the practical challenges Géricault faced when printing from stone papers and the reason for their limited commercial success. 
 

Édouard Manet (1832 – 1883) is celebrated as an accomplished painter and draughtsman, equally conversant with canvas, oil paint and brush as he was pen and ink. From the perspective of materiality, his pastels, particularly those executed on primed canvases, stand at the intersection of these two disciplines. Relying on analysis carried out for an ambitious online scholarly catalogue, this talk compares and contrasts two of these works, Man with a Dog and Portrait of Alphonse Maureau, and discusses the adoption of paintings conservation techniques to stabilize the artworks for storage and display. Both works are portraits in the collection of the Prints and Drawings Department at the Art Institute of Chicago. Although dissimilar as portraits, the works are strikingly similar in terms of materials and techniques. Examination of the works indicates that Manet borrowed heavily from his knowledge of painting practice. Notable technical analysis included thread count and weave match analysis, which demonstrate that the supports were cut from the same bolt of cloth, likely a commercially prepared canvas. Unfortunately, the canvases are significantly undulated and the ground does not provide adequate purchase for the layers of unfixed pastel, and thus there is media loss throughout both artworks. The second part of this lecture details how paper conservation staff have used padded inserts, similar to those used for oil paintings, to fill the recesses created by the stretcher from the verso to provide an even support and cushioning to the slack canvases, and to reduce or eliminate vibration. The Édouard Manet online scholarly catalogue is available through the Art Institute of Chicago’s Conservation web page or through the following address: https://publications.artic.edu/manet/reader/manetart/section/140020.

Toilet paper is one of our daily necessities. However, when it is becomes a museum object that needs to carefully be treated and stored, it takes a lot of efforts for its light, thin and soft property. This essay targets on making preventive conservation of toilet tissue object by utilizing friction and static electricity. Unlike other paper objects, the toilet paper has same special properties; for example, it is thinner to be torn apart, lighter to be blown away, and more sensitive to moisture. For those reasons, we need to preserve and display this kind of object in different ways instead of expected paper conservation ideas. We focus on how to preserve and display this kind of object by choosing suitable materials and trying different methods of fixing museum objects. Due to its vulnerable structure and hygroscopic feature, we avoid using any adhesive on the object directly. Instead, we try to use friction and static electricity testing the stability of storage method. First of all, we made use of the storage method of textiles and fiber objects- to fix the paper and the textile via friction. Through friction tests, we found the object could be sit steadily on textile. Then, we made a deep window with inner tray for each toilet paper. Last, we fixed the object with imperceptible strips to preserve sliding and falling. Therefore, we found the static electricity is another function to hold the toilet tissue object, not only the friction but the static electricity became ideal way to house and display object at the same time. The object is a manuscript written by Lu Hsiu-lien on toilet paper with a ballpoint pen when she was imprisoned for a political event known as “Kaohsiung Incident” back in 1979. This manuscript focus on New Feminism and the political issue she has long concerned with, which is quite important in the development of both society and politics in Taiwan. The manuscript used to be displayed on a poster by sticking on copying paper with double-side tape, which resulted in deterioration. As a result, it had been did treatment when it was housed in National Museum of Taiwan Literature. The discussion aims at the conservation of object made of toilet paper. Besides coming up with a measure to conserve object made of toilet paper preventive conservation for toilet paper object with the minimal intervention and reversibility, it is also important for us to think how to display this kind of object.

By the beginning of the sixties, contemporary printmaking in the Americas and in Europe was already in the midst of a renaissance. Artists and printers actively began to collaborate to produce artworks which challenged traditional concepts of printmaking. The boundaries of size, materials, content and production were virtually obliterated and resulted in some of the most unique, affordable, and accessible art produced at the time. “The Software Chart”, 1968 by British artist Joe Tilson is a screenprint on plastic printed by the Kelpra Studio, leaders of the era in the production of artist's screen printing in London, England. The five colour screen printed image appropriated from print media and referencing a major international event, is printed on plastic (noted as Astrafoil) and backed with a reflective surfaced plastic (noted as Lumaline). Print and backing were adhered to each other with double sided masking tape, mounted to card and framed in a shallow metal frame. Printed and produced in an edition of 150, most known versions of this print assembly exhibit severe pressure related distortions and offgassing (vinegar odour). The print was not considered to be in exhibitable condition and came to the conservation department for review. This presentation will describe in detail the print history and concept, components, condition issues, material analysis, treatment stages, degree of treatment success, and the many issues relating to possible reconstruction, final presentation and long term prognosis.

Back by popular demand - hear the latest and greatest tips from book and paper conservators.

This paper details a preservation strategy for the long-term care of electrophotographic art in museum and archival collections, using the Pati Hill Archives at Arcadia University as a case study. In 2016, Arcadia University was gifted copy artist Pati Hill’s archives and original prints - and along with them an interesting preservation challenge. Hill was one of the most prolific electrophotographic artists of the late 20th century, and her prints were almost exclusively produced using the black and white photocopiers manufactured for office use from the 1970s through the 1990s. Her working process pushed the mechanical capabilities of the copier; she overfed the machine with black powdered toner to produce what she called “stars,” areas where a very dense black toner layer was broken up by spots in which the toner particles did not fully adhere. Hill’s manipulation of the amount of toner applied to her prints is a trait which separates her from many other copy artists, and is also key to identifying the order in which multiple prints of the same object were produced. This makes it especially crucial that the toner layers of her prints are prevented from deteriorating over time. Electrophotographic prints (also known as photocopies, Xeroxes, and xerographs) are extremely common in archival document collections, where they are often considered secondary resources or copies of primary source material. However, there is a dearth of preservation literature providing a protocol for their care and preventive conservation as art objects. This paper will discuss the history and technology of the electrophotographic process, as well as risks and potential agents of deterioration to both the paper support and toner layer(s). Hill’s materials, working methods, presentation choices, and curatorial decisions are analyzed in the context of potential preservation challenges, including issues impacting future conservation treatment. The paper concludes with recommendations for practical steps toward the preservation of electrophotographic prints, including guidelines for housing and storage, environment, light exposure, conservation treatment, and exhibition.

Shifts in decision-making in the conservation of cultural heritage can be understood by browsing the old instructions in conservation and comparing them with our current perception of the results of older conservation treatment and the current ideas of what a conservation measure should be like. Through understanding old methods and material we can estimate the objectives set by conservators in the past and get a better insight into the complex environment of conservation. Technical changes, including better analytical methods and changes in society accompanying them, lead to a different perspective of cultural heritage and to continuous emergence of innovative treatments being adopted to our new objectives and vice versa. One very recent example of technical development relevant to conservation of cultural heritage items is the decoding of proteomes and genomes that helps understand the sources of the skins and use manuscripts as a stock of information. To demonstrate the above we started out with the analysis of Otto Wächter’s ”Restaurierung und Erhaltung von Büchern, Archivalien und Graphiken,” 1982. We narrowed the topic further down to parchment conservation, as new molecular research applies to this area. The question was: which old conservation treatments altered parchment in such a way that information stored in the material was damaged, changed or overlaid and consequently made uninterpretable? If so, could we, with improvements to current methods, deconvolute the data to read the original signal through the conservation overprinting? The choice of the book was determined by two considerations: first, it was very influential in its time; second, it is difficult to interpret if you were not a pupil of Wächter, and one of the authors was his pupil. Since Wächter´s time, our knowledge of the features of material improved greatly and so did our procedure of decision-making in conservation. Our view of old methods changed in a way that allows us to understand that some of them had a significant impact on the information carried by the material, which is considered an added value in research today. The project results made scholars • understand how old methods and materials in conservation changed the historical material; • appreciate different types of biological data that can be recovered, from livestock management, through craft production to the use history of the object, • understand how we might gather and interpret this palimpsest of biological and craft information, such as kind, sex or breed of the animal, the breeding history of the flock or herd, etc. • explore the changes imposed by subsequent conservation and understand how to avoid conservation methods that either overprint with new biological signals or destroy the original ones and identify a conceptual framework for alternative methods; • examine which types of modification induce changes which can be detected and isolated, thereby recovering the original signal; • explore how new methods might fulfill the conservation task without changing the original information carried by the material, show how the new demands on the material side alter the demands in aesthetics in conservation.

The Archives Conservation Discussion Group (ACDG) and the Electronic Media Group (EMG) will host a panel presentation and discussion session addressing the preservation of physical and digital objects used in political demonstrations and social movements.

Materials produced and used during protest marches, vigils, and political actions tend to be ephemeral - made and used on-the-fly with available, inexpensive materials - and are often exposed to a range of environmental hazards prior to entering collections. Digital media - from live video streaming to social media posts to smartphone photos - have become integral to contemporary protest movements and require innovative approaches to preservation and access.

Presentations and Panelists:

• Preserving Artifacts of Free Speech: Simple Solutions for Buttons, T-shirts, and Bumper Stickers
  Whitney Baker, Head, Conservation Services, University of Kansas Libraries
• The History, Evolution, and Growth of Digital Printing Technologies and Materials Correlated with Major Political and Social Movements and Events over the Last Three Decades
  Daniel Burge, Senior Research Scientist, Image Permanence Institute
• Moldy Oldies: Saving Historic Audiotapes with Digitization & Organic Particle Masks
  Kim R. Du Boise, President & Senior Photograph Conservator of PhotoArts Imaging Professionals, LLC., and Roy Canizaro, VP and Electronic and Time-based Media Conservator forPhotoArts Imaging Professionals, LLC
• Making Social Movements Accessible at Media Burn Archive
  Dan Erdman, Video Archivist, Media Burn Archive
• Caught Up in the Current: Documenting, Preserving,and Digitizing Political Protest Ephemera
  Cher Schneider, Juanita J. and Robert E. Simpson Senior Conservator, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 

Discussion topics will include:

• Documenting and collecting in "real time" as events unfold
• Preserving and making accessible materials which are being used as part of direct political action
• Correlations between social movements and the use of contemporary materials
• Storage and treatment of ephemeral materials
• Creative housing solutions for oversized and 3-dimensional objects
• Navigating issues of provenance, copyright and metadata
• Collaborating with activists and community organizations
• Addressing condition issues resulting from environmental exposure

Conversations with Book and Paper Group colleagues at the 2017 meeting in Chicago and in the following months revealed a common interest in how library conservation practice is changing in the 21st century. Through in-person, phone and email exchanges, fellow conservators and preservation administrators have shared their observations and concerns about adapting to shifting institutional priorities. These include prioritizing treatment of certain types of materials over others, responding to and meeting broader institutional goals, and the challenges such changes present to traditional models of staffing and divisions of labor in library conservation labs. A panel of speakers (listed below) from a variety of libraries and archives will offer short presentations that explore both the day-to-day issues and the big picture implications surrounding these concerns. An interactive discussion with the audience will follow to allow for questions, comments, and sharing of experiences.

Ellen Cunningham-Kruppa, Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin
Prevention and Promotion Round-up
Ellen will discuss new approaches to managing the Preservation and Conservation Division at the Humanities Research Center, concentrating operations and providing ladders of professional advancement for conservators and technicians.

Werner Haun, Yale University Library
From DIY to Collaboration and Innovation: Observations on the evolution of collections conservation
In its beginnings, collections conservation work included identifying early signs of damage (such as loose hinges and pages), creating in-house archival housings (such as pamphlet binders and phase boxes), and increasing widget counts. Through automation and collaboration with commercial binders and vendors, many innovations and improvements advanced the quality and variety of products and services, allowing libraries and archives to outsource much of the routine work. Now, conservators and technicians can perform more complex treatments for all collections, while still applying production-based approaches.

Laura McCann and Jessica Pace, New York University Libraries
Preservation Librarian to Preventive Conservator: Shifting Priorities in Collection Care at NYU Libraries
Over the past ten years, NYU Libraries' Barbara Goldsmith Preservation & Conservation department changed the focus of its collections care program from the general collections to the special collections in order to meet new and growing needs. Since the 1990's, NYU’s archival collections grew exponentially in both size and complexity. In response, the position of Preservation Librarian evolved into that of Preventive Conservator, a newly emerging specialization. We will discuss the evolution of the position as well as its benefits and challenges. Topic addressed will include the impact of high-density off-site storage, changing collecting patterns, and specific needs for artists' archives.

Ashleigh Schieszer, The Preservation Lab (Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County/ University of Cincinnati Library)
Teaming up on Treatments
This presentation will highlight the role of the conservator as project manager, reconsidering the conventional division of work between conservators, technicians, interns, and student workers; with a focus on each member’s role in increasing visibility of special and medium rare collections. The conservation workflow of a unique WWII era scrapbook illustrates a team-oriented work style between conservator, technicians and students. Parceling the large treatment into smaller segments utilized skills to reduce costs and timelines that directly lead to heightened usability and accessibility of the materials.

Lauren Telepak, Harvard University Library
Shifting conservation strategies in Harvard Library Preservation Services
Harvard Library Preservation Services is positioning its conservation practices to better respond to library initiatives and priorities which include an increased commitment to digital formats, acquiring unique materials and building collaborative collections. This talk will explore how a recent shift to a unified management of the general and special collections conservation labs has allowed the department to develop cross training opportunities for conservators and conservation technicians to develop skill-sets that can be strategically deployed to address future needs.

Sonya Barron, Iowa State University
Doing more with what you’ve got, and doing it differently!
Preservation priorities of the university library have shifted to lean heavily towards investing in rare and unique materials and away from general collections, as is the case with many academic libraries. Preservation staff members, who have been doing the same kind of work for decades, now find themselves in a position of needing training to perform their new duties. In this talk I will discuss the challenge of responding to change creatively as a manager, while operating under the constriction of state funding cuts and within union limitations.