Each of our student workers is given a cubby, a general collections lab manual and a basic toolkit that is theirs to use and maintain throughout their time in the lab. Before a new student starts working and when a current student leaves or graduates I will take the toolkit and evaluate all the contents to make sure they are all there and in good working order. Usually when a students graduates and moves on this includes cleaning out years of scrap paper and debris. And often a complete scrubbing down is in order. 
Over the summer I had several students graduate and leave us, so I had several kits to go through. When I was washing one of the older toolboxes I noticed some folded paper that was attached to the underside of a tray with masking tape. I immediately removed it, though it was already partially soaked with water.
Upon further inspection it appeared to be a collection of thoughts, quotations, poems, and a short story written on a piece of paper and a fragment of cloth. Some were written in ink, others in pen. I immediately texted the prior owner of the toolbox to see if they belonged to her, but she had no idea what I was talking about. My best guess is that these are several years old (the toolbox was in dire need of a good scrubbing), possibly dating back to before I was student supervisor and possibly before I even worked in the lab (i.e. 12 years or more).
What a fun mystery to stumble across! Especially when the most exciting things I usually find when I clean out student toolkits are bent microspatulas, collections of abandoned endbands or ALL the pencils!
Jessica Ebert [UCL] – Student Supervisor | Conservation Tech | Conservation Photography Specialist
Toolkit Time Capsule
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