Monthly Archives: August 2026

Addressing the Pre-program Problem: The Preservation Lab’s Commitment to Cooperative Education

Libraries are known as places of learning, but what if that education came not just from the material within the books, but from the material of the books?  The Preservation Lab, with its management by the University of Cincinnati, is in a unique position to provide its renowned book and paper conservation as well as training and experience for prospective students interested in the many fields involved therein. This summer, I had the incredible opportunity to work with the lab through the university’s co-op program, where I was able to bridge the gap between learning and doing, furthering my own career in an opportunity that is unfortunately rare for the field.

What is Cooperative Education (Co-op)?

The University of Cincinnati claims the invention of the co-op, which combines traditional academic learning with career-relevant workplace experience, with a strong emphasis placed on paid opportunities. For me, a student getting a degree in Art History, I was given the option to opt into the program after my first year. I’m expected to complete 2 career relevant co-ops during my next few summer semesters, which seems like a win-win situation to me; getting paid in money and course credits? Sign me up! There’s just a little problem I was only briefly aware of as someone intending to pursue a higher degree in art conservation: pre-program opportunities are rare, competitive, and frugal.

You see, conservation seems to have a bit of a pre-program problem when it comes to education; a graduate degree from an accredited university is a basic credential required for most professional conservator positions. However, many programs (such as the University of Delaware’s Winterthur program, for instance) require at least 400 hours of practical conservation experience to apply to their program. So, if you need the degree to get experience, but need the experience to get the degree, how does anyone proceed? The Preservation Lab is the perfect opportunity for such experiences, and I feel incredibly lucky to have had the honor of being their first co-op student. With a large supply of general collection items with minor conservation needs, the lab is uniquely equipped to provide hands-on experience to students like me without the liability of having some college student handle a precious piece of history.

Traditional Learning Paired with Workplace Experience

Student conservation bench with tools, books, and an enclosure being made.
Often, having the student bench to myself meant my things were all over!

My day-to-day work with the Preservation Lab involved a lot of, well, books! If you’re new to what the lab does, we help stabilize and preserve the various media which circulates throughout the University of Cincinnati’s libraries, as well as to other cultural institutions in a smaller capacity. From 15th century choir books, to the plethora of DAAP student projects, you might be surprised with how many unique items come through the lab! We may be called a book and paper conservation lab, but the cabinet full of objects being currently worked on argues the true scope of the lab.

Of course, as a student, I’m relegated to the projects which are much less delicate. Which is definitely a good thing, since even handling those special collection items is harrowing to me (you really don’t want sweaty palms when holding something older than your country). Instead, I work primarily with the general collection – more modern books which are pulled from shelves for minor TLC. The bulk of my work has been making custom enclosures for these books – pamphlets, jackets, and boxes which protect the materials in various ways – a very satisfying work, as I get to make a snug little home for these worn editions which are so obviously loved. In fact, in my roughly 250 hours of work over the summer, I’ve created over 280 custom enclosures! Gives you a little glimpse into the volume of items which come through the lab. You may think that being in the general collection means these items are much less interesting than the special collection, but if you’re a sentimental little person like I am, you may just find yourself crying over a local high school yearbook from the 30’s (specific for no reason, of course). The UC libraries are chock-full of interesting history, and with the majority of it being local, I find myself developing even more love for my home city of Cincinnati. My interest in conservation was sparked by a love for the smaller stories, the personality which hides in everything created by humans. These books are the epitome of that.

Page from a yearbook from Cincinnati.
Page from a book about Cincinnati which reads "Facts and Figures".
Book cover depicting life cycle of a butterfly.

The True Benefits of the Co-op Model

My summer has, truly, been absolutely packed with learning. Whether it was making the various enclosures the lab uses to protect books, or reading the history of books/paper making, there wasn’t a single day where I hadn’t anything new to go over. Being in an open lab environment was also a great boon. I often spent my time gawking at some of the special collection items being worked on and loved being able to pick Jessica or Nicole’s brain in their decision-making process. Cat would bring me over to look at bugs caught in the lab’s pest management traps under a microscope (creepy!) and Matt demoed matting systems with me, each contributing to this atmosphere of learning and camaraderie that I could only hope for.  I never felt like my status as a student put me underneath any of the staff, and this allowed me to understand myself as a conservator already. No longer was I hoping to get into art conservation, I was here!

Willow table at the workshop with her binder and nametag.
My workshop seat. Professional development indeed!

One of the highlights of my summer was participating in a workshop on identifying 19th-century books taught by Shannon Zachary. Only a few weeks into the co-op, the opportunity to learn with the rest of the lab left me with a strong sense of belonging among them, one that contributed heavily to the actualization I mentioned earlier. This was the moment where I really realized just how effective co-op learning was. It’s not just about getting the opportunity to gain relevant skills, but to participate in a field I thought would take several years to get to.

The End of Summer

And so, all things must come to a close. With the end of summer meaning the end of my co-op, I feel the transition back to my academics easier than it’s ever been; I’m so much more motivated and energized! I’m so relieved that I don’t even have to say goodbye to the lab, as I’ll be continuing my work with them throughout the rest of my time at UC. Who knows, maybe I’ll even be back for my next summer co-op?

Writing this all on my last day has me quite sentimental to tell you the truth. I’m so appreciative for this opportunity, and I feel I’ve truly fallen in love with the Preservation Lab. I can’t believe the solution to my Pre-program Problem came in such a meaningful opportunity.

Until next time – Willow Haitch (Co-op Conservation Student)

Sources:

Check out Willow’s day-in-the-life reel on the Lab’s Instagram:

Textiles Conservation at the book and paper lab!

The week of July 18th, the Preservation Lab hosted textile conservator Howard Sutcliffe for a workshop. Howard owns and runs his own textile conservation private practice, River Region Costume and Textile Conservation, based out of Arley, Alabama, and Nashville, Tennessee. We spent four days with Howard learning the basics of textile conservation, with a heavy focus on mount making and sewing skills. This introduction of new methods was eye-opening for us, and many of us are already thinking about ways we can implement the new skills we learned with Howard. 

To kick the workshop off, we spent the first half of the day learning about Howard and his practice and seeing the amazing work he’s done on costume pieces, tapestries, and even hats! After the morning lecture, we then went over different types of materials that Howard commonly uses for textile conservation, from silk organza, which we plucked threads from and used to sew delicate stitches, to nylon net and cotton broadcloth that is used for mending and stabilizing. We then learned some basic stitches that are used for mending tears in fabrics, and practiced on our own ‘objects,’ which were pieces of scrap fabric Howard created tears in. 

Red fabric with tear through the middle being repaired with needle and thread.
The piece of fabric we practiced on, pinned to the backing fabric.
Red torn fabric with tiny, threaded needle as focal point in image.
The tiny sewing needles we used for sewing the repairs.
Red fabric with tear repaired and mounted to a padded backing board for stability.
The finished product!

As you can see from the finished product picture, four pins at North, South, East and West on our padded boards were threaded and connected to help us center the object onto the padded board. Typically, after your object is mounted you remove this thread. The padded boards were created by layering corrugated board, batting, and a neutral-colored fabric that we sewed our object onto. Miniscule zig zag stitches were used on the inner part of the object to hold it in place, then the border was sewn with long and short stitches to help reinforce it. While you can see most of the threads in my sample, when working on an object being conserved the thread would be color matched to the item, making the tiny stitches practically invisible. 

The next three days were primarily dedicated to creating a mount out of a mannequin and batting for a nurse’s uniform we had from Winkler Center for the workshop. We first put the uniform on the mannequin to see where it needed more support, then the dress was removed and a base layer to sew onto was created using a pair of cotton tights.  

Textiles Conservation at the book and paper lab!
Mannequin covered in cotton tights, legs and gusset cut out to create arm and neck holes.

From there, we built up the bust of the mannequin using batting and zig zag stitches. The dress fit the waist well, so we didn’t add anything to the waistline of the mannequin. We layered batting through the bust and the sides to fill out the shape, so it better supported the garment. 

Mannequin in the process of being padded out with batting to create a better shape to hang garment.
The layered batting sewn onto the tights to hold it securely on the mannequin.
Conservator binning batting into place on mannequin bodice.
Catarina sewing batting onto the mannequin.

Once the bodice was sufficiently filled out with batting, we cut the tights at the top, folded them down and over the batting, and covered the bodice in cotton jersey to hold it all together. The sides of the jersey were stitched up using a channel stitch. 

Close up of mannequin bodice with batting and hose covering showing.
The completed bust padded out with the tights folded down.
Same mannequin with new layer of cotton jersey covering batting and hose.
The cotton jersey pulled over the filled out bodice.

While the conservation technicians and specialists were working on the bodice of the mannequin, the conservators were working to patch some minor holes and slight damages to the nurse’s uniform using the stitching technique we learned on the first day. The dress had three significant holes, two at the top around the collar, and one in the skirt of the dress. 

Close up of white nurse's uniform being repaired along the collar.
Close up of tear in nurse's uniform being repaired.

The final step for the mannequin was to create an underskirt to help support the skirt of the dress. This was created from felts sewn between two pieces of Tyvek, which was then sewn beneath the waist of the mannequin. We used zig zag stitches to hold it in place, then more zig zag stitches at the top of the felt to push it down and make the transition a little smoother between the bodice and the skirt. 

Mannequin with bodice built out and wrapped in jersey cotton and skirt built out with tyvek covered felt.
The underskirt made from felts and Tyvek attached to the bodice of the mannequin.
Close up of tyvek and felt skirt showing zig zag stitch.

After the skirt was attached, we worked on sewing the legs of the tight around the wooden arms of the mannequin and securing them in place with double-sided tape. Once the arms were complete, it was time to put the dress on! It took two people to get the garment onto the mannequin – one to support the shoulders, the other to lift the skirt over the top. 

Nurse's uniform being placed over the head of the mannequin.
Howard and Catarina lift the dress over the mannequin together, with Howard supporting the skirts and Catarina supporting the shoulders.
Mannequin dressed in nurse's uniform, apron, and hat.
Mannequin fully clothed in the nurse’s uniform, including the apron and hat.
Mannequin dressed with a uniform and wool cape.
Mannequin fully clothed in the nurse’s uniform, including her cloak.

Another type of mount Howard taught us about was hat mounts. We have multiple hats in the lab, and were unsure of how to support them, so Howard showed us how we can sculpt ethafoam and cover the top with batting and wrap the whole thing in soft Tyvek to create a soft mount for hats to sit on.  

Cutting oval shape in ethafoam with an knife.
Matt sculpts the ethafoam with a special knife for cutting foam.
Adding batting to rigid ethafoam form using a zig zag stitch.
The batting is sewn to the ethafoam using a zig zag stitch.
Tyvek pinned to package of ethafoam and batting.
Tyvek is pinned to the ethafoam before being stitched in place.

Once the batting and Tyvek were secured onto the ethafoam, a base of mat board was covered in broadcloth, which was stitched on using a running stitch. A blind channel stitch is then used to attach the base to the Tyvek, securing the whole mount together. 

Cloth being cinched around an oval mat board the shape of the base of the hat mount.
Sewing the broadcloth onto the mat board base using a running stitch.

Howard also taught us about adhesives and how to create heat set netting and silk, which can be applied without stitching and using only heat. He also worked with the conservators on dyeing netting and fabrics, and on how to wash textiles to remove stains. 

Our time with Howard was extremely rewarding, and we learned plenty about textile conservation, which for me personally was a branch of the field I knew very little about. Bringing in experts from other parts of conservation helps us to expand our practice, and each of us walked away with a new technique to try that we previously hadn’t thought about using for paper conservation. 

Preservation lab staff and Howard Sutcliffe with the dressed nurse mannequin.
All of the lab members with Howard Sutcliffe and our completed nurse’s uniform.

Nicole Browning – Library Conservation Specialist

Images by Nicole Browning, Jessica Ebert, Hyacinth Tucker, and Holly Prochaska