Category Archives: Collection Care

Meet Me at Main: Exhibit Prep for Reopening!

After a 43 million dollar renovation spanning three and a half years, the CHPL downtown library reopened July 12th, 2024!

In preparation for reopening, the Preservation Lab has been working closely with a variety of CHPL staff to prepare collection items and exhibit cases for display.

To celebrate the dramatic reveal of updates, we’ve provided before and after pictures of the Main downtown library followed by a sneak peek at some of the exhibits.

Main Library Before, During, and After Renovations

Meet Me at Main: Exhibit Prep for Reopening! — Before construction

Exhibits

Exhibit prep work consisted of treatment, matting, creating custom supports, install on site (and more!) for eight different exhibits!

1. Eugenia Rhein Doll Collection

Located in the Nolan Room (namesake of John T. Nolan Jr, president of the board of trustees from 1951-1983, known as “Jack”), are a collection of dolls from all over the world, representing nearly 100 countries. The dolls were gifted to the Library by Eugenia Rhein who was an administration assistant and a deeply committed employee for over 40 years. During Eugenia’s extensive travels she collected the dolls from countries such as Kuwait, Algeria, Rhodesia, Korea, Pakistan, Whales and more. In the 1970’s the dolls were often used in displays at the library to tell stories about children from other cultures by the Children’s Librarian.

Image of Eugenia is courtesy of the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library.

The Nolan Room

Now open to the public, this uniquely round room is located on the third floor next to the tower room.

During Doll Installation

Dolls were examined for condition during install. Dolls too fragile (or broken) were left stored in their corrugated clamshells. Dolls in good condition were carefully placed on stands, secured around their waste. Larger dolls required special strapping or additional supports to secure the object in place. Minor treatment was performed on site to repair dolls, reduce creasing in outfits, or clean dust and debris.

2. Veterans Exhibit

Located on the second floor at the top of the social staircase, a new purpose built space was built for the Veteran’s exhibit where artifacts are displayed in concert with stories provided by a digital exhibit and recorded interviews. The Book of Homage is highlighted with the pages turned periodically to reveal lists of names. Original War Bond posters, that were conserved and matted by the Preservation Lab, show the Victory Book Campaign requesting Americans donate books to their local library. War Bond posters will be rotated periodically to protect the vibrant printed colors from fading and the papers from darkening, but perhaps more importantly, show the wide range of art and messages conveyed during times of war.

3. Real Art for Young Artists: Original Illustrations from Noisy Nora by Rosemary Wells

This exhibit, initially installed in the North building in 2019, was moved to the NEW children’s library location, now on the first floor in the renovated South building.

New Children’s Library

Updated Exhibit Location

The exhibit showcases original hand-drawn illustrations created for the book Noisy Nora, donated to the library by the author and artist, Rosemary Wells.

Exhibit Preparation

Luckily, much of the exhibit prep work had already been completed in 2018 for the initial installation (you can read about the original conservation and matting of the illustrations here that are UV protected and waterproof!), but now it was time for maintenance and upkeep.

In particular, the glazing on the frames had developed an iridescent coating residue from well-intentioned cleaners. This made detailed viewing of the illustrations problematic.

Other issues stemmed from the art being at children’s height. The matting and glazing packages had come loose from the frames in a few instances from being pushed inward. Others, such as the illustration “Jack had gotten filthy” had been drawn on with yellow crayon. The crayon marks were not easily removable and needed evaluation by the conservation team to improve.

Despite these issues, due to our forward-thinking work in 2018, the tightly sealed matting packages kept the original artwork completely safe and undamaged. Improvements required adjustments to the frames only!

4. History of the Library

With the establishment of the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library in 1853, it’s no surprise that it’s one of the oldest libraries in the county and thus full of history to highlight! This physical exhibition beautifully compliments the online virtual exhibit located here.

The physical exhibit is located on the 3rd floor in the Cincinnati Room along the connector where special collections are carefully monitored while on display with specialized light, humidity and temperature controls.

On view are captivating images of the iconic lost library of Vine Street as well as other branch locations, many of which are Carnegie buildings. You can also get up close and personal with past library technologies and special collection objects such as stained glass from the original Vine Street location.

View inside Cincinnati Room
Physical exhibit complements digital exhibt
Original stained glass fragments
Card catalog sorter
Stereoview, lantern slide projector, and paper piano rolls
Special collection ledgers

For this exhibit (and many others!), Conservation Specialist, Matt McCoy worked diligently to replace non-archival black felts at the base of the cases with fresh polyester velvet covered boards. This great improvement is not only archival, but no longer slips and slides when objects are set in place and it’s easily removable to clean crumbs of books off with a brush.

5. Circulating Art Books

Located on the third floor of the South building, these stylish 1950’s cases were also refreshed by the lab with new bases of polyester velvet covered boards.

Currently on display are a variety of beautiful art books, sometimes referred to as coffee-table books. Unlike materials in the Cincinnati Room, these materials can be checked out and taken home!

6. Birds of America by John James Audubon

Located in the reading room, named the Cincinnati Room, on the 3rd floor connector is where one of the library’s most famous special collection items lives. This item is proudly back on display after resting during renovations. It is the early 19th century double elephant folio known for its gigantic size: the Birds of America Vols. 1-4 by John James Audubon.

With pages that are turned once a week, their grandeur enables you to see the birds represented to scale! Even the flamingo is life size (albeit the neck is wrapped around the page instead of upright).

Exhibit Installation

Cleaning the cases was the first step before installation as they were covered in construction dust inside and out! Before main closed for renovations, the Cincinnati Museum Center modified these cases for us so that the beds pull out for easy access. Their generous modifications were provided as a thank you for loaning all four volumes of the Birds of America for their 2019 exhibit titled In the Audubon Tradition and were a wonderful improvement!

Supplemental Materials

Perhaps less well-known but just as captivating are the Nests and Eggs of Birds of Ohio. In nearby cases, these supplemental materials beautifully complement the Birds of America.

Read more about this amazing collection item that was recently on exhibit March 2024 at the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra here and see images of the vibrantly colored lithographs. Or, check out the book America’s Other Audubon by Joy Kiser to see reproductions of the illustrations and learn about the female artist and her family who produced them.

7. Satellite display of reference materials about the Birds of America

Located near the 1950’s cases on the 3rd floor of the South building are supplemental materials relating to the Birds of America. For example, John James Audubon also collaborated with his two sons to depict 150 plates of four-legged animals. While the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library owns these two original volumes which can be viewed in the Cincinnati Room, this display shows reference materials relating to such items.

8. The Inland Rivers Steamboat Exhibition

This exhibit utilizes the Inland Rivers Collection at CHPL to illustrate the historic steamboat and river culture in the region. It is located on the 2nd floor connector.

While much of the materials in the exhibit are owned by the Public Library, some of the more unique treasures are on loan from the Cincinnati Museum Center who provided items such as a heavy life preserver made of cork and a leather-bound bible with handwritten inscriptions salvaged from steamboat wreckage.

Exhibit Installation

Exhibit Installation consisted of creating custom 3-D supports for special collection items on loan while CHPL materials were supported with flat mat board supports. Photographs were mounted to archival boards to prevent them from curling in changes of ambient humidity.

With so many exhibits and a variety of content for all ages be sure to head downtown and visit them in person!

Ashleigh Ferguson Schieszer [CHPL] – Conservator and Conservation Lab Co-Manager

Bonus Images of Main

Learning the Basics

Hi! I’m Nicole, and I’m the newest member of the Preservation Lab.

Nicole Browning makes a corrugated clamshell enclosures

When I was interviewing for the position of Conservation Assistant, I did a deep dive into what preservation and conservation really mean. I read through blog posts and perused the Lab’s Instagram, trying to get a grasp on what exactly the lab did. Little did I know, these snapshots into lab life hardly even scratched the surface.

Materials and Tools

My first week as a Conservation Assistant was full of learning, from what types of boards and paper supplies are available, to how to create a pamphlet binder and sew music scores. I had no idea there were so many types of paper out there, and I was ignorant about how many tools there exist simply to cut these pieces of paper. My hand skills were immediately put to the test with learning the stitches used to attach pamphlets to protective premade binders, which create a hard cover for these otherwise soft materials. I was also instructed in which methods of cutting are best for which practices and types of paper, such as board shears for larger pieces of Bristol or corrugated board, scalpels and Olfas for small, precision cutting, and even a corner cutter to clean up the corners of your pamphlet binders!

A music score lays on a bench with a needle and thread used for conservation sewing. — *Sewing parts of a music score with a needle and thread.*

Enclosures

Over the next few weeks, I was thrust into a whole new world of enclosures after learning about pamphlet binders and music scores. Enclosures are typically boxes that are used to keep a book or object safe from light, dust, and other environmental factors that can harm the item over time.

Tuxedo boxes

Creating tuxedo boxes was an exciting and fun challenge, as getting all the measurements right and being precise is so important. These boxes take a lot of focus to make, and attaching the two pieces of board can be daunting, as you must make sure not to overlap the folds and ruin the whole box.

View of a tuxedo box opened next to the book it will house.

A finished tuxedo box on the left, and the two pieces of an unfinished tuxedo box opened to show the full spread of the box on the right.

Corrugated Clamshells

Corrugated clamshell boxes came next, with their in depth measuring and precision crimping and cutting. Like a tuxedo box, these boxes offer better storage from light and dust, and are a more structured enclosure. Where they differ, though, is they are made from corrugated board rather than Bristol board, and this offers more support to items that need a little boost of structural help. These boxes are made from one piece of board that is cut and folded into a clam-like box that opens on one end and is attached at the spine.

A flat corrugated blue board that has been cut and pre-folded, ready to form into a box. — *A corrugated clamshell during the construction process. This clamshell still needs it’s ends glued in to create it’s box shape.*

General Collections Treatment

My final big learning project was cloth tape removal, which was something completely different, making it very enjoyable to learn. Cloth tape removal is taking off old adhesive tape that has been applied to materials that is now falling apart. To remove cloth tape, a poultice of methyl cellulose is applied in thirds to the tape. Introducing moisture to the adhesive allows you to slowly and carefully use a Casselli microspatula to loosen and remove the tape, leaving behind only the original materials.

An old pamphlet that’s been bound together with cloth tape in the middle of the removal process. Weights hold down pieces of Mylar to keep the pamphlet cover from absorbing any of the poultice. The cloth tape is the grey strip on the right of the pamphlet, and you can see where some of the tape has been removed and what still needs to be done.

Final Impressions

I’ve learned so much over my first month at the lab, but so far corrugated clamshells have been my favorite. It’s been so fun to grow my hand skills and to see how much of a difference one month can make, and I’m so excited to expand my horizons and learn more about the lab in the upcoming months!

Nicole Browning, Conservation Assistant [CHPL]

Preservation Week Panel Discussion on Public Digital Collections of Conservation Treatment Documentation

For Preservation Week 2024, Duke University Libraries will host a virtual panel discussion about Public Digital Collections of Conservation Treatment Documentation on Thursday May 2 at 11 am EDT. Conservation representatives from four institutions (The British Museum, The Preservation Lab (Cincinnati, Ohio), Duke University Libraries, and Stanford Libraries) will share their experiences in building and sharing their institutions’ digital collections of conservation treatment documentation. Panelists will introduce their collections and discuss topics such as digital preservation of treatment records, metadata creation, linking to catalog records and finding aids, and potential privacy and copyright issues.

The free webinar will take place at 11 am Eastern Daylight Time (8 am Pacific Daylight Time/ 4 pm British Summer Time) and will last 60-70 minutes. The panel will be recorded and the video will be shared with registered attendees upon request.

A recording of the webinar and available resources is now available in this shared folder.

Additional information

Host

Beth Doyle, Preservation Officer; Leona B. Carpenter Senior Conservator; and Head, Conservation Services Department (she/her)

Panelists

Louisa Burden, Head of Conservation, British Museum
Ashleigh Ferguson Schieszer, Book and Paper Conservator, Co-Lab Manager, (she/her)
Erin Hammeke, Senior Conservator for Special Collections, Duke University Libraries (she/they)
Ryan Lieu, Conservation Operations Coordinator, Stanford Libraries (he/him)

Collection Links

British Museum

Duke University Libraries

Preservation Lab

Stanford Libraries

Further Info

If you’re attending the American Institute for Conservation’s annual meeting, either virtually or in-person, be sure to attend the talk Demystifying our Metadata: Making Conservation Documentation Accessible in The Digital Library at the University of Illinois where I look forward to hearing about their solutions for similar challenges we faced when beginning our collection in 2015!

Ashleigh Ferguson Schieszer, Conservator [CHPL]

Nests and Eggs on Display at the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra

Illustrations of the Nests and Eggs of Birds of Ohio are on display at the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra March 1^st and 2^nd as part of a musical program honoring Oliver Messiaen who was both a major composer of the 20^th century and an ornithologist.

Synesthesia

Oliver Messiaen is well known for studying bird songs and interpreting their notes into musical transcriptions. His works are also unique in that Messiaen experienced synesthesia which greatly influenced his creations. Synesthesia is when a person perceives more than one sense at a time, such as Messiaen who experienced colors when listening to music and was able to see sounds.

Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Program

The program at the CSO honors Messiaen by incorporating both music, color, and bird visuals to invite the audience to experience a unique multi-sensory experience. Messiaen’s Des canyons aux étoiles (“From the Canyons to the Stars”) will be performed by the conductor, Matthias Pintscher, and pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard.

“Inspired by his visits to Utah’s Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park, Messiaen’s Des canyons aux étoiles (“From the Canyons to the Stars”) depicts the birdsong and red rock hues he experienced during his time in the desert… Accompanied by immersive video-art, Springer Auditorium will be transformed, allowing listeners to escape into the southwestern landscape and experience a synesthesia of their own.” – As described by the CSO website

Nests and Eggs

Complementing the musical performances, on display will be a page from Cincinnati and Hamilton County’s Illustrations of the nests and eggs. The page showcases a local Ohio native, the Wood Thrush, who lays bright blue colored eggs within a nest made of old leaves, dried grasses and moss (rarely sticks). The nest of the Wood Thrush also contains “rootlets” placed intentionally inside of the nest, resulting in a pinkish brown or black lining. The nest is “plastered” with a thin mud that is easily missed as it’s thoroughly worked in and covered.

Nests and Eggs, while lesser known than Audubon’s Birds of America, is quite extraordinary in how it highlights the uniqueness of the construction of nests made by different bird species. Take for instance, the Baltimore Oriole’s nest, which primarily consists of strings and flax fibers to create a soft and long pocket. Compare that to the more traditional nest of the Wood Thrush whose home is bowl-shaped with a wide opening.

It’s also extraordinary that the illustrations are detailed lithographic portraits created by Gabrielle Estelle Jones and her family, despite not having been formally trained. Their work was intended to be used as a companion volume to John James Audubon’s Birds of America. While not as large as the Birds of America double elephant folios, Eggs and Nests is still an impressively large-sized volume.

Gabrielle “Gennie” Estelle Jones

The following excerpt was written by Sara Williams, Arts & Special Collections Reference Librarian:

Illustrations of the Nests and Eggs of Birds of Ohio was a project begun by Genevieve Estelle Jones, a native of Circleville, Ohio. Born May 13, 1847, Genevieve, or Gennie, spent much time as a young girl birdwatching in the woods and wetlands with her father, an amateur ornithologist. Just before the age of 30, Jones’ father forbade her from marrying the man she loved, and in 1876, she visited the Centennial World’s Fair in Philadelphia to take her mind off her broken heart. While there, she viewed hand-colored engravings from John James Audubon’s vibrant The Birds of America. Inspired by Audubon’s example, Jones set out to illustrate the nests and eggs of birds, an aspect often missing from his work. Jones completed only five illustrations for her book before she died of typhoid at the age of 32. The work was eventually completed by Genevieve Jones’ family. Only 90 copies of the book were published, of which only 34 are currently known to exist.

Preservation

As part of the Preservation Lab’s role in displaying the object, a condition report book was created to accompany the item to ensure the object’s condition is preserved. This helps those who are installing anticipate any possible challenges in supporting fragile pages or bindings. In this case, the upper endsheets are extremely brittle and have been previously repaired, but could break again if not carefully draped and held with polyester strapping in a safe manner.

After determining a proper exhibit case to fit and secure the binding, a custom cradle was made. To protect weak points of the binding on display, a support was constructed out of 8 ply museum mat board to support the heavy and oversized pages from stress along the joint.

Before an object travels, it’s often reviewed to make sure it can handle transport and treated if necessary. Luckily, in this case, the binding was treated in 2016 and is still in great condition for its age. When it received treatment, at that time it received a lightweight yet strong enclosure that will also work well to safely protect the item for travel to the CSO.

Entrance to the Founder’s Room
Bird sounds were played in the entryway
During staging of the exhibit
Nests and eggs on display in the Founder’s Room
The Founder’s Room
Night of the performance
Entering the theatre
Not visible are the camping chairs and fire pits in the orchestra pit

Additional Resources

Interested in seeing more Nests and Eggs? The entire binding is conserved and digitized where it is made publicly available online. More information about Gennie’s fascinating and tragic history can be read at the Linda Hall website.

CSO Program Dates

There are two programs where you can view the item on display, Friday, March 1^st and Saturday, March 2^nd, both at 8pm at the Music Hall. Interested? Click here for the digital program.

We hope to see you there!

Ashleigh Ferguson Schieszer [CHPL] – Book and Paper Conservator, Co-Lab Manager

Unexpected History in a Photograph Collection

Catarina and I are working on rehousing a large series of College of Engineering class composites from the mid-1950s through the early 2000s. It is a fantastic visual timeline of 20^th century photographic processes. It also perfectly charts cultural shifts through the decades (so many haircuts and mustaches!) There was even a gentleman that I sang in Chorus with during my years as a student here! But even beyond all of that, there were some unexpected tiny bits of Cincinnati history. The University handles its own photography now, but that wasn’t always the case. The early class composites were done by local businesses. The bulk of them were done by three now-defunct studios: Pogue, Shillito’s, and Rob Paris Photography. If you are a Cincinnati native, you may have heard of them. If you are of a certain age, you may even have had your portraits done by one or all of them. (I personally had portraits taken at Shillito’s as a child.) What a fun little piece of history. Of all the things that I enjoy about working with the photographs in our collections, I think the unexpected finds may be my favorite!

The imprint of the H & S Pogue Department Store.
Imprint of Rob Paris studio.
Photographer’s stamp found of the verso of several of the Rob Paris composites.
Imprint of the Shillito’s photo studio.

Hyacinth Tucker —- (UCL) Conservation Technician and Bindery Coordinator

Preservation and Exhibition: DAAP Library’s Teaching Collection & Upcoming Gallery Talk (12/5)

For the past six months, Jessica and Catarina have been working with the DAAP Library on housing their Teaching art collection, including prior acquisition and newly acquired items. This collection consists of different art prints on paper, print plates and manuscript parchment leaves in need of long-term housing. In addition to housing, this collection is used for teaching in a classroom setting and for exhibition.

Most of the collection only requires simple matting systems, but some require more intricate matting systems such as the copper plate along with its print, a project mentioned in a previous blog post entitled How many magnets is too many magnets!?.

As some of the items of this collection were being prepared to go on exhibit, we had the opportunity to create mounts for other items, such as two parchment scrolls that were included in the exhibit. This was a fun project to work on, as it required us to create a support that would secure both scrolls, while providing an elegant solution for display.

To start, Jessica created a very rough small model with mat board, polyethylene strapping, and paper (as we always do with anything new in the lab, we do love model making!!). The model provided us the visual example that we needed to create the mount for the two scrolls.

Scroll mock-up — Small rough model created by Jessica

With the model in mind, we were able to engineer a good system that would provide support for the scrolls and could be used for display. The scrolls were supported with foam rolls on the inside for the rolled ends, and secured with polyethylene strapping that only touched the foam. The sections of the scrolls that were going to be displayed were also secured with polyethylene strapping that wrapped around the mat board support through slits in the board. At the bottom, the mat board extended outwards creating a small shelf to support the end of the scroll.

Two scrolls mounted to mat board with strapping — Scrolls mounted and ready for exhibition.

A small “shelf” of mat board supports the bottom of the scrolls.

Catarina adjusting the strapping on the mount.
A small “shelf” of mat board supports the bottom of the scrolls.
A small “shelf” of mat board supports the bottom of the scrolls.
The foam rolls support the inside of the scrolls and are secured with polyethylene strapping.
Jessica securing the foam roll that supports the scroll.

As a result of all the mounting and matting we did for the Teaching Art collection and for the scrolls, each item is currently on display at the DAAP Library entrance case:

Image of the exhibit — Current display at the DAAP Library featuring the Teaching Art Collection.

Close up of the scroll mounted on exhibit — A close-up of the scroll mounted on exhibition.

If you are interested in learning more about our preservation considerations for exhibition of this collection, Catarina and Jessica will be giving a short gallery talk on Tuesday, December 5th at 1pm, at the DAAP Library entrance on the 5th floor.

Catarina Figueirinhas [UCL] – Assistant Conservator

Interested in starting a career in conservation? Join us!

The Preservation Lab, a partnership to preserve and conserve the collections of the Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library and the University of Cincinnati Libraries, seeks applicants for a Conservation Assistant position.

The Conservation Assistant is a technician level position with on-the-job training that may appeal to emerging conservation professionals. This position will join a collaborative team of 7 full-time staff members, including conservators, a preservation librarian, technicians, student workers and volunteers to preserve collections from both institutions. The Preservation Lab staff consists of both Cincinnati Public Library and the University Library members. This position is a Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library position but is stationed at the University of Cincinnati West campus.

The successful candidate will demonstrate the ability to execute hands-on work with skill.

Founded in 1853, the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library today is one of the busiest and most highly acclaimed library systems in the United States, providing service to over 800,000 residents through a network of 40 branch libraries, a major downtown Main Library, and a Distribution Center. CHPL holds one of the largest genealogical collections in the United States and many other specialized collections, most of which are housed in the Main library.

Pay rate begins at $15.87/hour.

Deadline to Apply: Dec 1, 2023

For more information about job duties and how to apply, please visit the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library website.

Ashleigh Ferguson Schieszer, Special Collections Conservator [CHPL]

Save the Date and celebrate Ask a Conservator Day with us – Friday, Nov 3rd

Tune in Friday, November 3rd on our Instagram and ask us anything you might want to know about conservation, preservation or the Lab!

25 Years To Celebrate: Chris Voynovich is Retiring!

Congratulations are in order! We are happy to celebrate with our lab colleague, Chris Voynovich. After 25 years at the Public Library, Chris is retiring to a lovely beach house in Florida.

Chris first began his career at the library working in Shipping and Receiving. He then transitioned to Cataloging and Processing where he began his journey in material repair. He was a quick learner, able to utilize hand skills from his personal experience in metal work, graphic design, drumming, and matting at a frame shop.

25 Years To Celebrate: Chris Voynovich is Retiring!

Since 2011, Chris has grown his skills to preserve a WIDE variety of materials at the Preservation Lab. Chris has…

matted Ronald Regan’s jelly beans (see image below),
housed coins for exhibit,
supported double elephant folios for transport,
boxed cased photographs,
AND created intricate boxes with drawers, trays and compartments for storing collections with multiple parts, including this one with a tree branch!

While he brought many skills with him, such as an ability to cut oversized mats, solder and work with metal files, his treatment skills have grown from general collections conservation to the treatment of special collections – with interests in leather, scrapbooks, and making clasps for medieval books. Treatment aside, Chris has held the esteemed title of Box-Maker Extraordinaire.

Known for his engineering feats, a few of Chris’ masterpieces can be viewed below:

As you can see, we will miss Chris’ can-do attitude when faced with any challenge. His positive outlook, efficiency (no one makes a box as fast as Chris!!), cartoons and dad jokes will especially be missed, but we are so happy for the new adventures that await him.

Please join us in celebration on Oct. 30th! RSVP to ashleigh.fergusonschieszer@chpl.org.

Ashleigh Ferguson Schieszer [CHPL] – Special Collections Conservator, Co-Lab Manager

How many magnets is too many magnets?!

Recently Jessica and I started working on a series of special collection items from UC Libraries’ DAAP Library. These were recent acquisitions specifically bought to be used as a teaching collection within the DAAP Library. Most items are small prints and single manuscript leaves that need to be matted for exhibition and prepared for handling during class. We have been working on these in small batches since it is a much larger collection that keeps growing.

Most of the items we have received so far have been very straightforward matting projects, however we encountered one that was puzzling and fun to work on. We received this item: a proof print accompanied by its very heavy, copper engraving plate. The print was adhered to a paper brown envelope with no information and the copper plate was also unhoused.

Image of print on the left and the copper plate on the right, with a photography target below — Proof print (left) and engraving plate (right) before treatment and housing.

The curator of the collection wanted both items to be housed together and housed in a way that would allow students to touch the items, and also be able to use them for exhibits. We decided that both items would be matted individually, and then housed together in a thin corrugated clamshell box. The most challenging part would be to create a matting system that was strong enough to secure the very heavy copper plate and elegant enough to be used for exhibition.

The print itself received minor treatment, with the backing envelope being removed and the print housed in a polyester L-sleeve mounted with photo corners.

An image of the matted print — Print housed in a polyester L-sleeve and matted with photo corners.

With the engraving plate, I needed to figure out how to create a matting system that was strong enough to hold the copper plate in place, especially if used for an exhibit where it may be propped at a slight angle. After considering some options, I created a sink mat that would secure the plate halfway, and then the rest of the sink mat would be adhered to the window mat so the copper plate, resting on a polyester tray, could be pulled out of the mat easily. How would I keep the matting system closed? ….with magnets, lots of magnets! For this project I used 24 rare earth magnets.

Image of the matted copper plate — Copper engraving plate housed in a specialty sink mat with magnetic closures.

Diagram of the magnet locations in the sink mat — Matting system for the copper plate – a sink mat, half attached to the back mat and half attached to the window mat, all secured closed with magnets.

Copper plate partially removed from the matting system with a box highlighting the location of the polyester film tray — Copper plate slightly removed from the matting system by the polyester film tray.

This was a fun project to work on. After using 24 magnets and breaking a few in the process, the copper plate was securely housed in the sink mat, while also able to be propped up for exhibition and handled for teaching.

How many magnets is too many magnets?! — Before treatment

Image of the matted print and copper plate side by side with photography target below — Before treatment

Catarina Figueirinhas [UCL] – Assistant Conservator

Conservation photography by Jessica Ebert