Category Archives: Enclosures

Grooved Disc Media Storage Solutions

Record album in front of vertical sleeved albums.

Grooved Disc Media

Although The Preservation Lab is primarily a book and paper lab, we often receive items that fall outside this realm and are required to do a little research and get creative. I was recently assigned a small collection of various grooved disc media that required archival storage solutions. “Grooved disc media” is an umbrella term that encompasses any type of sound recording that features small grooves cut into its surface that a stylus then passes over to produce an audio signal. Think vinyl records, shellac discs, 45s and more. Another term I like that covers multiple varieties of grooved discs is the term “records”, which I will use interchangeably with “grooved discs” for the remainder of this post.

Considerations

Until this point, we had not received any grooved disc media requiring new housing at the Lab. In situations like this, I like to do a bit of research and figure out what is required of the housing to determine what is required for safe storage. We found several trustworthy sources that provided tips for what to do as well as what not to do. The most important ones are as follows:

  • First and foremost, any grooved disc should be stored upright. When multiple discs are placed on top of each other, their collective weight can compound quickly. This weight can then slowly compress the grooves on the discs and result in loss of media.
  • Grooved discs should have their old plastic sleeves, both inner and outer, replaced with archival plastic sleeves. Older records often have non-archival plastic outer sleeves that are susceptible to warping over time. This can lead to the discs themselves warping, affecting playback speeds which can lead to further degradation. We ended up purchasing these Original Master Sleeves and Archival Record Sleeves, both made by Mofi Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab.
A plastic album sleeve that is curling around the edges.
A non-archival plastic outer sleeve. Notice how the plastic is starting to curl along the edge.
Two new archival sleeves, the outer sleeve is on the left and the inner sleeve is on the right.
A new archival plastic outer sleeve (left) next to a new archival plastic inner sleeve (right).
  • The original cardboard sleeves should be retained if desired and if they contain any information or artwork related to the recording. However, it is advisable to store these separate from the sleeved records, or at least with the record inside a protective archival inner sleeve before placing it inside the cardboard. These cardboard sleeves can sometimes foster mold growth in high humidity environments.
  • Ideal relative humidity for the storage environment is between 30-50% with fluctuations not exceeding +/- 5% in a 24-hour period.

Solutions

After learning all these considerations, assistant conservator Catarina Figueirinhas came up with the following solution.

The finished sleeving system for each albums with numbers indicating to various parts of the system.
The tray and its various components that was designed to hold the records in their new archival sleeves.
  1. Individual corrugated board trays were constructed for each disc. Corrugated board was chosen because it is lightweight, inexpensive, and relatively strong. They were cut slightly oversized to provide room for protective bumpers to the left and right of where the sleeves will be attached.
  2. Each disc was placed inside its own archival inner sleeve. These are the sleeves that Mofi refers to as “Original Master Sleeves”. Each disc inside its inner sleeve was then placed inside the archival outer sleeves, which Mofi refers to as “Archival Record Sleeves”. In cases where a cardboard sleeve was present, they would also be placed inside these plastic outer sleeves. The disc’s inner sleeve should protect it from coming into contact with the non-archival cardboard, and the plastic outer sleeve will also help protect the cardboard from damage.
  3. A final pocket was constructed of Tyvek to store each disc inside its sleeves, which was then adhered to the corrugated board trays using PVA.
  4. To prevent any potential abrasion to the discs while sliding them in and out of their final enclosure, several small, corrugated board bumpers were added to the left and right of each attached Tyvek pocket that were thicker than the pocket and all its contents.
  5. A single corrugated board banker’s style box was constructed to house each disc/tray in the series.
  6. To help with removal, Tyvek tape pull tabs were added to each individual tray.
  7. After adding all the trays and their discs to the banker’s box, it was discovered that the box was quite top-heavy and prone to tipping over. To combat this, I added a strip of Dibond (a composite material consisting of a polyethylene core sandwiched between two pieces of aluminum sheeting) to both the bottom of the inside of the box and to the underside of it as well. This provided extra weight to the bottom and added some nice stability. For future enclosures of this nature, I will make the box thicker, adding fill if necessary. This make it more stable without the need to weight the bottom of the box.
Assembly of the box with various trays with tabs which allow for easy removal from the enclosure. Components are numbered in the photo.
The banker’s box style enclosure with its lid removed to reveal the contents.
Inside of the enclosure to show the Dibond on the bottom of the enclosure, labeled 7.
The banker’s style box with its trays removed revealing a piece of Dibond lining the bottom. An additional piece of Dibond has been added to the underside of the box for added stability.

Final Thoughts

Although this storage solution will almost certainly continue to evolve as I make more of them, I was very happy with how the first batch turned out. Part of the fun of creating new storage solutions is figuring out what works and what doesn’t and adjusting accordingly.

On a side note, I realize that some readers of this post may be concerned for their record collections as they do not have a conservation lab at their disposal to construct an enclosure like this. To that I would say that any of the storage considerations mentioned that are achievable, such as storing discs upright and in new archival sleeves will go a long way in ensuring the longevity of your collections.

A huge thank you is deserved to both conservator Ashleigh Ferguson-Schieszer and assistant conservator Catarina Figueirinhas, who helped me brainstorm on this project.

Sources

Image References

Unfolding the Challenge: Conserving Folded Parchment Deeds with Wax Seals

When a group of four folded parchment deeds arrived at the Preservation Lab, I was immediately excited about the project. It is not often that we work with parchment, particularly on “flat” items such as parchment deeds. I use “flat” in quotation marks because these were anything but flat once unfolded.

Four folded parchment documents stacked on top of one another for documentation.
Before treatment photography – four folded parchment documents.

At first glance, they looked deceptively simple: compact, neatly folded, and quite small. Once opened, however, they revealed large, creased, and cockled sheets of animal skin, some with fragile wax seals and one composed of multiple leaves stitched together along the bottom edge. (Prior to treatment, each document was photographed as they were received in the Lab):

Folded parchment document with ink handwriting and a documentation color checker.
Folded parchment document with ink handwriting and a documentation color checker.
Folded parchment document with ink handwriting and a documentation color checker.
Folded parchment document with ink handwriting and a documentation color checker.

These 18th-century documents, part of the Archives and Rare Books Library, include three indentures consisting of single parchment leaves, and one composed of three parchment leaves secured with wax seals and parchment stays along the lower edge. They record land leases and property transactions.

The documents were brought to the lab for stabilization and improved access for teaching and research. In their folded state, they were difficult to handle, especially the multi-leaf example, which could not be fully examined as stored. Centuries of folded storage had clearly left their mark.

Overhead view of a parchment document with three leaves, unfolded, and held in place with glass weights.
Parchment document with three parchment leaves.
Overhead view of a parchment document, unfolded, and held in place with glass weights.
Parchment document with no wax seals.

So how do we safely unfold and stabilize these items for handling, teaching, and research?

Parchment is highly responsive to humidity. It expands, contracts, cockles, and stiffens depending on environmental conditions. Long-term folded storage had left deep set creases, and exposed areas showed noticeable darkening. These distortions became even more apparent under raking light photography.

Overhead view of a parchment deed with three wax seals, with light source casting shadows over the document to show the folds.
Overhead view of a parchment deed with no seals, with light source casting shadows over the document to show the folds.

Treatment Approach

Flattening parchment is never as simple as adding moisture and pressing. Too much humidity risks gelatinization, while too little leaves folds unchanged. Wax seals add another layer of complexity since they are brittle, protruding, and highly sensitive to pressure. To begin conservation treatment, each document was first surface cleaned using a hydrophilic sponge to remove surface grime. Ink testing followed to ensure stability before any humidification. All inks tested were stable, and no iron gall ink was detected. With testing complete, humidification could begin.

Parchment document under suction on a suction table.
Drying on the suction table.

The single-leaf documents were humidified in short cycles within a cold humidity chamber. After each cycle, they were dried gradually under felts, with pressure slowly increased and carefully kept away from seal areas. Drying methods were adapted depending on structure and condition. One single-leaf document without seals was dried under tension on the suction table, while the others were dried under felts and weights, again avoiding direct pressure on wax seals.

The Multi-Leaf Document

The multi-leaf deed required a more complex and iterative approach. It consists of three parchment leaves attached together, each responding differently to moisture. Initial humidification was carried out using an ultrasonic dome with a Gore-Tex barrier supporting the lower leaf. The upper leaf responded well, but the middle leaf remained resistant. To improve moisture distribution, unbuffered interleaving paper was placed between the leaves. Even so, the middle sheet required additional targeted treatment.

View of the humidification/suction table with parchment documents inside awaiting humidification.
View of the humidification/suction table with parchment documents inside being humidification.
View of the three leaf parchment document, supported by interleaving to allow for air flow during humidification.
View of the three leaf parchment document, supported by interleaving to allow for air flow during humidification.

The most effective approach combined localized humidification with staged flattening. Each leaf was treated individually while the others were protected with polyester film and weighted mat board to prevent unwanted moisture transfer or movement. Stubborn folds were gently humidified using a localized ultrasonic humidifier and immediately set under pressing stacks of blotter and Hollytex, followed by gradual weighting. This allowed controlled relaxation of specific areas without over-treating the entire object.

Conservator holding humidifier nozzle to locally humidify parchment document as it's being flattened on the suction table.
During treatment – localized humidification for the multi-leaf document.

The process was highly collaborative, often requiring two or three people working at once. One person applied moisture and guided the parchment while another adjusted weights and pressing materials in real time. Throughout treatment, wax seals were carefully protected using mat board barriers and spacing systems to ensure they remained free from pressure. Once fully relaxed, the document was dried under felts with weights in place, while polyester sheeting remained between the leaves to prevent adhesion or distortion.

Wax seals

Three of the four documents retain wax seals along their lower edges. These seals were structurally fragile and were consolidated using fish gelatin applied with a fine brush. During treatment and flattening, they were carefully isolated so that no direct pressure was applied.

Parchment document under holly-tex, blotter and weights.
During treatment – multi-leaf document after humidification and flattening.

Housing for Support and Access

Following treatment, each document was rehoused in a custom sink mat system. Before constructing the full-sized enclosures, I made a small working model using a scrap piece of parchment to ensure that what I had in mind would actually function for these large documents in practice.

Small matting system, opened, with ethafoam on lid, mylar and mat board supports and small piece of a parchment document.
Small scaled model of the enclosure for each parchment document with the different components, including sink mat and polyester film sling.
Small sink mat model with a parchment document fragment inside.
Small scaled model created for the parchment documents.

The documents rest on polyester slings secured within sink mats and are held in place with cloth ties. The interior lids are lined with Ethafoam, providing gentle compression and helping to minimize movement caused by environmental fluctuations. The multi-leaf document required additional structural support through reinforced mat board construction. The three smaller documents were housed together in a corrugated clamshell enclosure. This housing balances long-term preservation with accessibility, allowing the documents to be safely handled for teaching and research.

All four matting systems stacked on top of one another.
Each document housed in a custom matting system.
Multi-leaf parchment document in matting system with sink mat and polyester sling.
Single leaf parchment document in L-sleeve in matting system.

Final results

Raking light photography after treatment shows a clear reduction in creasing, along with a noticeable shift in how the documents behave physically. The parchment still carries evidence of its long folded history, as these materials tend to do, but it is no longer locked into those distortions. While not perfectly flat, the material is now stable, supported, and significantly less stressed along its former fold lines. Under raking light, what once appeared as sharp ridges and tension lines now reads as a softer, more coherent surface. It feels as though the parchment has settled back into itself after a long period of compression.

Overhead view of a parchment deed with light source casting shadows over the document to show the folds.
Before treatment
Overhead view of a parchment deed with light source casting shadows over the document to show the folds, which have reduced.
After treatment
Overhead view of a parchment deed with light source casting shadows over the document to show the folds.
Before treatment
Overhead view of a parchment deed with handwritten ink inscriptions, with light source casting shadows over document to show where creases and folds were.
After treatment

Perhaps the most satisfying change, though, is in handling. What began as awkward, resistant objects that required constant caution are now stable enough to be lifted, viewed, and studied with far more confidence. They remain delicate, but they are no longer unpredictable in the same way. There is a clear sense that they can finally move between storage, teaching, and research without the same level of hesitation at every step.

Overhead view of multi-leaf parchment document with creases and folds where it was folded.
Before treatment
Overhead view of a multi-leaf document with creases and folds reduced after treatment.
After treatment
Overhead view of the multi-leaf parchment document after treatment in the matting system with a sink mat and polyester sling.
After Treatment – parchment document housed in a matting system with a polyester sling.

Catarina Figueirinhas – Assistant Conservator

Digging into a Family Bible

Small damaged cloth bound bible tied with cloth ties to keep it together.
Small damaged cloth bound bible tied with cloth ties to keep it together.

I picked this tattered Bible up off the shelf where it had been waiting for an enclosure thinking it would be a quick and easy project. All it seemed to need was a corrugated clamshell and a pocket for some ephemera – easy enough. What I wasn’t expecting was for the ephemera inside of this book to be human hair. Multiple locks of it.

A card that accompanied the bible from Kenton County Public Library said that the family listed in this Bible (last name of Gegner) seemed to be more Cincinnati-based than Northern Kentucky-based, and it ‘contained lots of interesting items within.’ And ‘interesting items’ was an understatement!

Along with the Bible was a folded handkerchief, which, when unfolded, contained a small lock of hair tied with a blue ribbon.

Unfolded handkerchief with a small lock of hair tied with a blue ribbon, sitting next to the cloth bound bible, tied with cloth string.

I thought this was the interesting items mentioned but decided to untie the Bible and peek through it as well. Imagine my surprise when I came across another lock of hair tucked within the pages! But it didn’t stop at one – I ended up uncovering three locks of hair, three pressed flowers, and one icon of Jesus and the Sacred Heart that seemed to be hand embroidered.

Another lock of hair pressed between the bible's pages.
Another lock of hair tied with ribbon, pressed between the bible's pages.
Large clump of hair within the bible's pages.
An icon of Jesus and the Sacred Heart that seems to be hand embroidered, pressed between the bible's pages.
Pressed flowers within the bible's pages.

After talking to some people about the Bible at our annual open house, it came to my attention that this Bible is probably a family Bible, used to keep family records. I also was made aware that typically in family Bibles, deaths, births and marriages are recorded on the pages between the Old Testament and the New Testament. Lo and behold, when I opened this Bible to the New Testament, sure enough there were birth and death dates!

Handwritten inscriptions of birth and death dates written in the bible.

As mentioned above, this Bible wasn’t in for any major treatment – it received a corrugated clamshell with some fill to make it 5” x 7” so it doesn’t get lost on the shelves, and a pocket was made and attached to corrugated board to keep the handkerchief and the card from Kenton County Public Library. Additionally, the newly discovered items inside the Bible were also placed in polyester sleeves, in order to protect the pages, and then laid back in where they were found. These efforts will help to keep the Bible stabilized on the shelf, so it will be useable for longer.

While this Bible isn’t connected to any famous names, it’s still amazing to know that we are helping preserve local history. Hopefully, we can help future generations get a glimpse into their past relatives’ lives by preserving something like this Bible.

Nicole Browning – Conservation Specialist

Adapted From the Food Industry: A Handheld Ultrasonic Welder!

Like many tools used in conservation, some of our most useful equipment didn’t begin in the field of conservation. Conservators often adapt tools from other industries for highly specialized preservation work. This ultrasonic welder is one of those examples.

What Is Encapsulation?

Adapted From the Food Industry: A Handheld Ultrasonic Welder!

In conservation, encapsulation is a common preservation method for storing fragile documents or artifacts, such as the dried botanical specimen pictured. The vulnerable item is placed inside a clear sleeve made from polyester film, which supports the object during handling while keeping all of its physical features and information fully visible.

Encapsulation is often confused with lamination, but the two are very different. Lamination uses adhesives or waxes that permanently bond to an object, making it non-archival.  The adhesives and waxes often cause discoloration of the object overtime. Encapsulation uses no adhesive at all. Instead, the polyester film is sealed to itself around the perimeter of the item, leaving the object untouched inside. The process is fully reversible and safe for long-term preservation.

Bill Minter’s Ultrasonic Welder

At the Preservation Lab, we have the luxury of using a specialized ultrasonic welder designed specifically for conservation work. Unlike commercial welders that can require objects to be fed through a machine, this model has a metal tabletop, magnetic blankets, and a movable electronic arm that glides over the object, holding a document secure in place. The settings can be adjusted for speed and weld intensity, making it ideal for creating custom polyester enclosures for flat paper materials without using a traditional heat weld.

This machine was developed by conservator Bill Minter in the 1970s–80s. Existing units are highly sought after by conservation labs, and every time ours needs maintenance, there’s a sense of collective anxiety in the lab. It can still be serviced, but replacement options are limited.

Metal table that's on a tilt that's partially uncovered below a black cover. Green magnetic blankets cover table. At top of table is an arm with a motor, converter and anvil that slides across the top of the table.
Used to create custom polyester sleeves for flat paper items without heat. Unique to the conservation world, this specialized machine was invented by book conservator, Bill Minter.
Metal box with dials and gauges.
Generator with motor/speed control dial
Grey foot pedal resting on the ground, connected to a cord.
Foot pedal to engage and control direction of weld
Metal shims stored on a magnetic mount
Shims to place between horn and anvil to control intensity of weld

Looking for Alternates

Because these conservation welders are increasingly scarce, conservators have been exploring newer options.

  1. In the comments on a 2022 article about creating a spine-pocket wrapper for books with detached spines on the Book and Paper Gathering blog, conservators discuss the use of an HDS portable hand-held ultrasonic spot welder, produced by by Harry Singh in the UK.
  2. Others have recommended the UltraTek 40KHz Hand-Held Welder; however at around $6,000, it remains quite pricey and would require an additional metal base to operate on top of.
  3. A more recent option comes from Museum Services Corporation in the USA, which offers the 1000 Series: MS Handheld Ultrasonic Welder.  It’s a unique model that houses all the components in the handle (no metal base needed), is easily portable – and more affordable at $840!

Museum Services Corporation 1000 Series: MS Handheld Ultrasonic Welder

After spotting this device at an Midwest Regional Conservation Guild Annual Meeting in Columbus, IN, our lab jumped on the opportunity to purchase and test it out.

It comes with two welding wheels: one flat wheel that creates a solid weld line and a slotted wheel that creates a dotted weld line. They are interchangeable in the handle.

Adapted From the Food Industry: A Handheld Ultrasonic Welder!
MSC Handheld Ultrasonic Welder in new enclosure
Adapted From the Food Industry: A Handheld Ultrasonic Welder!
The slotted welding wheel is used in the food industry. It may be worth trying for a more continuous weld (?) but may not be considered as pretty.

Tips For Using the MSC Welder

After some trial and error, a few practical observations emerged:

  • Practice is needed. There is a learning curve to producing a straight and connected weld.
  • The unit has an internal safety timer that automatically stops the weld after a max of 6 seconds.
  • Turning dial fully to right allows the maximum interval between welds.
  • Ensure polyester is clean and dust free before welding.
  • Extend polyester over the edge of the table ~ ½ inch.
  • Use the table edge as a guide to push against while sliding the welder.
  • Hold “stapler” handle with both hands to improve control.  To get a straight weld, move with the handle using your body and arms as a single unit (more like practicing Tai Chi or wheel pottery throwing), rather than moving only one arm along. 
  • Only a light pressure is needed.

It’s always exciting when a new tool expands what’s possible in the lab, especially when it helps bridge a gap left by equipment that is becoming increasingly rare to find and difficult to maintain.

Additional Resources

If you’ve followed our blog, you might recall my earlier post on creating a CoLibri jacket with an encapsulated spine using our CoLibri Cover welding system. 

Now that we have the MSC handheld spot welder, I’m excited to experiment with new enclosure possibilities, such as creating polyester pockets for spines within jackets, like the example shared on the Book and Paper Gathering blog, mentioned above.

I’ve also had success testing out encapsulation possibilities such as the ones we used during our project to encapsulate pages from Althea Hurst’s scrapbook, such as welding Hollytex or paper hinges into the sleeves.

This new welder may also open up interesting applications for polyethylene welding or creating circular welds as well!

Ashleigh Ferguson Schieszer – Book and Paper Conservator

A CoLibri Jacket with an Encapsulated Spine

UC Libraries are faced with many books in need repair. Often, books must be thoughtfully housed while they wait their turn for treatment priority.

For books with a detached spine, this option can be challenging to find a solution to prevent the spine from becoming lost or crushed (especially if fragile leather!).

As an alternative to storing a loose spine in a baggy or envelope, or holding the spine in place with a cloth tie, behold a satisfying and easy solution…

…to encapsulate the loose spine in a SCRAP of a polyethylene CoLibri jacket, then attach it to the jacket itself!

This option gives the look and feel of a repaired binding, with none of the work!

Detached spine and book are sitting on the bed of the CoLibri welding machine next to plastic sleeves to use for the jacket.
Cloth covered binding with a fully detached spine ready for a CoLibri jacket

To Encapsulate:

1. First make a polyethylene pocket with the spine inside. Create a pocket taller than the book height. Weld the pocket only on the long sides at this time. Continue to leave the length taller than the book at both the top and bottom. You will weld the head and tail later and will need this length for both welds!

The spine is encapsulated in the polyethylene clear plastic on the long edges. There is excess plastic material at the top and bottom edge where it is not welded.

2. Grab a CoLibri jacket that is larger than the height of the book. Wrap the CoLibri jacket around the book. Take care to make the book squared and centered in the jacket.

The encapsulated spine pocket sits next to the closed book. The book is sitting on top of an un-used CoLibri jacket that is taller than the book.

3. Position the encapsulated spine under the jacket against the spine of the book. Center it and align as close as possible to where it would have once sat.

Book is closed with the jacket wrapped around the book. The encapsulated spine pocket is loosely in place at the spine.

4. Place light weights on the opened covers to help hold the pages upright and prevent the jacket from sliding. Make any last minute spine adjustments at this time.

The book is laid cover side down with the covers opened on each side with bags of weights to hold it in place. The pages are closed, sticking upright with the help of the weights.

5. Weld the jacket at the head to secure the pocket in place.

Book with jacket and spine pocket welded at the top edge. The un-welded bottom of the jacket and pocket protrudes out from below the book in excess.

6. Next, weld the jacket at the fore edges. At this time you can close the book and wiggle the book side to side to also help re-position the spine into place.

7. Weld the CoLibri jacket at the tail. The pocket will now be attached to the top and bottom welds on the jacket!

Book with completed jacket. Book is sitting on the CoLibri welder bed with view of spine.

This solution results in a spine that is safely held to the book during storage without a concern of it becoming lost.  The only way it can become lost is if the jacket is removed from the covers!

Overall view of book with finished CoLibri jacket with encapsulated spine.
Encapsulated spine is securely attached with CoLibri jacket.
Book with front cover opened with view of the spine.
When book is opened, the encapsulated spine pops away from book.

Below are two preventive-conservation treatment reports where this option was successfully utilized for two leather bound books. Click the links to view the reports on the University of Cincinnati’s Digital Resource Commons:

Ashleigh Ferguson Schieszer – Conservator

I Got 99 Problems, but the Lawrence Notebooks Ain’t One: Finishing the Conservation Treatment of 99 Volumes

For the past few years, I have been working on the conservation treatment of the Lawrence Notebooks, a remarkable collection of 99 handwritten volumes created by William J. Lawrence that document his extensive research on the Irish stage from 1630 to 1911. Over many years, Lawrence filled these small, lined notebooks with careful handwriting, news clippings, photographs of actors, typed play transcriptions, and detailed notes on theaters, performances, ticket prices, and even personal anecdotes. Together, the notebooks offer a rich and vivid window into the history of Irish theater and the cultural life of Dublin from the seventeenth through the early twentieth centuries.

A library book truck filled with various small notebooks and conservation boxes.
In 2021, we had already completed 37 of the 99 volumes, and we still have 62 volumes in the Lab.

This project was a collaborative effort and was completed gradually over several years, with individual volumes treated alongside other conservation projects rather than all at once. Our former colleague Chris Voynovich created custom cloth-covered clamshell enclosures for all 99 volumes, while I was responsible for the evaluation and conservation treatment of the notebooks themselves.

Although the Lawrence Notebooks shared a broadly similar format, closer examination revealed subtle but meaningful variations in both their covers and text blocks. Most volumes were small, square notebooks with thin boards covered in cloth or paper covers, in a range of muted colors including red, orange, green, blue, and black. The text blocks were generally composed of one or several gatherings sewn through the fold, with the primary support most often being lined paper.

Overhead of a notebook with a missing corner.
Overhead of a notebook with tape along the spine.
Overhead of a notebook with a shiny red cover.
Overhead of a notebook with a torn cover.
Overhead of a notebook with a black cover and red spine.
Overhead of a notebook with a tan cover.
Overhead view of six notebooks with different covers in their enclosures, with the boxes opened.
Variations in cover materials and colors across the Lawrence Notebooks.

Once all the volumes were received in the lab, each notebook was evaluated for its condition and assigned to one of three categories: good (no treatment required), fair (requiring stabilization), or poor (requiring more extensive treatment). The notebooks showed clear signs of long-term handling and use. Many volumes had weakened or detached covers, some of which had been previously repaired with pressure-sensitive tape. Other common condition issues included broken sewing, tears along the spine folds of the text block pages, and brittle newspaper clippings that had also been repaired with pressure-sensitive tape.

View of a stack of cloth clamshell enclosures, with several opened to show notebooks inside.
Condition evaluation of the Lawrence Notebooks prior to treatment.

When determining the most appropriate conservation treatment for each volume, it was also important to consider their future digitization. Treatments were selected to stabilize the notebooks while ensuring they could be safely opened, handled, and imaged without placing additional stress on the original materials.

Most of my conservation treatment ended up being hours spent removing pressure-sensitive tape, many more hours toning Japanese paper with acrylics for the repair and stabilization of paper covers, along with surface cleaning and a lot of time dedicated to tear repair. 

Japanese paper that has been toned red hanging off the edge of a table to dry.
Toning Japanese paper with acrylics.
Japanese paper that has been toned red with acrylics being lifted off a sheet of polyester film.
Toning Japanese paper with acrylics.
A dry piece of Japanese paper that has been toned red with acrylics next to the original notebook.
Samples of toned Japanese paper next to the original notebooks to show color matching during treatment.
Toned Japanese paper for repair and stabilization next to the respective notebooks.

Completing the conservation treatment of all 99 Lawrence Notebooks marked the end of a project that unfolded slowly over several years. Because the work was done alongside many other conservation projects, progress often happened one volume at a time, making the moment when the final notebook was finished feel especially satisfying.

With treatment complete and each volume now housed in a custom clamshell enclosure, the Lawrence Notebooks are stabilized and better supported for future handling, digitization, and research. While the notebooks still show the signs of long use that make them such compelling working documents, they are now structurally sound and prepared for the next phase of their life in the collection. 

Projects like this reveal how conservation work happens slowly and methodically, often behind the scenes. Completing treatment on all 99 notebooks and seeing them reunited as a stabilized collection reinforces the importance of long-term care in preserving these records of Irish theatrical history for future research and access. 

View of the boxes containing the notebooks lined up on the library shelves.
View of the boxes containing the notebooks lined up on the library shelves.

The Lawrence Notebooks shelves in the Archives and Rare Books Library stacks.

Catarina Figueirinhas – Assistant Conservator

A Wedge for a Wedge

This is a lovely leather-bound volume that came to us in need of a cloth-covered clamshell with some gentle compression. Unfortunately, it has a bit of an odd shape, meaning we had to solve the problem of the open space in the enclosure.

Image of a leather bound book that has deformed into a wedge shape.
Figure 1. The problem: a wedge-shaped volume

Our solution: a wedge to secure the volume and spread the pressure of the compression. We opted for mat board as opposed to book board, both to keep the enclosure from getting to heavy and to give the wedge a little bit of flex.

Thanks to a little math and a little mat board, this volume will be safe and secure and protected from temperature and humidity changes in its home on the shelf!

Image of wedge shape constructed of board and book cloth to support the deformed leather book.
Figure 2. The solution: a cloth-covered wedge to spread the compression and fill the empty space.
Cloth covered clamshell enclosure with leather book inside.
Figure 3. The completed wedge. A perfect fit!

Hyacinth Tucker – Conservation Technician and Bindery Processor

Faux Jacket-Sling Hybrid?

I recently created a cloth covered clamshell enclosure for this small leather volume from the Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library. The volume has eight full color miniatures which received surrogate photography. The surrogates were printed to roughly 5×7 inches, making them substantially larger than the text, so an insert was created within the cloth clamshell to house the smaller volume.

Cloth clamshell with insert and small book inside
Interior tray of the cloth clamshell enclosure with the surrogates placed on top of the small leather volume housed within the custom insert.
Small book in insert inside of custom box
To build up the enclosure to the size of the surrogates, an insert was created using archival corrugated board covered in Cotlin bookcloth. I lined the portion of the insert where the volume would rest with thin Ethafoam sheeting, so the fragile leather edges wouldn’t be abraded.
Small book in insert inside of custom box. Book is wrapped in a custom polyester wrapper.
To aid in lifting the volume from the enclosure I created a partial polyester wrapper of sorts. Part jacket, part sling. A faux jacket-sling hybrid, if you will?
Book is wrapped in a custom polyester wrapper.
A closer look at the polyester creation, with rounded corners.

Overall, I think it’s a quick and easy solution that could be beneficial in future situations where a simple modification of an existing enclosure is needed, but space within the enclosure is at a premium.

Jessica Ebert – Assistant Conservator

Allegheny River / Capt. J.W. McLaughlin

How to store a 15ft paper scroll?

Back in October of 2024, we received something slightly more unusual from the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library, a 15-foot-long, hand-drawn rolled map of the Allegheny River. Yes, fifteen feet.  This map was created by joining smaller sheets edge-to-edge, forming one continuous scroll that looked more like a treasure map than your typical library item.

Scroll with photography target in front of it

A dilemma quickly followed, how do I create a housing solution that’s safe and functional, but won’t turn future handling into a logistical nightmare? Like many libraries, they didn’t have a 15-foot shelf just waiting for this (because who does?), so storing it flat was out. Storing it rolled became our only real option. The enclosure needed to be secure and protective for the map, and ideally, easy and elegant to display when needed.

First things first, some stabilization treatment. Before tackling the housing design, the scroll underwent conservation treatment to mend small tears and fill losses, particularly at the “beginning” and “end” (depending on which direction you follow the river). Once stabilized, it was ready for some housing trials.

scroll partially unrolled
Before Treatment – Large loss and tear at one end.
scroll partially unrolled
After Treatment – Large loss repaired and map rolled around the polyester cylinder core.

While researching solutions online, I stumbled upon a fantastic blog post by J.M. Iacchei from the Cornell University Library Conservation Lab (link here). Their approach to scroll housing was clever, practical and elegant, and it just gave me the spark I needed to create our own version.

Here is how we rolled:

  • A support core – To give the scroll structure while rolling, I created a polyester cylinder core with a polyethylene sling. The sling supports one end of the scroll as it begins to wrap around the core, providing gentle guidance and protection as you start to roll the map. The map can be easily inserted into the sling to begin rolling.
Allegheny River / Capt. J.W. McLaughlin
Polyester cylinder core with a polyethylene sling to secure one end of the map.
Allegheny River / Capt. J.W. McLaughlin
The end can be easily inserted into the sling and supported as the map is rolled around the polyester core.
  • Protection of the ends – The opposite end of the scroll was placed into a soft, transparent polyethylene pocket. It’s flexible, unobtrusive, and doesn’t need to be removed, even during after treatment photography.
Scroll partially unrolled
The other end of the map is protected with a polyethylene pocket that is flexible and offers support to the fragile end of the map.
  • Keep it rolled – Once fully rolled, the scroll was secured with a polyester belly band. The polyethylene pocket helped protect the scroll surface from any abrasion caused by the belly band.
rolled scroll with belly band to hold it in place
The rolled map is secured with a polyester belly band.
  • Display ready? – For display,I built a removable tray that cradles the rolled scroll without letting it rest directly on a surface. This tray doubles as a mini display platform, so the scroll can be partially unrolled and supported during handling and exhibit. Functional and elegant.
Rolled scroll secured within an enclosure tray
Display tray that offers support to the rolled map for long term storage.

I also tested a few other methods along the way, like supporting the entire scroll in a single 15-foot polyester sheet or sandwiching it between two. But the seams where the map’s original sheets were joined caused additional creases with those solutions.  In the end, supporting the scroll in its entirety just wasn’t viable, so I pivoted to protecting the ends and letting the core do the heavy lifting.

Also: cutting two 15-foot-long sheets of Mylar by hand? Let’s just say I don’t recommend it… and I definitely don’t miss it.

Here is what a 15ft paper map looks like:

Catarina Figueirinhas – Assistant Conservator

The Problem with Foam: Thoughts on our new foam cutter

A housing treatment that I have recently taken on led me to getting some hands-on experience with one of the newer tools to arrive at the lab: The Hercules Cordless-Battery Operated Hot Wire Table from Hercules Cutters.

Image of Hercules Cordless battery operated foam cutter
Figure 1: The Hercules Cordless-Battery Operated Hot Wire Table

The Difficulties of Cutting Foam

We have typically performed foam cutting at the lab using either a hand-held blade like an Olfa or scalpel, a board shear, or in some cases a hand-held saw. While these methods can be somewhat satisfactory, they are none without their limitations. Cuts with a hand-held blade often look sloppy, especially if the foam needs to be stacked; the compressible nature of foam makes it very difficult to make accurately measured cuts this way, and the inaccuracies become glaringly obvious when trying to stack multiple seemingly same sized pieces for thick fills inside an enclosure (something I often need to achieve!).

Stack of foam sheets with emphasis on their imperfect cut edges.
Figure 2: The minor inaccuracies of hand-cut foam become obvious when the pieces are stacked. Notice the unevenness along the edge of this stack of Plastazote foam. Plastazote, as well as a thinner foam called Volara, are among the most commonly used foams we utilize at The Preservation Lab.

A board shear is quick and offers a measuring guide to provide accurately measured cuts, but the edges where the blade slices through the foam often end up rounded or otherwise distorted.

Image of foam with rough edge from being cut on a board shear.
Figure 3: The downward cutting motion of a board shear can often leave the edge of foam looking rounded or otherwise distorted, as can be seen on this piece of Plastazote.

Finally, cuts with a saw can leave a mess and the teeth can leave a sloppy looking edge on the foam.

Stack of foam roughly cut with a saw.
Figure 4: This stack of Plastazote was cut with a saw. A saw’s teeth can leave a very messy edge when cutting through foam.

The Hercules Foam Cutter: Basic Features and Operation

                The Hercules foam cutter uses a different approach. It heats up a filament wire that is pulled taught vertically through the device. While the wire it hot, foam is drawn through the wire to accurately and cleanly (with a little practice) slice through it.

Image of foam plank being cut by a the hot filament of the Hercules foam cutter.
Figure 5: A stack of Plastazote is pulled through the hot filament wire to make a clean cut.

The heat can be engaged in one of two ways: with the power switch turned to “On” mode, the wire stays hot until it is turned off; when the switch is set to “Foot pedal mode”, the wire only heats up while the included foot pedal is pressed. There is an adjustment knob allowing the user to control the temperature of the wire. In general, after experimenting a bit it seems that the thicker the foam, the hotter the wire needs to be.

Image highlighting controls of the Hercules foam cutter.
Figure 6: The Hercules Cutter’s heat controls.

The cutter includes an adjustable guide rail to aid in accurate cutting. The position of the spool that holds the wire is also adjustable, allowing for angled cuts to be made.

Image of Hercules foam cutter with adjustments labeled.
Figure 7: Cutting position adjustments of the Hercules Cutter.

Finally, there is an attachment that can be placed onto the guide rail allowing for circular cuts to be made.

Image of circle cutting attachment on the Hercules foam cutter.
Figure 8: The circle cutting attachment: the foam piece is impaled by the point of the attachment at the center point of the desired circle. The distance from the point to the wire will be the circles radius. Once the attachment is in position for the desired size of circle, the foam piece is rotated as the wire cuts through the foam until a complete circle is made.

Advantages

                The Hercules Foam Cutter’s ability to cut stacked pieces of foam is by far my favorite and the most practical of its uses in my opinion. As previously mentioned, cutting inaccuracies become very noticeable when trying to stack multiple same sized pre-cut pieces of foam. With the Hercules Cutter, the foam pieces can be stacked/attached to each other before hand, and then cut to a uniform size. I was pleased to discover that the heated wire doesn’t seem to have any trouble cutting through multiple layers of foam that have been adhered together using double-sided tape and/or PVA. With a bit of practice, I was able to achieve neat, uniform chunks of foam that were several layers thick. I have found, however, that when cutting foam adhered together using double sided tape it is important to be mindful of where your points of adhesion are inside the stack of foam. It is possible to end up with a stack of foam that doesn’t have any tape holding it together after cutting.

Image of a cleanly cut block of Plastazote using the Hercules foam cutter.
Figure 9: A cleanly cut chunk of Plastazote 4 layers thick. Notice that the section that was cut off has fallen apart due to not having any double-sided tape in this section. Fortunately, this is not the piece I needed from this cut!

Also remember that the thicker the foam, the hotter the wire needs to be. There is a decal attached to the cutter with heat setting recommendations based on how thick the foam is, but the instructions (and also myself) recommend doing a few test cuts with scrap foam first to see what works, as different types of foam will respond differently to various heat settings. It shouldn’t require much pressure from the user to push the foam piece through the wire, and too much pressure will cause the wire to bend or even break; if this happens, the wire isn’t hot enough!

Image of a snapped cutting wire caused by applying to much pressure, and not enough heat, while cutting a foam block.
Figure 10: It is difficult to see as the wire is so thin, but it has snapped. The wire wasn’t hot enough and I had to apply too much pressure to pass this stack of Plastazote through it. Fortunately, there was plenty of wire remaining on the spool, and it was easily threaded back into its port.

I found the foot pedal to be a beneficial feature as well. Some types of cuts require the user to adjust their hand position mid-cut, and it is helpful to have the option to stop the flow of heat into the wire if such an adjustment needs to be made. The wire both heats and cools down almost instantaneously, which is also a nice touch.

Finally, the circle cutting attachment proved to be useful during a recent housing treatment. I needed to create a compartment in a piece of foam to store a commemorative medallion, and my attempts to cut a circle using a hand-held blade did not look good. I was very pleased with the results I achieved using the attachment, although it took several attempts to get my circle to have the correct diameter.

Two images - a hand cut circle into foam and a circle cut with the Hercules foam cutter.
Figure 11: A circle cut into Volara foam using the circle cutting attachment with my previous attempts to make the cut by hand using a scalpal in the corner of the image.

Drawbacks

                It should be noted that many components of the Hercules Cutter are made of plastic. While this makes it lightweight and portable, it causes some problems. The guide rail feels rather cheap, and even with all the screws secured tightly, the rail still has the potential to wiggle around a bit. This can make getting accurate cuts difficult. I did find that cuts still look better using the rail than doing them free hand, though.

Image of adjustable guides on the Hercules foam cutter.
Figure 12: Most of the components of the adjustable guide rail are made of plastic, giving them the potential to move slightly during use, even when tightly screwed down.

Another issue I had with the cutter lies in its cutting platform. There is centimeter grid on it for measuring/setting the guide rail which is a nice idea; however, I feel it would have been much more helpful to have millimeters indicated somewhere like board shears often do, as precision cuts rarely fall exactly on nice round centimeter measurements. The user is forced into one of three solutions: 1) measuring the foam and adding a tick mark to it, which is not as easy and one would think as foam isn’t very easy to make discreet marks in; 2) using a ruler or other measuring device to set the guide rail, which defeats the purpose of the cutting surface containing a measuring grid to begin with; 3) eyeballing the correct measurement between the grid marks. This parred with the already wobbly nature of the guide rail makes it somewhat challenging to make precision cuts.

Image of the measurement grid in millimeters on the base of the Hercules foam cutter.
Figure 13: Although the numbers represent millimeters, the grid lines on the cutting platform appear only every centimeter.

Finally, as the Hercules Cutter operates through a wire essentially melting foam, it can produce a somewhat unpleasant burnt-plastic smell while in use. It is recommended to use under a fume hood, outside, or in another well-ventilated area if possible.

Final Thoughts

As with all other methods of cutting foam, the Hercules Foam Cutter is not perfect. For making simple cuts in a single layer of foam, I still find using a board shear to be my preferred method; it is quick, easy, and the rounded edges left by the blade don’t bother me much if it is only a single layer of foam.  However, the Hercules Cutter has become the default tool I use to cut stacked foam and to make circular cuts. It has been a fun tool to test out, and it is always possible that more practical uses for it will arise as I continue to make more custom and specialized enclosures.

Matt McCoy — Senior Library Conservation Specialist