Category Archives: Treatment

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 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.

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.

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

Catarina Figueirinhas – Assistant Conservator

When you THINK you know the difference between handmade and machine-made paper!

We were delighted to have Dr. Cathleen Baker come to UC for 4 days to teach us all about paper, paper making and printing in a collaborative programming and outreach workshop entitled Identification of Western Hand- & Machine-Made Paper, 1750-1900. The workshop included Preservation Lab staff, staff from UC Libraries Archives and Rare Books Library and the Content Services department, and Kathy Lechuga from Signature Conservation.

With Cathy’s teaching and guidance, we soon discovered some of the key characteristics is in handmade paper and how the introduction of machine-made paper just made everything more complicated. Oof, that dandy roller… But it was so exciting to make discoveries in the paper and learn new tips for paper identification. This will be particularly helpful for Preservation Lab staff when we do our examination of items for treatment proposals.

We are all beyond grateful to Cathy for sharing her immense knowledge and expertise with us. We all learned so much about handmade and machine-made paper and printing. Here’s just a taste of the workshop and us examining special collections items from the ARB Library and the Science Library collections:

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We also took a field trip to the Cincinnati Type & Print Museum to get a paper understanding of printing. It was a fantastic experience! A big thank you to Gary and his staff for a wonderful time printing and a great tour.

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13 people and a baby posing in front of a large wooden printing press. — All participants of the workshop and Cathy posing in front of the Cincinnati Type & Print Museum’s wooden hand press.

Jessica Ebert – Assistant Conservator

A Timeless Tale – How Inscriptions Tell Stories

It’s amazing the different ways books can tell us stories. There’s the obvious: the words that are written on the page and create the story the author wanted to tell. But there’s also what lies beneath the surface — the wear and tear of the book, how it was bound, what materials were used to make it. There’s the outright story a book was meant to share, but there are also context clues, and deeper ways we can dive into the history of a book.

Sometimes, a book just outrightly tells its story through notes left by previous owners. A handwritten message about where it was bought, a book plate of whose library it came from, or an inscription with notable information about damage to the tome are all ways prior owners can document what the book has been through. This latter suggestion is the case for a two-volume set of Cajus Julius Caesar by Georg Brandes.

A Timeless Tale – How Inscriptions Tell Stories — Pictured: volumes I and II of Cajus Julius Caesar.

These books were published in 1925 by the Erich Reiss Verlag publishing house. On the fly leaf of both of these volumes is a handwritten inscription which reads “The water stains in this volume are due to air raid damage. London, 1941.” In graphite. What a big journey for two books, from Berlin, Germany, to London, England, and then to Cincinnati, Ohio!

Inside of both volumes, open to the first blank page, where the inscription is visible on both books. — Pictured: inscriptions in Julius Caesar Vol. I and II

Two volumes stacked on top of each other with the bottom of the text block visible. The text block is stained brown on the lower right corners of both volumes due to water damage. — Pictured above: signs of water damage on the book.

The water damage to the books is there but it isn’t too drastic. There is some obvious staining and cockling to the pages, as well as some warping of the covers. These books were treated with v hinges on the front and back fly leaves to prevent further separation of the cover from the text block and were also put in Colibri covers to help keep them protected on the shelves and during use.

One of the books with the front cover open and the text block under weights while being repaired. — Pictured: both volumes of Julius Caeser being treated with v hinges.

These books needed minimal treatment, and then will return to their home at the Classics library. With some care from the preservation lab, these two volumes can continue to tell their story for years to come.

Nicole Browning — Conservation Technician

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.

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.

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.

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

Fun with PhotoDoc – X-rays and CT scans, Oh My!

An alternate title to this blog could be, “That time we X-rayed medieval choir book at the UC Medical Center, and then the pandemic happened I forgot to write a blog post about it”. Oops!

X-ray image of an oversized medieval book

Let’s rewind the story back to mid-2019, when our Associate Conservator, Ashleigh, expressed interest in radiography on a beautiful, oversized choir book from the Classics Library. I, at the time, was the Photographic Documentation Specialist and had never carried out or assisted with any radiography projects, so I was very keen to start reaching out to anyone I could think of on West and East campus who might have access to such equipment. The most logical answer, UC Health, proved to be the winning one when finally the Director of Diagnostic Radiology put me in contact with the Enterprise Director of Imaging, who said yes to my request, and ultimately put me in contact with my main contact for the project, the Radiology Manager at UC Medical Center.

The date was set, October 22, 2019. Ashleigh, Holly and I packed up the heavy, choir book and carefully transported it from West campus to East campus to be imaged. The UC Health staff were beyond friendly, and I think they got a kick out of imaging the oversized leather volume. The technician really worked with us to adjust the intensity of the radiography depending on what we were trying to capture, whether it was the cover, the sewing and the supports, or the illuminated text (which was a little harder to capture with their equipment).

Positioning book for imaging — Aligning the book

Overall, we discovered…a lot of nails, split thong supports, and on the lower board, four mends to the wooden board that appear to be bracing a split in the wood that is running vertically.

Red arrows indicate metal braces adhered to the wooden boards — The larger red arrows indicate metal braces while the smaller red arrows indicate the crack in the wooden board.

X-ray image of the spine — Image of the spine which allows you to see the split thong supports and you can even see the tattle-tape security strip!

Then following the radiography session, they were kind enough to ask if we would also like to place the volume in the CT scanner. Since the scanner could easily and safely accommodate the volume while keeping it wrapped in foam, we jumped at the chance!

CT imaging tech moving the book into the scanner

We received all the imaging files on two CDs from UC Health, and then I went about making heads and tails of it. The radiography images were fairly straightforward. For the most impactful imaging, namely of the spine, upper and lower boards, I created composite images using the panorama feature in Photoshop to merge the images. For example, each cover consisted of four separate images.

With the CT imaging, the CD came with a reviewer software (Sorna) to view the files. Frankly, the CT scans were a little bit harder to comprehend, but nonetheless interesting. Ultimately the CT scanner allows you to view the various materials within the object. Whereas normally for the equipment that was used that would mean bones, organs and tissues, for the choir book that meant metal material like brass, leather, ink and pigment. Within the viewer function there was also an interactive component to the CT data as well, which allowed you to manipulate various levels to see various intensities, but even after a lot of trail and error and experimentation I found it very confusing, though I did get some interesting, and some less impactful, results. Let’s just say, I do not have a future as a CT technician! I’ll stick to my day job.

Jessica Ebert – Assistant Conservator

Archeological Textile Discovery in the Stacks: The Treatment

This is the third post of a four-part series.

When a collection of Egyptian mummy bandage fragments at the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library was found in an area used to store uncatalogued flat materials, the lab was asked to play a role in providing better stewardship.

Click the links below to jump to the following posts:

Research and Examination – Examining the material composition of the objects
History – Historical information provided about the Egyptian inscriptions
Treatment – How the materials were treated after learning about their content
Storage Solutions – Individual solutions for separated fragments as well as storage as a collection

Conservation Treatment Consultations

Being a primarily book, paper, and photograph conservator, working on textiles comes up only intermittently as minor stabilization or housing. When these projects do arise, I tend to consult immediately with a textile conservator. This project was no different. Generously, Obie from the Cincinnati Art Museum kindly visited the lab to look at the fragments with me in person.

Initial Treatment Idea

Before consulting with Obie, my initial plan was to cut the overall board and separate the individual fragments. Once separated, I thought I might hinge the fragments to a backboard inside a sink matting system. I had briefly corresponded with a textile conservator at the MFA Boston who is familiar with ancient textiles and she confirmed this would be a sufficient option.

Testing

However, with Obie present, together we tested the solubility of the adhesives and likelihood of removing the fragments from the acidic board for better storage. Surprisingly, we determined removal was possible with the smallest amount of moisture!

Being familiar with backing removals and conserving degraded cloth covers (and now encouraged after having Obie’s support) I next went beyond spot testing and decided to perform a test treatment on one of the fragments to remove the backing board… with the caveat that I would stop at any point if I felt uncomfortable. Should I ever feel out of my element at any step, or have concerns that removing the textiles from the backing would not keep them intact, I knew I could always pivot to my initial solution of storing the mounted parts in mats.

Treatment

My new plan was now to first reduce the acidic backing board layer by layer. Once the backing was removed, I would assess if it was appropriate to remove the brown paper lining. (While my test treatment was performed on only one of the smaller fragments, images below are pulled from the actual treatment for better illustration).

Low and behold on my first fragment, treatment proceeded without a hitch.

Archeological Textile Discovery in the Stacks: The Treatment

The board was removed slowly, layer by layer. The fragment was kept planar to prevent mechanical damage to the textile.

Before I knew it, it felt as though I was performing a regular backing removal on a photograph or document and soon found myself down to the final brown paper layer.

After removing multiple layers of board, the brown paper lining was revealed. Some areas of the brown paper were no longer adhered to the textile and readily released during mechanical removal while other areas remained more firmly attached.

At this point, with the backing and lining parts removed as much as possible, I decided to test a corner of the paper backing with light moisture. To my surprise, the paper backing adhesive quickly reactivated, the lining lifted with little effort, and the humidification strengthened the fibers of the linen fragment. All of this eased fears the fragments might fracture during final treatment steps. Proceeding with treatment felt obtainable.

The final step was releasing the brown paper lining with moisture from a water pen and lifting the lining with spatulas.

With this new turn of events, I realized, if I ventured so far as to remove both the mounted board AND the paper backing, I’d need a new storage solution.

I halted treatment and went back to the drawing board to research storage enclosures (click here to jump to my post on storage solutions). Once I felt confident in selecting a method of storage for the loose textiles, I resumed treatment to remove the brown lining paper and proceeded with treatment on the rest of the fragments.

This is a time-lapse video showing how the brown paper lining was removed in stages. Localized humidification was applied from the back while mechanically separating the paper from the textile with spatulas.

Before Treatment

Collection is mounted to an acidic board with two of the fragments oriented upside down.

After Treatment

Fragments are stored individually in storage solutions that double as long-term housing. The enclosures facilitate handling as well as display. Being stored individually, the fragments are able to be grouped as necessary by their context.

Recto, Normal Illumination
Verso, Normal Illumination

Recto, Normal Illumination
Verso, Normal Illumination

Recto, Normal Illumination
Verso, Normal Illumination

Recto, Normal Illumination
Verso, Normal Illumination

Recto, Normal Illumination
Verso, Normal Illumination

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Raking Illumination, Before Treatment
Recto, Normal Illumination, After Treatment
Raking Illumination, Before Treatment
Recto, Normal Illumination, After Treatment
Raking Illumination, Before Treatment
Recto, Normal Illumination, After Treatment
Raking Illumination, Before Treatment, Upside Down
Recto, Normal Illumination, After Treatment
Raking Illumination, Before Treatment, Upside Down
Recto, Normal Illumination, After Treatment
Raking Illumination, Before Treatment
Recto, Normal Illumination, After Treatment

To learn more about the storage, check out the final post of the four-part series: Storage Solutions!

If you missed the earlier installments, you can jump to previous posts using the links below:

Research and Examination – Examining the material composition of the objects
History – Historical information provided about the Egyptian inscriptions
Treatment – How the materials were treated after learning about their content
Storage Solutions – Individual solutions for separated fragments as well as storage as a collection

Acknowledgements

Katherine Davis, Lecturer in Egyptology in the Department of Middle East Studies at the University of Michigan
Suzanne Davis, the Associate Curator and Head of Conservation at the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology at the University of Michigan
Dr. Ann-Katril Gill at the University of Leipzig
Marieka Kaye, Harry A. and Margaret D. Towsley Foundation, Head, Conservation & Book Repair, University of Michigan Library
Obie Linn, Textile Conservator at the Cincinnati Art Museum
Ann Wuertemberger, Catalog Librarian at the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library
Meredith Montague, Textile Conservator at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston

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

Archeological Textile Discovery in the Stacks: The History

This is the second post of a four part series.

Click the links below to jump to the following posts:

Research and Examination – Examining the material composition of the objects
History – Historical information provided about the Egyptian inscriptions
Treatment – How the materials were treated after learning about their content
Storage Solutions – Individual solutions for separated fragments as well as storage as a collection

Learning About the Collection

Before coming to the lab, the library knew little about the fragments. So first and foremost, I reached out to a handful of scholars to see if I could glean any information. I soon found myself engulfed in a journey of discovery with each colleague leading me to a new reference, sharing a collective wealth of knowledge.

History

With generous information provided by colleagues, the library learned the following about the fragments (fragment measurements below are with height and width at the widest points):

Normal Illumination
Raking Illumination
Ultraviolet Fluorescence
Infrared Radiation

This is the center fragment. It contains Hieroglyphic script, measuring 21 x 23 cm. It’s part of a 3-piece set that belonged to a priest called Wennofer. The large scene in the middle belongs to Book of the Dead Spell 110 showing the deceased doing various things in the netherworld.

Normal Illumination
Raking Illumination
Ultraviolet Fluorescence
Infrared Radiation

This is the upper left fragment. It measures 8 x 14 cm. Script contains images and no preserved text. This is part of the 3-piece set that also belonged to a priest called Wennofer. Images belong to the vignette of Book of the Dead Spell 148. “For making provision for a spirit in the realm of the dead” this spell provides the names of the Bull of Heaven and his seven cows, providing an eternal supply of food and beer.

Normal Illumination
Raking Illumination
Ultraviolet Fluorescence
Infrared Radiation

This is the bottom right fragment. It contains Hieroglyphic writing and measures approximately 10 x 17 cm, containing a Thoth god image. It’s the final part of the 3-piece set that belonged to a priest called Wennofer. Preserved images are part of the vignette of Book of the Dead Spell 125, the so-called judgement scene.

Normal Illumination
Raking Illumination
Ultraviolet Fluorescence
Infrared Illumination

This is the bottom left fragment containing Hieratic script, however it is oriented upside down. It measures approximately 13 x 12 cm. There isn’t an owner’s name preserved so we’re unsure if it belongs with any other fragments in this collection. Images contain a shrine column, sections of Book of the Dead Spells 125 and 126, as well as traces of the vignette belonging to Book of the Dead Spell 125.

Normal Illumination
Raking Illumination
Ultraviolet Fluorescence
Infrared Radiation

This is the upper right hieratic fragment with Hieratic script. It measures approximately 9 x 7 cm. There is no owner’s name preserved.

Normal Illumination
Raking Illumination
Ultraviolet Fluorescence
Infrared Illumination

This is the bottom center hieratic fragment measuring 4 x 10 cm, also with no owner’s name preserved and oriented upside down.

Acknowledgements

Katherine Davis, Lecturer in Egyptology in the Department of Middle East Studies at the University of Michigan
Suzanne Davis, the Associate Curator and Head of Conservation at the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology at the University of Michigan
Dr. Ann-Katril Gill at the University of Leipzig
Marieka Kaye, Harry A. and Margaret D. Towsley Foundation, Head, Conservation & Book Repair, University of Michigan Library
Obie Linn, Textile Conservator at the Cincinnati Art Museum
Ann Wuertemberger, Catalog Librarian at the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library
Meredith Montague, Textile Conservator at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston

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

Problem Solving: An Exhibition-Style Enclosure for a Collection of Lafcadio Hearn Japanese Bindings

This set of Japanese side-sewn, crepe paper bindings, or Chirimen-bon, came to the Preservation Lab housed in their damaged traditional Japanese wraparound case, known as a maru chitsu. The set belongs to the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library, which has an extensive Lafcadio Hearn collection. This collection of volumes was printed by Hasegawa Takejirō, a Japanese publisher who specialized in books written in European languages on Japanese subjects. The Japanese Fairy Tale Series was one of the more popular series, beginning with six volumes in 1885; though this later collection only has five volumes of fairy tales. Lacadio Hearn was one of the foreign translators employed by T. Hasegawa.

Original enclosure laying on a table — Original enclosure

Five volumes withing the original enclosure, the enclosure is open — Original enclosure

Due to the high profile nature of Lafcadio Hearn for the library and the beauty of the bindings, the collection is often shown during tours and used for display, however, the crepe paper volumes, while in excellent condition, are extremely floppy, and they are also side-sewn, both factors make them difficult to handle and display. The original enclosure is also very fragile and damaged, and susceptible to further damage if used as an enclosure moving forward. For all these reasons, the curators wanted an enclosure that would not only store the collection long-term, but could also be used for display.

This proved to be a challenge, but a fun one. I started by making a couple of sketches and then a couple of models…

Three models pictured, two are collapsible cradles and one display stand with foam insert — Models – two types of collapsible cradles and one model of the display tray/stand

For the models, I had two main focuses: 1) a collapsible cradle that would house and display one of the volumes, and 2) a display component that would act as a tray or level within the enclosure and house the remaining four volumes, in two stacks of two, side by side.

I will always advocate for making a model if you are trying to work through a new enclosure or adjust an existing enclosure or display piece, like a cradle. For example, I knew that a normal collapsible cradle wasn’t going to fit the bill for these volumes. Instead, I was going to need a stiff, squared off spine piece built into the cradle to help support the bindings’ spines.

Closed collapsible cradle with volume inside — Closed collapsible cradle

Collapsible cradle opened, detailed image showing the spine support piece of the cradle, with volume inside — Closed collapsible cradle

One of the main areas I had to troubleshoot was the display tray, which would house the four remaining volumes. I knew I wanted to create a stand that would basically replicate one side of a collapsible cradle and have a 1/2 inch Plastazote foam insert, which happened to nestle the thickness of two volumes perfectly, that was covered in Tyvek. But I had concerns about gravity and reliability of PVA to hold the foam insert in place overtime. And I wasn’t happy with my initial ideas of how to remove the volumes (and also the original enclosure and collapsible cradle) from the insert(s), which consisted of a tab underneath the volume. It created friction that would ultimately cause damage to the actual volumes.

Ultimately, I am extremely happy with what I came up with. I think it functions very well, and checks all the boxes it needed to check. Safe, secure storage. Elegant display. User-friendly.

Display tray open, with four volumes in it, two volumes are visible and on display — Display stand open

Detail image of the display tray — Display stand open

The display stand includes a cloth tape inserted into the boards to keep it from opening too far, a foam insert covered in Tyvek, a lip to support the foam insert overtime, and two polyester film slings to aid in removing the volumes from the foam insert. The polyester slings proved to be an excellent solution for removing all the elements from the enclosure safely and easily.

For those interested in how some of the components were constructed, here are some in-progress images…

Photo showing the display stand being made — Detail of the turn-in for the display stand lip; cut similarly to how we cut our clamshell enclosure tray turn-ins

Foam insert being covered in Tyvek — Foam insert, vertical panels covered in Tyvek first

Tyvek cut in preparation for covering the foam — Foam insert, vertical panels covered in Tyvek first

Because of the way the trays/components of the enclosure are constructed, they are actually interchangeable. So if the “lower tray” with the original enclosure and collapsible cradle ends up on top of the display tray/stand, that’s not an issue at all. And there is a 1/4 inch Volara foam piece adhered to the outer tray of the clamshell enclosure, so whatever items are on top will be cushioned by soft foam in the enclosure.

Get a full tour of the enclosure by watching our reel on Instagram:

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Jessica Ebert [UCL] – Assistant Conservator

Just Peachey: Jeff’s Conservation Hand Tools Workshop

For one week in July, 2024, the Preservation Lab busted out belt sanders and opened the elbow grease to host a workshop taught by Jeff Peachey, learning all about making, modifying and maintaining our own hand tools. Jeff, a book conservator and master tool maker, brought all kinds of fun machinery and exciting tools for us to learn from and use. From hacksaws to pencil sharpeners, Jeff’s tool collection is inspiring, and we all left the week with some amazing new additions to our bench.

Delrin

We started the week off working with Delrin. Delrin, an acetal homopolymer plastic that appears similar to Teflon, was easy to shape with saws, files, scrapers and silicon carbide sandpapers. We burnished with sanding pads and polishing paper.

We started off with Delrin rods that we shaped into delicate heras. Heras are thin tools with spatula-like ends that Jeff says are great for delicate prying, inserting small amounts of adhesive, and lifting tape to name a few of the uses for this handy little tool.

We made a rough cut of the shape we wanted with the bandsaw, then smoothed everything out by going through a sandpaper grit progression. Once we’d crafted these, many of us tried our hand at making versatile Delrin folders. With lots of filing and sanding, this malleable Delrin was easy to manipulate into a variety of tool shapes, and no two tools were exactly alike.

Knives

Our second and third days with Jeff were all about M2 steel knifes, both sharpening them and making them. We learned all about using Jeff’s sharpening system and honed down our own Peachey paring knife. We also made two lifting knives out of Starrett 32T hacksaw blades by grinding the blades down on a belt sander and then taking them through the sharpening system with microfinishing films to achieve a sharp edge.

Sharpening knives turned out to be a complex process – a burr must be formed at each grit gradient before moving on to the finer grind, and if your hand position is off this could take some time. Furthermore, the wrong hand position could yield a bevel angle too big or too small on the plane of the knife. We aimed for an ideal bevel angle between 11 and 13 degrees.

Additional Knife Features

Some people chose to add grooves into the sides of their paring knives for a more comfortable grip; some of us chose to wrap our knife handles in leather and make horse butt sheaths for them. Matt was the bravest of all and mounted a custom carved wooden handle to his left-handed paring knife.

Grained Book Cloth

We also went over creating 19^th century grained book cloth on our third day. Through toning, glazing, then pressing with a die that has your desired pattern, it’s possible to create book cloth that mimics the textures of 19^th century book cloth. After going through the time-consuming process, the idea of making up large batches at one time became appealing.

Wood and Bamboo

On our fourth day we learned all about wood and bamboo carving. Using a chisel, wood plane or hatchet, we created the crude shape we wanted our wooden tools to take. Then we got to work sanding until the wood was smooth, and created a more precise shape. A final finish with nose grease or wax was optional.

Bamboo is great for creating thin, flexible tools. With our pieces of wood most of us created folders, but a few decided to make wooden handles for their knives or straight edges. Personally, my favorite tool I created the whole week was my wooden folder I made, though it was probably the hardest to create. I had to shape it using a small hatchet, then sand it for quite some time before it took on the shape that I wanted.

Stainless Steel

Our final day with Jeff was spent shaping stainless steel tools, which to me was the hardest material we worked with, as it took a lot of patience with the belt sander, and the metal was prone to heating up quickly and potentially burning our fingers. We created straight edges or 45 degree triangles, and even learned how to drill holes and attach small handles to these tools. We also had a thicker piece of stainless steel for creating a folder, which I found the most challenging of all. The stainless steel was harder to manipulate, understandably, and much less forgiving than the wood or Delrin.

We ended the week by testing the sharpness of our blades and doing a little show and tell of our favorite tools that we made. It was so amazing to see all the different tool shapes people were inspired to make based upon what they most used in their work.

Learning from Jeff was such an amazing opportunity, and it was so eye-opening and world-expanding to learn that so many of these tools we use every day can be created from our own hands.

Jeff did a fabulous job tailoring his tool-making workshop to the the availability of machinery and other logistics of our facility. As a result, the actual tools made in our version of this workshop vary from other workshops Jeff has taught, empowering us to keep making tools with our space in the future. If you ever have the chance to take this workshop, we highly recommend it!

Be sure to check out this Instagram post by Jeff featuring all of us showing off our favorite hand tools we created!

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Nicole Browning [CHPL] – Conservation Assistant

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

The Preservation Lab at UC Blog

Category Archives: Treatment

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

When you THINK you know the difference between handmade and machine-made paper!

A Timeless Tale – How Inscriptions Tell Stories

Allegheny River / Capt. J.W. McLaughlin

Fun with PhotoDoc – X-rays and CT scans, Oh My!

Archeological Textile Discovery in the Stacks: The Treatment

Conservation Treatment Consultations

Initial Treatment Idea

Testing

Treatment

Before Treatment

After Treatment

Acknowledgements

Archeological Textile Discovery in the Stacks: The History

Learning About the Collection

History

Further Reading

Acknowledgements

Problem Solving: An Exhibition-Style Enclosure for a Collection of Lafcadio Hearn Japanese Bindings

Just Peachey: Jeff’s Conservation Hand Tools Workshop

Delrin

Knives

Additional Knife Features

Grained Book Cloth

Wood and Bamboo

Stainless Steel

Nests and Eggs on Display at the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra

Synesthesia

Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Program

Nests and Eggs

Gabrielle “Gennie” Estelle Jones

Preservation

Additional Resources

CSO Program Dates