Baker Library Historical Collections Conservation Initiative
Early in 2001, Baker Library entered into a collaborative relationship with the Weissman Preservation Center to implement a special collections preservation and conservation initiative in Baker Library's Historical Collections Department. The primary focus of this three-year commitment is the evaluation and treatment of materials in the Kress Collection of Business and Economics. The second objective of the program is to address the physical needs of the special collections in preparation for a move to interim space in 2003. A third is to advise on plans for housing collections in the new library.
Special collections conservator Priscilla Anderson was appointed in January 2001 by the Weissman Preservation Center as Conservator in the Harvard University Library, with half of her position dedicated to Baker Library. She works with Historical Collections staff to establish conservation and preservation priorities. Priscilla then carries out the treatment of individual items in the conservation laboratory at the Weissman Preservation Center.
Priscilla comes to Harvard with a background in rare book and manuscript conservation, and has worked in a variety of academic and research libraries and museums, including the Library of Congress, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Texas at Austin, and The Walters Art Museum. She has worked with a variety of special collections materials from different time periods, ranging from a 9th-century parchment Koran to a 19th-century Virginia doctor's daybook. Priscilla's scope of experience and depth of specialized skills are well suited to caring for the diversity of materials housed in Historical Collections.
In order to analyze current condition and preservation needs, systematic surveys of collection materials are conducted. Analysis of the survey data provides a blueprint for planning priorities that include conservation treatment, rehousing, environmental control, disaster preparation, and preparation for the move. Two surveys have been completed thus far: a sample survey of the entire Kress Collection and an item-level survey of the Bancroft Collection, which is a special sub-collection within Kress that focuses on the South Sea Bubble. Surveys are conducted on site using a Palm Pilot. Once a survey is completed, the data are converted to a Microsoft Access database for analysis. Weissman Preservation Center staff designed the Harvard Electronic Survey Tool (HarvEST) to facilitate this conversion.
With the help of data drawn from surveys, individual items are chosen for conservation treatment. All features of the original object are retained whenever possible. When new materials must be used to repair damage and deterioration, they are designed to be sympathetic with the original materials, and are selected for their chemically stability and reversibility, should they need to be removed in the future.
Photographs of collection items are taken to document their condition both before and after treatment. Shown here is the 1638 edition of Lewes Roberts' Merchants Mappe of Commerce, one of the many items in the Kress Collection that has been treated by Priscilla. The leather of this seventeenth-century binding was splitting along the joints. In order to reattach the front cover and retain the original spine, unbleached cotton fabric and Japanese paper were inserted underneath the original leather and adhered with an acid-free acrylic adhesive. The repairs were dyed to blend with the original.
If you have any questions or would like to know more about this project, please contact Baker Library, Historical Collections.