News and more from ZSR’s Special Collections & Archives
A group of nine books appeared in my office this week. Across the top of these books is a sloppy puddle of dried Cookies and Cream ice cream. You can see the outline of an upturned container in the dried ice cream. So this seems to be either an intentional thing or negligence on the... Continue reading “Ice Cream Incident” ›
On Thursday, October 30th, several members of the ZSR Disaster Committee gathered in Preservation for training. This is important since many times a disaster happens when key personnel are absent or unavailable. In that kind of situation, the more eyes and hands that know what to do, the better. We began by walking through the... Continue reading “Wet Book Recovery Training” ›
The Wake Forest University Archives was happy to collaborate with the Traditions Council and Hanes Gallery Director Victor Faccinto to create an exhibit titled “The Old Alma Mater: A Wake Forest History Exhibit.” Visitors can get a glimpse of wool banners, Samuel Wait’s travel chest, an early version of the Demon Deacon, ledgers from the... Continue reading “Traditions Exhibit Features Wake Forest University Archives” ›
On Friday, September 26, I was summoned by the Circulation Staff to look at a returned book. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire had a cockroach smashed within it’s pages. I immediately photographed it (see a photo at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zsrlibrary/2890143658/), and took the steps necessary to have the book withdrawn. I was relieved when I... Continue reading “Bug in a book” ›
Various leathers are examined by the class: sheep, calf and goat Seven preservationists from across North Carolina participated in a Leather Repair Workshop was held in the ZSR Preservation Lab, July 24-25, 2008. The workshop presenter was Jim Hinz, a Book Conservator at the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts in Philadelphia. The workshop... Continue reading “Leather Workshop” ›
On July 11-12, Phoebe Kao, a librarian from an international school in Tianjin, China visited ZSR Preservation for two days of book repair training. Phoebe came to ZSR via the NCPC web site and over several months, we were able to arrive at a good time for her to come. During her two days in... Continue reading “Chinese librarian visits ZSR” ›
On June 6, 2008, I taught an Intermediate Book Repair workshop for the North Carolina Preservation Consortium at Wake Forest. There were nine people from various schools across the state: ECU, WFU Professional Center Library, Catawba College and Appalachian State, Warren Wilson College and Campbell University. During the day, I covered a variety of repairs:... Continue reading “Intemediate Book Repair Workshop” ›
On April 10th about 2:30 pm, Heather Gillette was told by a student that water was leaking on some books on Wilson 6. She called Kristen Morgan, who notified the Disaster Team. Fortunately, only about 25 books were affected. A gasket failed between two metal parts which saturated the ceiling tile as water leaked. as... Continue reading “Water Disaster on April 10th in the Stacks” ›
NCPC Basic Book Repair Workshop, ECU Jan 24-25, 2008 Laupus Medical Sciences Library For two days, my colleague, Rachel Hoff and I, discussed and taught preservation concepts and treatments. It was two day-long Basic Book Repair Workshops sponsored by NCPC. Rachel and I have been teaching these workshops for several years both together and individually... Continue reading “Basic Book Repair Workshops at ECU” ›
In Preservation, I cut heavy archival board with a large cast iron machine called a board shear. Mine was made by the Jacques Manufacturing Co, in Worchester, Massachusetts probably in the 1930’s and was originally used for box making. Book binders everywhere have bought these old machines to use in their work since nothing else... Continue reading “Adjusting a Board Shear” ›