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In October, I excitedly accepted dozens of posters from the Gertrude Hoffman Collection. These turn of the last century posters were wonderful and also brittle after being folded inside a trunk for many years. I’ve finally seen a light at the end of this tunnel and delivered 4 encapsulated posters to the closed stacks today.... Continue reading “Hoffman posters….the preservation of” ›
Last fall, we uncovered a cache of posters in a trunk. I blogged about this material in our Special Collections blog in October. Gertrude Hoffman (1880-1955) was a dancer in the early 20th century who traveled internationally with her troupe of dancers called The Hoffman Girls. Gertrude Hoffman was married to Max Hoffman (1875-1963), a... Continue reading “Preservation of the Gertrude Hoffman posters” ›
Preservation is in the middle of a huge new initiative. We’re “disbinding” many bound volumes of the Biblical Recorder from the 19th century. The loose newspaper sheets will then be packaged and sent to be scanned, a project for which we received a grant. Disbinding involves scraping off spine linings and residual adhesives to allow... Continue reading “Disbinding Biblical Recorders” ›
We’ve unearthed over 20 scrapbooks from the Clarence Herbert New Collection. These scrapbooks are from trips Mr. New took from 1890-1926 as he vacationed in Maine and around the world. Many of the scrapbooks also have his collections of cartoons, theater programs and newspaper articles he liked. He was very organized and even typed up... Continue reading “Restoration of the Clarence Herbert New Scrapbooks” ›
I unfolded one of the Hoffman posters this afternoon-wow! It was in 4 parts and takes up my entire office floor! This will be a preservation feat! Gertrude Hoffman (1880-1955) was a well known dancer and choreographer, who was actually arrested for indecency in 1909 after dancing Salome in New York City. She danced on... Continue reading “The Things We Find in Our Trunks!” ›
The ever flexible and trustworthy Brittany Newberry has been encapsulating photos. This is a process of sandwiching an flat item between two pieces of mylar. This allows patrons to see these images and not damage them or get them dirty. These Baptist Youth Convention photos are all from the 1920’s and 1930’s and were taken... Continue reading “Encapsulating Baptist Youth Convention photos” ›
Brittany Newberry has really taken to making archival boxes. This is a stack of boxes awaiting cataloging that Brittany has made in the past few weeks. These boxes protect fragile materials while making them available to patrons. Continue reading “Archival Boxes – we’re crankin’ em out!” ›
We have a new exhibit! We’ve all collaborated together to move the exhibit cabinet from the Archives Reading Room to the area across from Circulation. I’ve placed a sign in it saying it is our “Cabinet of Curiosities.” This will be a great location to highlight aspects of our collections and draw students and faculty... Continue reading “Special Collections Cabinet of Curiosities” ›
My Preservation students perform much of the work my area. This work involves repairing damaged books and making protective enclosures. The students who work in Preservation spend many hours learning and perfecting each technique. There is a learning curve (and sometimes a measuring curve!) for each technique. I thought I’d post a few photographs of... Continue reading “Preservation Students at Work” ›
Usually in Preservation, we put things back together by repairing and restoring something that has come apart through age and use. However, in some cases, we also “take things apart.” In the case of a binding where we might want to scan individual pages, we “disbind” or take apart the binding itself to reveal the... Continue reading “Disbinding” ›