Kenneth Spencer Research Library

Today, Friday, November 1, 2024, is the fifth annual Ask a Conservator Day, an initiative of the American Institute for Conservation (AIC), the national professional organization for conservators.

Ask a Conservator Day serves a dual purpose. First, it commemorates the flooding of Florence on November 4, 1966, which damaged cultural heritage sites throughout that city and, in the aftermath of the disaster, sparked a massive recovery effort that is seen as the origin of the modern conservation profession. Ask a Conservator Day also serves as an opportunity for conservators and other preservation professionals to educate the public about the conservation profession.

In that spirit, I will revive our occasional Today in the Lab series to share a snapshot of what I am working on right now. The materials at my workbench always represent an ever-changing mixture of long-term projects and one-off treatments with a shorter turnaround time, and at any given time I will have items from all of Spencer’s collecting areas in my queue. So come along on a tour of my workspace!

First, on the green book truck next to my bench I have a group of recently catalogued children’s books from Special Collections, mostly from the 19^th century. As my colleagues in cataloging complete their work on the records for these materials, they flag volumes that need repair or housing. Our team of Conservation Services student assistants have already made custom enclosures to protect these vulnerable books, and I have been working through the flagged items in batches to complete any needed repairs.

Next, I have several sets of architectural drawings for Watson Library, which is having its centennial this year. These sets are for the original 1922-1924 construction and a 1940’s addition, a total of 116 individual drawings. These drawings bear signs of being used on the construction site: edge tears and creases from frequent rolling and unrolling, builders’ markings in pencil and other media, and a significant accumulation of surface dirt. One by one I have been surface cleaning the drawings on both sides, flattening the creases, and mending the tears with a specially made repair tissue. Just 6 more drawings to go before these sets will be returned to the University Archives, where they will be available once again to researchers.

Moving on to my cabinet! Right now the upper section of my cabinet mostly holds materials that I have prepared for an upcoming temporary exhibit. I have made cradles or selected other supports from our supply of exhibit materials, and for now these items are simply waiting for the installation date. On the lower shelf, second from the right, is a very long-term treatment that is in progress, an early 20^th century funeral ledger from the Kansas Collection. I have removed duct tape from the spine of the volume and have mended about half of the text block. When mending is completed, I will reinforce the sewing and board attachments so that this fascinating volume will be stable enough for use in the reading room.

Finally, in two of my lower cabinet drawers I have items awaiting treatment that have come to me either from cataloging and processing, or from the reading room. These are typical of the single-item treatments that make up the bulk of my daily work: items needing custom enclosures, volumes with detached spines or boards, rolled material that needs to be flattened, photographs that need to be removed from frames. This steady stream of “patients” is what keeps my day-to-day work from becoming boring or repetitive, as the depth and variety of Spencer Library’s collections means that I always have something new-to-me to work on.

Angela Andres, special collections conservator

Aryana Derritt served as KU Libraries’ fourth HBCU Library Alliance Preservation Intern in the summer of 2023. She spent six weeks taking classes online with her cohort, who were each assigned to U.S. research libraries with conservation departments for four concurrent weeks of on-site internships. In this post, she describes her experiences at KU Libraries.

Interning at Kenneth Spencer Research Library in the conservation lab as the 2023 HBCU Library Alliance Intern has been an amazing experience. I have learned so many ways to preserve books and papers from different collections. I performed treatments on the Sumner High School collection which is a part of the Kansas Collection. I chose to do this collection because my grandmother and great-uncle went to Sumner High School.

During my four weeks at Kenneth Spencer Research Library, I have learned how to mend, rehouse, and humidify materials. I mended a folder of papers, made a tuxedo box for a book, and humidified papers for the Sumner High School collection.

Sumner High School is in Kansas City, Kansas, and was founded in 1905 under the enactment of Bill No. 890. This school was named after Charles Sumner who was described as a courageous and open-minded individual. The school started with six girls and four teachers and soon grew the year after. Most of the collection consisted of ruled paper and many items had small tears that needed to be mended. Sadly, I did not finish working on the collection, but I am happy to have been given permission by Ms. Deborah Dandridge (Field Archivist/Curator, African American Experience Collections, Kansas Collection) and Mr. Phil Cunningham (Curator, Kansas Collection) to work with the different items.

(More information about the Sumner High School collection can be found at https://bit.ly/46MCMUJ.)

Also, I learned how to make phase boxes from Ms. Angela Andres (Special Collections Conservator), and Ms. Roberta Woodrick (Collections Conservator) taught me how to make tuxedo boxes. I appreciate their patience in teaching me how to use the tools and going at my pace.

In the first week, I was taught by Ms. Whitney Baker (Head, Conservation Services) how to make an accordion book, which was quite fun. This activity took skill and technique. I was also taught by Ms. Angela Andres and Ms. Whitney Baker how to bind a book. When I first started bookbinding, it was new to me, but I conquered that challenge and am delighted that I learned that skill to take home with me.

This internship taught me about the role of libraries and the importance of preserving history. I explored things from Medieval manuscripts which are made with parchment to African American literature. I appreciate that I had the opportunity to learn about the details of the Kenneth Spencer Research Library.  

The biggest challenge for me was learning the time and effort it takes to complete a task such as mending and splicing tape in the audiovisual preservation department. I enjoyed the challenge and learned that it is rewarding when you finally finish the task at hand.

On the final day of the internship, I reflected on and learned not just the skills of conservation and preservation but also what it means to have a family work environment and how to function as a team. There was even a storm on my final day but to me, it was a bittersweet ending, and I value everyone that poured their knowledge into me.

Resources:

Sumner High School, n.d, School – Misc “The Story of Sumner High School” by Anita P. Davis, RH MS 1137, Box 2

Sumner High School (KCK), 1955, Events – Commencement, RH MS – P

Sumner High School (KCK), 1958, Events – Commencement, RH MS – P

Sumner High School (KCK), 1965, Events – Commencement, RH MS – P

Sumnerian 1965, Sumner High School collection, RH Ser D1286

Aryana Derritt
2023 HBCU Library Preservation Alliance Summer Intern

Today I want to share a quick before-and-after of a treatment I recently completed on MS E23, John Beach’s Selection of Airs, Marches, etc., with Instructions for the Violin, German Flute, Clarionett, Hautboy, French Horn, Bass Viol, Bassoon, Piano Forte, & Guitar (whew!). A patron request brought this volume to a curator’s attention, and the curator in turn sent it my way.

This book, a collection of manuscript musical pieces, had been lovingly assembled and clearly experienced significant use in its lifetime. The volume required stabilization in a number of areas in order to support use and handling. Its boards were both detached, its spine was missing, sewing threads were broken, and many of the gatherings, which had been made by adhering separate sheets together near the spine fold, were detached or damaged along that spine seam. In addition, there was a good deal of particulate matter (dirt) accumulated in the spine folds.

The treatment involved taking down the sewing, cleaning and mending the gatherings, and sewing it back up over new cords, which were pasted under the pastedowns to reattach the boards. I also added a replacement paper spine piece to protect the spine and give the book a more complete appearance. In its improved condition, this book can be safely used by researchers without the risk of further damage.

ME E23, before treatment. Click image to enlarge.

MS E23, after treatment. Click image to enlarge.

Hand-drawn illustration in MS E23, possibly copied from printed sheet music. Click image to enlarge.

Angela Andres
Special Collections Conservator
Conservation Services