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| From Plainfield Public Library |
Sarah Hull, Plainfield Public Library Archivist, and I drove down to Philly on a rainy day with our precious cargo in an archival tube and box in the back of my Subaru Forester. While the maps' plans are set, we were getting a quote on what it would take to remove newspaper clippings that had been glued onto the scrapbook's pages. Why just a quote, and (more importantly) why remove the clippings at all?
It appears that those clippings are on top of content written on the pages of a ledger from one of the Vail family's stores. In their heyday, the Vails were one of the more prominent Plainfield families, and the Library holds quite a few items related to their history.
The photo below shows the cover of the scrapbook. If CCAHA takes it on, the cover will likely be unbound to address the clipping issue.
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| From Plainfield Public Library |
In the photo below, you can see that the clippings are dated, so they have some value and will be saved, if possible.
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| From Plainfield Public Library |
Below, the mystery of the hidden ledgers peek out from among the clippings.
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| From Plainfield Public Library |
Our host for the tour (and the person who talked with us about our conservation needs) was Corine McHugh, Paper Conservator (shown below in the book area).
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| From Plainfield Public Library |
The CCAHA building is a former candy factory, but now it holds several rooms of specialists in the areas of books, manuscripts, artworks on paper, maps, historic wallpaper, posters, and photographs. When we arrived, Jim Hinz, Director of Book Conservation, was assessing an elephant folio (a very large format book) of John James Audubon's Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America. Published in the mid-19th century, the book is a follow-up to his famed Birds of America.
Below is a page in the book. For scale, see Hinz's index finger near the spine of the book.
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| From Plainfield Public Library |
His plans for the book include washing some of the plates. However, because some of the prints had been hand-touched with a water-soluble ink after printing, they will not be able to go into a water bath. Hinz will disbind the book, send the plates to the paper lab, and when they return, he will reconnect and sew the book together.
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| From Plainfield Public Library |
Above, you can see one of the original end bands, which Hinz will replace with cotton rather than silk (the original) because silk becomes acidic over time. The image above also shows that the books pages do not rest flat. After Jim's repairs are complete, the book will be able to be displayed and/or used with its pages open flat. He said that they see a lot of Audubons, and apparently there are a few around. The Plainfield Public Library recently received a donation of three Audubon prints.
As our tour continued, we moved on to the paper area (shown below).
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| From Plainfield Public Library |
We also saw other large workspaces and tables prepared for making enclosures.
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| From Plainfield Public Library |
Corine showed us a suction table that acts (as you might expect) like a large draw. Marilyn Kemp Weidner, who started the Conservation Center in the 1970s, invented the table. In the photo below, Corine stands to the right of the table (which has a tiny sign that reads "I love this!" on it) and in front of homemade tubs for bathing large objects. If you are interested in learning more about suction tables and Marilyn's work, the American Institute for Conservation has made some of her papers available online. This one has photos of the table in use.
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| From Plainfield Public Library |
One of paper's enemies is light, but it can be used effectively to treat certain issues such as intensive foxing. Corine gave the excellent example of how hanging sheets to dry in the sun helps to bleach them. In the photo below, she shows us how plant grow lights are used (with eye protection to protect conservators and a curtain to protect other items in the lab) to treat black and white prints. The works are immersed in water and the lights are turned on for a period of time until they bleach as much of the foxing from the prints as possible. The conservator will check on the prints periodically to ensure that the results are as expected.
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| From Plainfield Public Library |
Finally, Corine showed us the CCAHA digital photo studio and the very big printer.
Visiting the CCAHA made Sarah and me want to go back to school to become conservators. It is a field that combines science with history, art, and technique. The pros at CCAHA who do the hard work conserving art and historical materials are very lucky indeed.
Contact Information
Corine McHugh
Paper Conservator
Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts
264 S. 23rd Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103
cmchugh@ccaha.org
215-735-9313
http://www.ccaha.org/
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