J.M.Iacchei

In an earlier post, I shared some highlights from the Seminar in Papyrus Conservation at The University of Michigan I attended last summer. I mentioned that the greater majority of papyri at Cornell University were given to The University of Michigan in 1972, but that President Andrew Dickson White’s first papyrus purchase as well as fragments of papyrus contained within the Bruce Ferrini Paleography collection remained here in Ithaca among Cornell University Library’s collections. This later collection includes examples of various historical writing systems – hieroglyphics, Demotic, Greek, and Coptic scripts on fragments of papyrus dating from 1500BC – the 6th century A.D. Due to lack of protective enclosures and condition, this collection has been under-utilized and under-studied.

Applying what I learned at the seminar, I was able to reduce loose surface dirt, open up fragile folds, re-align fibers, bridge areas that had become separated, and rehouse the papyri fragments contained within this paleography collection.

Left: before treatment;  Right: after treatment, including loose fragments previously adhered to verso

These items were removed from their old plastic sleeves (which release plasticizers and hold static, problematic for friable media), treated, and rehoused between glass to improve storage conditions and increase accessibility for study and instruction. Glass, the recommended storage material, allows for greater clarity of the inscription on the fragment as well as the visibility of the laminate structure of the papyrus itself, recto and verso. The disadvantage of glass is that it can break, but most often, especially with smaller examples, it is the glass that takes the impact of the damage rather than the papyrus.

Left: The edges of the glass are aligned (1/8 inch annealed soda-lime glass, with edges sanded, free of bubbles and scratches). Right: One edge of the glass is sealed with Filmoplast SH linen tape.

Left: The fragment is placed on the lower glass surface and held in position with a small weight; Center: The fragment is anchored to the glass using tiny (hard to see, but they are there) strips of glassine coated with dextrin. The glassine strips require very little moisture and pressure to adhere the fragment to the glass. Right: The remaining three edges of the glass are sealed with Filmoplast SH linen tape.

A custom fit tray, labeled for identification, was constructed to hold each glazed piece.

I am grateful to the University of Michigan for sharing their expertise that developed the skills that have allowed these materials to be cared for and safely stored.

J.M. Iacchei

The seminar in Papyrus Conservation, June 13-24, 2016 at University of Michigan was one of the highlights of the summer, and of my professional career to date. It was a privilege to be invited, and an invaluable opportunity to attend. Thank you Cornell University Library and Digitization and Conservation Services for making this possible.

For two weeks, 8 of us – an international group of conservators and papyrologists gathered in Ann Arbor to work directly with the University of Michigan’s Papyri collections under the direction of Marieka Kaye, Book Conservator/Conservation Librarian.

Holding one of the largest papyri collections in the western world, the University of Michigan was the ideal institution to host this seminar. Not to mention the University’s history of concern and awareness for the care of papyri collections. The University’s contributions to conservation research began in the 1980s with Professor Ludwig Koener and continued with Julia Miller’s contributions to research and conservation protocol, Leyla Lau-Lamb’s development of the APIS Project, and now with the work of Marieka.

Their collections hold 18,000 items dating from 1000 BCE-1000 CE. About 2/3 of the collections were acquired through purchases made beginning in the 1920’s when the antiquities market was still active and legal. At that time the greater majority of papyri were first treated overseas before being dispersed among international institutions. This resulted in the separation of fragments, loss of archeological context, and questionable treatment methods having repercussions later on – i.e. deterioration and damage to backing materials.

The remaining 1/3 come from archeological excavations conducted in 1925-1935 by the University of Michigan in the area of Middle Egypt called the Fayum. The site at Karanis proved to be the most fruitful. The findings from this excavation represent the 2^nd-4^th century Roman Egypt and are important for their insights into everyday life rather than the lives of the elite. The fragments we were working with were from this site, often literally swept into whatever boxes or containers were available on site – like the one shown here:

Though not yet fully published, the collection continues to be digitized for the APIS project (The Advanced Papyrological Information System). APIS was started by Leyla Lau-Lamb in 1993 and continued until 2013. It was initially part of a larger international project with other institutions with the goal of reuniting fragments that had become separated during the time of the Antiquities Market. The current APIS site reflects only the University of Michigan’s contributions. A separate link will take you to the previous contributions from other institutions.

Among their collections are also papyri that were once here at Cornell University. They were given to the University of Michigan in 1972’s to receive appropriate care and storage.

The Seminar was divided into lectures, work-time, student presentations, guest lecturers, workshops, and field trips.

Lectures, work-time, and student presentations: This was time focused on common conditions found among papyri collections, factors contributing to current conditions; treatment methods and materials; current research, technology and analytical practices.

In addition, each of us were asked to give a short presentation about our institution’s collections – the size, needs, and expectations ranged widely from small collections like ours to those housed at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, and from treatment and condition concerns to setting up a papyrus lab.

Julia Miller, scholar/historian of bookbinding, discussed her work with the University of Michigan collections of papyri in bound structures. We spent a morning looking at historical models and numerous examples of cartonnage. Conservators will not separate the layers; there is promising technology (x-ray phase contrast imaging) that will enable the layers to be virtually separated in the future without damage to the original format.

Terry Wilfong, Curator of Greco-Roman Egypt, Kelsey Museum of Archeology and Professor of Egyptology) gave an overview of his work and Egyptian script systems, how scripts are used in dating pieces and how they are transcribed.

A field trip to the Kelsey Museum of Archeology provided archeological context for the Karanis fragments with which we were working, as well as a glimpse into daily practices. Shown here are dice, a lock and key system, and magic bones. Because the Sahara sands have preserved materials so well, archeologists have been given a portrait of everyday life in Karanis. A current goal of the museum is to look at the whole picture in archeological context rather than isolated items (pottery, basketry, etc.) as in previous studies.

At Out of Hand Papermaking Studio we made both papyrus and papyrus paper. You can see the two are quite distinct – papyrus being made from overlapping perpendicular layers of the inner pith of papyrus stalk and then pressing under weight; papyrus paper being made from cooking and beating the fiber obtained from the papyrus stalk, and then forming a sheet on a mold allowing the fibers to collect on a screen and form a sheet (of paper).

Making re-moistenable repair tissue: Many of the papyri fragments contained extremely fragile areas that required stabilization with VERY tiny and discrete pieces of repair tissue. We use “pre-coated”/re-moistenable repair tissue because it offered the advantage of using less moisture and offered quick drying time. Aisha Wahab, Paper Conservator, presented a workshop giving us the opportunity to make our own re-moistenable repair tissue.

What this means for our collections here at Cornell University: A year ago, Michele Hamill, Paper and Photograph Conservator, and I worked on stabilizing the funerary text of Usir-Wer in preparation for the Gods and Scholars exhibit. My interest in applying to the seminar was largely directed by this item and what treatment options, if any, were available, but also to address the concerns for the papyri fragments contained within the Bruce Ferrini Paleography collection that presented condition concerns -specifically housing in plastic sleeves (which release plasticizers and hold static which is problematic for friable media), accessibility (under-utilized and under-studied), realignment of fibers, and stabilization. We are currently searching for new housing materials for Cornell University Library’s fragments.

In summary, I left the seminar with increased comfort working with these extremely fragile collections, greater confidence in recognizing when the potential for significant loss out weighs any treatment that can be performed, recognition that with patience and time technological advances may provide new opportunities to benefit these materials, and this: The importance of digitizing items currently held in collections and making them available to researches, and the importance of institutional collaboration to reunite (virtually if not physically) separated fragments.

For more information on about the treatment of papyrus collection please visit the Advanced Papyrological Information System Guidelines for Conservation of Papyrus.

J.M. Iacchei

Three years ago in the Fall of 2013, one of my first assignments here at Cornell was to spend some time in the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections’ (RMC) reading room with a very old and sizeable papyrus. I was asked prepare a condition report identifying the conditions and factors contributing to its current and future state. The item was a 2300 year old funerary text dating back to the Ptolemaic Period, 330-220 BC, belonging to an Egyptian Stolist priest who went by the name Usir-Wer.  The papyrus measures about 8 feet in width and 1 foot in height.

Fredrika (Freddy) Loew, a former graduate student in Archaeology and current Senior Manuscript Processor in the Division of Rare and Manuscripts Collections, began working on the papyrus translation in 2013. She brought it to the attention of Michele Hamill (Paper and Photograph conservator). It was at this time that I conducted the initial condition assessment, but it wasn’t until the summer of 2015 that we revisited the papyrus in preparation for digitization and the Gods and Scholars exhibit.

In the lengthy text that follows, I will tell you about Usir-Wer, the history of his funerary text, and the conservation treatment in preparation for digitization and exhibition. I will take you through this somewhat chronologically, starting from the very beginning….

320-330 B.C Usir-Wer was a Stolist priest during Ptolemaic Egypt. This was a high ranking position in Egyptian society and carried with it the responsibility of tending to the care of the temples and statuary where it was believed that the spirit of the deceased, the ka, found a permanent resting place. By tending to the needs of the deceased and performing rituals, order was maintained and the gods were appeased. It was believed that failure in these responsibilities would lead to disorder and anger of the gods.

Religious ritual traditions practiced by the Ancient Egyptians have a deep history extending back well before they were documented in written form – objects found at burial sites, extant papyri, inscriptions and imagery found on tomb walls each provide insights. Among archeological findings is a body of texts known collectively as funerary texts. Under scholarly study, separate groupings have been distinguished-the Book of the Dead being only one of them, though perhaps the most secularly familiar.  The others include: Pyramid Texts, Coffin Texts, Books of Breathing, and Books of the Netherworld. These texts contain ‘mortuary liturgies’ and ‘funerary literature’ or similarly ‘collective ritual’ and ‘personal recitations’ to be used on behalf of the deceased or by the deceased in preparation for or during his journey through the afterlife.

The origins of these spells, recitations, litanies, and hymns are unknown. Separate and distinct, the texts span across time periods, and present differences in content and emphasis but all share a common theme: the preparation of the deceased in the afterlife by offering assistance in the form of protection and provisions – and this is what we find in Usir Wer’s funerary text.

This vignette from the papyrus shows Usir-Wer in the Hall of Judgment. Above are the 42 gods to whom he must address in his negative confession–all the sins he has NOT committed. Usir-Wer is on the right facing Anubis as his heart is weighed against the Feather of Truth. Thoth is on the left ready to record the verdict of the balance. Ammit is ready to devour the heart should Thoth not proclaim it righteous.

So how did Usir-Wer’s funerary text find its way to Ithaca? 330BC-1990’s

From the time of Usir-Wer’s burial, circa 330-320 BC, until its excavation in 1887, the papyrus remained rolled and held within his tomb; where exactly in Egypt we are not certain. It was purchased two years later in 1889 by Cornell University President A.D. White while traveling in Cairo. At the time of its purchase, the papyrus was no longer rolled but had been opened flat, mounted, and framed– which White noted, along with some other significant details, in his letters to his colleagues back in Ithaca – more about that in a moment.

About the content, he tells us that it was found in the tomb of a priest of the Ptolemaic period, is written in hieroglyphs, but mainly hieratic, and the text was “an extract from the Book of the Dead”. Over time this became “telephoned” into “It is the Book of the Dead,” likely due to its prominent vignette of the Judgment Scene, Spell 30B from the Book of the Dead. This mis-interpretation was not clarified until 2013 when Freddy began to translate the text and verified her findings with the letters. The parts of the text that are not from the Book of the Dead, are more like rituals and prayers to be said on behalf of or by the deceased to ease his passage into the underworld.

Upon arrival in Ithaca, the papyrus was hung in the Seminary room of McGraw Hall and then moved to Uris Library sometime in the 1890’s, displayed from time to time, and at one point, re-framed. Beyond this there is no record of the papyrus or how it was stored; nor was it ever given a call number. At the time of the construction of Kroch Library in the 1990’s it was moved to the vault for storage.

Before we can talk about the condition assessment or the conservation treatment, it is worth taking a brief moment to talk about Papyrus, how it was made and how this process informs our understanding of the current condition.

The papyrus is cut at its base; the outer stem is removed; the inner pith is cut into strips, and the soaked in water until pliable and translucent; the strips are placed in two layers perpendicular to each other, and then pressed. Rolls were made by overlapping the left edge one piece over the right of the next with the horizontal fibers on the inside. This construction facilitated the ease of writing on the inside of the roll from right to left. The papyrus would have then be rolled; this is how we would have expected to find Usir-Wer’s funerary text at the time of excavation.

In 2013, Freddy began her research and I conducted an initial condition assessment. We hadn’t yet learned of the letters from A.D. White mentioned above and so only knew what could be seen through the glass. Un-framing the papyrus at the time of its condition assessment was not an option because it was uncertain how the papyrus would react. Once unframed, we needed to be prepared to react appropriately. Below is a sketch of the papyrus I made to accompany the condition report:

I could see that it was constructed of 9 sheets of papyrus adhered, crookedly, overall, to a secondary support of an unidentifiable material, –possibly be a fiber based board, all contained within a wooden oak frame, with a glass cover, and Masonite backing board.

The view of the papyrus was obscured by a haze on the glass located about the areas of inscription. The secondary support: appeared to be composed of two pieces; the right is raised slightly more than the left. The papyrus itself showed areas of discoloration, delamination, loss, edge fray, cracking; faded media overall with areas of loss due friability and flaking of the pigment.

From this initial assessment we knew that we would need to address 1) The haze on the inner surface of the glass, 2) The secondary support and its lack of support, 3) Potential areas of loss on the papyrus, and 4) The backing materials.

2015 | Preparation for Digitization and Exhibit

We were expecting the glass to be loose, as you would find in a typical picture frame but it was not! Instead we found the glass held in place by a thinner inner frame nailed within the larger frame. This structure holds the glass in place and also keeps the papyrus from contacting the glass, but because of this the glass could not be removed.

The haze on the inner surface of the glass was located above the areas containing the inscription. It was most likely caused by the migration of salts from the papyrus, pigments and/or mounting materials.

You can see the dramatic difference that cleaning made!

Now unframed, we were able to see how the papyrus was actually mounted. It was, as we thought, adhered crookedly overall to a secondary support, but that support was not a board. Instead, we found that the papyrus had been adhered to a now brittle paper support, which was then further adhered to a canvas support. This whole unit was then drummed around a wooden stretcher. The drumming is no longer taut and has a significant undulation at the left end which has transferred to the papyrus. This is a concern because it could potentially cause further cracking and fracture to the papyrus. Additionally, because it is drummed, the inner wooden stretcher is not in full contact with the papyrus (or the supports), only along the perimeter and along the center bar; it is not acting fully as a support to the papyrus.

Returning to A.D. Whites Letters regarding the mounting system, frame, and shipping … He tells us it was “mounted to canvas on a wooden frame and securely packed under the direction of Bey (an eminent Egyptologist of the time). The glass I have taken out fearing that it might get broken and damage the papyrus, must be glazed again at Ithaca.”

As we have seen, the glass in the current frame is secured into the frame. Along with his letters, this tells us that it was not the original glass, and we know from Freddy’s research that the papyrus was re-framed sometime in the 1890’s. This was further confirmed by the nail markings we found in the inner frame around which the papyrus is drummed, as they do not line up with markings in the current frame. This means that the only part that is original is the inner wooden stretcher.

Notice that the nail marking in the inner stretcher to which the papyrus is mounted have no corresponding marking in the outer frame

TREATMENT

After these discoveries, one of the first treatment steps was reducing surface soil – dust, dirt, etc. from the item being treated. We used a HEPA-vacuum to remove the buildup of dust and dirt on the surface of the frame. Before we could work on the papyrus, we needed to address the lack of the support prior to stabilizing the front of the papyrus because the stabilization we would be doing to the front would involve drying mended areas under weight. A double layer of support system was fit into the inner stretcher to support the papyrus – the first 4-ply museum board, the second corrugated blue board. We hoped that this would provide enough support to the papyrus to reduce the stress caused by the undulation in the drummed support system.

For the purpose of digitization and the exhibit, we needed to address the areas of instability which would involve using some sort of adhesive to tack down papyrus edges that were frayed and pieces that were beginning to lift of flake. We found wheat starch paste would be best as it is reversible and would not discolor or further embrittle the papyrus.

The frame, likely because it is not the original, is a little big for the inner wooden stretcher around which the papyrus and secondary supports are drummed. When we unframed it, there were two small wooded shims at each end, but even then the inner frame was a little loose. To make it more secure in the frame we added new shims around the perimeter of the frame, then a backing board of blue corrugated board, and a 20 pt card dust cover.

Future Considerations

The treatment so far has greatly improved the stability and appearance of the papyrus for the purposed of the exhibit and digitization. But there is still concern for the drummed mounting system. It is unlikely that removing the papyrus from the paper and canvas supports is an option. The fragility, brittleness, size, and overlapping joins of the papyrus makes removal from the secondary supports too much of a risk.  We are currently researching a better overall support than the wooden stretcher it is drummed to now.

By Rachel Mochon
Chemistry and The College Scholar Program
Cornell University Class of 2016
In 1881, Andrew Dickson White, Cornell’s first president, gifted several significant collections to the university “…as a slight token of continued interest in the educational work of our country and our own state, as also of devotion to classical studies and culture…” These collections include 19^th century architectural photographs, large plaster casts of statuary, plaster gems, and plaster casts of Renaissance and Medieval medallions.

A.D. White letter to Henry Sage, 1881, Courtesy of RMC.

The plaster cast medallions were stored for over 100 years in locked wooden cabinets in the A.D. White Library in Uris Library. The A.D. White Library is currently undergoing renovations as a result of a highly successful crowdfunding campaign to Bring Light to the A.D. White Library. For the renovation, the two wooden display cabinets will be relocated, requiring the removal of the plaster cast medallion collection.

The medallions can be seen in the cabinets in this 1979 photograph.

The collection is being transferred to the Rare and Manuscript Collections where it will join the plaster gems already stored there.  With the transfer to RMC, the collection will have improved cataloguing and access and will now be available for research and exhibit use. However, before the medallions could be available for research and use, their significant condition concerns needed to be addressed.

The medallions were not organized in the display cabinets by content or size, nor were they easily accessible for study in the locked cabinets. Heavy amounts of disfiguring dust and dirt settled on the medallions, particularly those near the front of the drawers, which obscured the features and damaged the soft plaster.

The plaster cast medallions are made from plaster, a mixture of powdered gypsum and water. The plaster surfaces were all relatively soft, so the medallions scratch easily. Most of the medallions are circular and vary in size from quite small (the size of a U.S. quarter) to the largest of 10 cm in diameter. Other medallions are shaped like ovals or rectangles with rounded corners. Every medallion is made of white plaster with a brown paper ring around the edge. Many of the paper rings are painted gold along the top edge. The image of the figure is in the center of the medallion with his or her name around the top or bottom of the portrait. Although many of the portraits are in profile, which originated from ancient coins, many of the plaster portraits depict the personage’s full face directly or only three-quarters of the face. A number of the portraits are cast in high relief that reflects light to evoke expressiveness. However, this three-dimensionality varies too. Many of the plaster medallions are quite flat, especially among those that are of the most common size, 7 cm in diameter. Nevertheless, the texture and patina of the plaster is critical to the viewing experience.

The medallions, shown here after treatment and rehousing, vary in size and shape.

The plaster casts were made from existing metal medallions, including Renaissance medals from as early as the 15^th century. For example, the A.D. White collection includes a medallion of Alessandro di Gino Vecchietti, born on October 2, 1472, that was cast from a bronze medal that dates to approximately 1498.

The major condition concern with the medallions was the heavy layer of damaging and obscuring dust and dirt. In addition, some medallions had broken paper rings and some had chips, breaks, old repairs, or were fully broken.

The Alessandro di Gino Vecchietti medallion shows the improvement by surface cleaning.

The first step in the conservation treatment was surface cleaning to remove the disfiguring films of dirt and dust on the surfaces of the medallions.  Because the plaster surfaces are soft, various cleaning methods were investigated to determine what would be the most effective and least harmful method of cleaning. After seeking advice from objects conservators, a HEPA vacuum cleaner, hard and soft bristle brushes, soot sponges, cosmetic sponges, and vinyl erasers were all tested to remove dust and dirt. The combination of the HEPA vacuum, vinyl erasers and a soft bristle brush were determined to remove the most disfiguring dirt without scratching the surface.

In addition to surface cleaning, the paper rings on several medallions had torn or two edges had separated where they were originally adhered together. The bands are adhered to the plaster in only one location along the rim, and the remaining paper is wrapped around tightly and secured to itself. To repair broken rings, wheat starch paste and toned Japanese tissue paper were used. In the case of a medallion where the original attachment of two ends had failed, paste was applied with a brush to the underside of the flap that lays on top of the other end of the band. This was then secured with a bridge of toned Japanese tissue and wheat starch paste on the exterior of the band. In the case of a medallion with a torn band, a bridge of toned Japanese tissue was applied underneath the band edges and adhered with wheat starch paste.

The medallions are fragile and several show old glue repairs to reinforce breaks and cracks. In the past some medallions were left un-repaired.

In the inventory photo below from the 1980s, you can see the medallion on the left is broken, and it remained broken for 30 more years.

To repair broken medallions, the pieces were first thoroughly cleaned using vinyl erasers and a soft bristle brush. A stable, conservation adhesive with good strength and dries clear, was then chosen to secure the medallion pieces to one another.  The adhesive was applied to all edges of all the pieces first as a protective layer. Without this layer, the adhesive would be absorbed into the plaster’s pores and the mend between two pieces would not be as strong as it could be. After the protected layers were allowed to dry, another coat was used to adhere pieces together.

After treatment, the medallions were organized by size and housed in archival paper board boxes. Several trays, made from acid-free board, can fit in each box, and, depending on size, on average each tray can fit up 8-24 medallions, separated by acid free paper and/or foam.

By the end of the project over 1500 plaster cast medallions had been cleaned, stabilized and rehoused.  I learned about the variety of materials that can be used to safely surface clean plaster and was able to determine what would work best for the soft, porous, plaster surfaces of these medallions.  Rehousing the medallions was like a jigsaw puzzle—determining how to effectively and efficiently house the medallions securely without expanding the size of the collection!  During the course of this project, I also learned about how historic teaching collections were used in instruction and how they can continue to be valuable assets in today’s learning environment.  Because of this project, A.D. White’s collection of medallions will once again be used as a teaching collection for Cornell University students and researchers.

By: Michele Hamill

Wonderful progress is being made in the A.D. White Library as part of the enormously successful crowd funding campaign to Bring Light to A.D. White.  Coordinated by our Facilities staff, the large, ornate study table and the two sets of connected study tables have been beautifully refurbished.  Last Fall, we completed the conservation treatment, and archival matting and framing of the original prints and photographs hanging in this historic space.

Prints and photographs were framed with protective UV-filtering glazing and strategically positioned around the room to minimize light exposure.

Our current work in the A.D. White Library is to stabilize the portrait paintings.  While we don’t undertake full conservation of paintings, we can conduct beneficial treatments like surface cleaning to remove dust.  The A.D. White Library receives heavy foot traffic since it is a very popular study space and visitor destination.  Over time, dust builds up on surfaces, obscuring the paintings and putting them at risk of chemical and physical damage.  Removing dust improves the appearance and the stability of the paintings.

These details show how dust can accumulate, leaving a grey layer over the surface.

The oil on canvas portrait of Andrew Dickson White by Truman E. Fassett, was small enough to transport to the Conservation Lab for assessment and treatment.  Working closely with us, Rachel Mochon, a Cornell senior majoring in chemistry and the College Scholars Program, documented the condition of this painting using digital photography and examination methods. Her thorough report highlights some minor structural issues that will help us care for this painting in the future.

The dark background, forward pose, and size of the portrait make the image of Andrew Dickson White appear life-like and connect directly with the viewer.

This 1966 photograph shows the White painting on the opposite wall. The artwork and furnishings in the A.D. White Library have moved and changed many times in nearly 150 years.

Digital photography captures the condition of the painting and serves as a reference image for future evaluations.

Rachel, who is pursuing art conservation after graduating from Cornell this spring, executed a skillful cleaning of both the painting and frame. Rachel gained valuable experience treating this painting and helped preserve it for Cornellians and visitors to enjoy.

After determining that the paint surface is intact, Rachel passes a HEPA vacuum, which has gentle suction and a dedicated soft brush, lightly over the surface. Cotton–tipped swabs were also used to clean the gilt frame.

The oil painting of George Lincoln Burr, by Christian Midjo, was too large to be moved to the conservation lab.  So, on a quiet day before the Spring semester, we assessed and cleaned the painting in situ in the A.D. White Library.  Christian Midjo was an art professor at Cornell and an accomplished portrait painter.   George Lincoln Burr, Midjo’s subject in this 1921 painting, was a history professor at Cornell and A.D. White’s personal librarian.

Midjo painted Burr in an unusual pose, showing him pausing during a lecture and looking out intently to his class.  His head covers the portion of the map of Europe that was most devastated in World War I.

The Burr painting used to hang over the front entrance of the A.D. White Library, as seen in this early photograph.

Before renovations in the 20^th century, the north wall, where the Burr painting now hangs, was an open archway into the adjacent Dean Room of Uris Library, as seen in this early cyanotype.

Our HEPA (high efficiency particulate air) filter conservation vacuum, which traps dust onto the filter and doesn’t blow it back out into the room like a conventional vacuum, was the perfect tool to give this painting a gentle cleaning.  We assessed the paint surface and the frame to ensure they were stable and determined the paint surface to be in excellent condition and firmly attached to the canvas.  The frame has a few small losses of decorative elements, typical of large, ornate frames nearly 100 years old, but otherwise is in stable condition. After vacuuming removed much of the dust we also used soft conservation sponges to dislodge dirt from the carved elements on the frame. After treatment, the painting was greatly improved in both appearance and condition.

Close work, such as surface cleaning, allows us to detect condition issues, such as this small puncture seen in the detail of the Burr painting. This detail also shows Midjo’s impasto technique that creates thickly textured paint.

The back of the Burr painting had a noticeable layer of dust, possibly related to a nearby heating unit. Along with our Facilities staff we are investigating deflectors for the heating units to direct air and heat away from the paintings.

In addition to signing the painting on the lower right corner of the front, Midjo also wrote an inscription on the back, seen here before and after cleaning. The canvas support Midjo used has a distinct, nubby texture like that of burlap.

The A.D. White Library has such historic significance to Cornell.  Students enjoy its quiet beauty as they study and alumni remember it with great fondness.  A project like Bring Light to A.D. White gives us the opportunity to enhance our spaces to meet the needs of our students, care for Cornell’s collections and preserve the Library that A.D. White described as “the heart of the University”. We have 2 more paintings to surface clean in the coming months–the portraits of Andrew S. White and Mrs. Andrew S. White, which are mounted high on the walls (I see ladders in our future!) Check back for updates on that work, as well as the new light fixtures and carpeting slated to be installed.

The portrait of Mrs. Andrew S. White hangs near the arched windows as seen in this photograph, likely from the 1970’s. Note the No Smoking sign over the fireplace.

Thank you to Ronnie Clark and Adam Spry, CUL Facilities, for their expert assistance on our conservation projects in the A.D. White Library.

By Michele Hamill

August 2015 marked the 30th anniversary of the Cornell Library’s conservation program. The traditional gift for a 30th anniversary is a pearl–a gemstone of great beauty, and a term meaning something rare, fine and valuable. We’ve had three gifts– three very fine directors–in our 30 years. Tre Berney, Barbara Berger Eden, and John Dean are each a pearl in their own right.

It is with great pleasure that we welcome Tre Berney as Director of Digitization and Conservation Services. (Interesting note: Tre hails from Tennessee—whose state gem is the pearl and has the only freshwater pearl cultivation outside of Asia!). This new position was created to provide leadership for both Preservation and Conservation Services and the Digital Media Group.

Tre has been at Cornell for almost 3 years developing and implementing AV digitization workflows to preserve Cornell University’s unique A/V holdings and digital collections. He designed and established a digitization lab to digitize fragile recordings and older legacy formats. Tre and Library colleagues just completed a campus-wide A/V census, the first of its kind at Cornell, as part of a larger A/V initiative partnering the library with Cornell IT to inform a preservation strategy for those formats at imminent risk of degradation, loss and obsolescence. He works closely with Cornell’s Lab of Ornithology, Indiana University, Audio/Visual Preservation Solutions, Syracuse University, UCLA, Columbia and the Library of Congress. His work in A/V preservation ensures that Cornell’s unique assets in the form of lectures by faculty, Nobel Laureates, writers and artists, and original source recordings used in research in biology, linguistics and art will be available in the future.

Tre brings a wealth of skills and experiences to this position along with energy, enthusiasm and appreciation for the Library’s collections and the work we do in the conservation program. We’re excited to have Tre leading our program and look forward to collaborating to preserve the many formats that comprise the Library’s collections.

We are also celebrating Barbara Berger Eden and her significant contributions to Cornell Library as she retires this week after 30 years of service. In Barbara’s tenure at Cornell Library, she served several key roles including manager for ambitious microfilming projects, grants officer, and Principal Investigator for successful grants including Save America’s Treasures and the Henry Luce Foundation Chinese Librarian Preservation Training Initiative which strengthens Cornell Library’s relationship with our partner libraries in China by fostering exchange between the academic library communities in the United States and China. Due to Barbara’s efforts, the preservation capability across China has been expanded and important materials for teaching and research are being preserved.

As director of Preservation and Conservation Services since 2005, Barbara led the conservation program through times of great change in academic research libraries with insight, advocacy, and collegiality. As a result, our conservation program has thrived, with dedicated staff with deep expertise and the resources to preserve Library collections in their original format.

Barbara is the past chair of the Preservation and Reformatting Section of the American Library Association and has been an active member of the Preservation Administrators Group of the New York State Comprehensive Research Libraries. Barbara has served as a wonderful mentor to several Library staff as part of the Library’s Mentoring Program sharing her wide experience, knowledge, and perspective to foster the professional growth of our colleagues. We are deeply appreciative of Barbara’s efforts on our behalf and her thoughtfulness, generosity and support. We wish her a healthy, happy retirement filled with good gardening, family and friends. She will be missed.

John Dean became Cornell University Library’s first conservation and preservation librarian with the establishment of the program in 1985 and served as director for nearly 20 years before retiring in 2003. John’s background, including a 6-year apprenticeship in bookbinding in his native England, some years spent as journeyman bookbinder, leadership of preservation programs at the Newberry Library and Johns Hopkins University, and two graduate degrees (in library science and in liberal arts with a concentration in the history of science), made him a rare and valuable combination of an effective administrator, master bookbinder, and consummate conservator.

As director of the department, John brought a profound knowledge and deep regard for collections in all formats and instilled an appreciation for fine craftsmanship grounded in professional standards for conservation. He mentored and taught at the local, national and international levels. In 2003 John was the recipient of the prestigious Association for Library Collections & Technical Services Paul Banks & Carolyn Harris Preservation Award for his significant contributions to the field.

John remains passionate about preservation and conservation and has endeavored to help institutions around the world through education, training and consultancies in developing countries, such as Laos, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Java, and Cambodia. He created seminal online tutorials for library conservation and preservation in Southeast Asia, Iraq and the Middle East to give librarians and archivists in these and other countries a set of basic guidelines to inform their preservation efforts. In retirement John continues to assist local institutions care for their book collections. John’s legacy has had a lasting impact on the preservation and conservation field, on Cornell University Library, and on those of us who had the honor and privilege of working with him.

Where will we be in the next 30 years? Undoubtedly, there will be new challenges, formats, and discoveries. Thanks to our 3 distinguished directors, Tre, Barbara, and John, Cornell Library’s conservation program is ready to serve the preservation and conservation needs of the Library well into the future. A sincere thank you to Oya Rieger, Associate University Librarian, for her leadership, vision, and support of our program. Stay connected with us on our Facebook page and on this blog for updates on our many projects and for some pearls of wisdom for caring for library collections.

Michele Hamill

Our new cart for transporting posters, architectural drawings, photographs and maps arrived this week. We have long struggled to transport oversize collection materials safely between the Conservation Lab and the Rare and Manuscripts Collections (RMC). It was 2-person job to navigate through 6 doorways (all different widths), tight turns and 2 elevators with standard flat beds. It wasn’t good for the collections or for our backs!

Thanks to our wonderful colleague Wendy McPhee, conservator for the Toronto Public Library, who alerted us to G.S. Manufacturing in Canada, we now have a custom-built transport cart that safely supports 36” x 48” (and larger) folders in the “U” of the cart, full size cartons on the bottom shelf or additional flat materials, and has a removable lid which can also serve as a work surface.

We have been treating and rehousing several poster collections in the Conservation Lab recently which will now be able to be safely and efficiently returned to RMC with the new cart. WWI and WWII propaganda posters were a visually appealing public campaign to mobilize citizens to the needs of war, unify support, and motivate patriotism. Subjects for the posters included conservation and rationing, recruiting, war bonds, and the perils of careless talk, among others.

The WWII posters arrived in the lab in a tight, flattened bundle. In this state, they were not able to be used by researchers, processed by RMC staff, or safely housed.

With conservation treatment, these oversize posters (3’ x 4’ and larger) are transformed into a spectacular resource.

Unlike the WWI and WWII propaganda posters which were meant for display in public, WWII Newsmaps, produced weekly during the war years, were created for display in military installations to inform and update troops with recent war developments.

The Newsmaps, like the posters, were inaccessible due to being tightly rolled for decades. The Newsmaps on the outside of the roll were badly damaged with numerous tears. As you can imagine, the paper used for weekly Newsmaps in a time of war, was not high-grade and is now brittle and easily torn.

After cleaning, humidification and flattening, and tear and loss stabilization, the Newsmaps are ready for return to RMC to be made available to researchers.

With 2 more rolls of Newsmaps to treat and rehouse, we’ll look forward to many happy returns to RMC with our new transport cart that fits through all doorways and elevators and drives like a dream!

Tre Berney

During the American Library Association’s Preservation Week (April 26-May 2, 2015) libraries all over the country present events, activities, and resources that highlight what we can do, individually and together, to preserve our personal and shared history. To start off Preservation Week 2015, Tre Berney, Multimedia Specialist at Cornell University Library, is sharing his expertise in audio-visual preservation with the following blog post.  Tre designed and established the Library’s digitization lab to digitize fragile recordings and older legacy formats and he is the heading up a campus-wide AV census as part of a larger AV initiative partnering the library with Cornell IT. He works closely with Cornell’s Lab of Ornithology, Indiana University, Audio/Visual Preservation Solutions, Syracuse University, UCLA, Columbia and the Library of Congress. Thank you, Tre, for collaborating with us for Preservation Week 2015! –Michele Hamill

First of all, I’m honored to be a guest on our Library’s Conservation Department blog, as they are a great team doing magical things. When discussing audiovisual preservation and the big issues facing possible catastrophic loss of materials on magnetic media, proper conservation becomes even more important as we chart out solutions that may emerge from our campus-wide AV Preservation Initiative.

Both UNESCO’s Blue Ribbon Task Force publication (Sustainable Economics for a Digital Planet, 2010) and the Library Of Congress are estimating that the vast majority of materials housed on magnetic tapes (cassettes, open-reel audiotape, VHS, etc.) will be lost in the next 10 years due to degradation and playback obsolescence. This includes materials ranging from field recordings of cultural events in dying languages to your own home movies of grandparents or children.

Cornell University Library’s Collection Development Executive Committee has set up a preservation fund (allocated though a grant-based system) awarded to save fragile, unique, and heavily used collections and, due to issues with legacy AV content, a lot of that fund has gone to digitization of AV collections. As an example, I’m currently working on digitizing a large collection of VHS tapes for the Africana Library of unique lectures given at Cornell in the past. Last year, this collection was moved to the annex, as they are the only copies in existence and are no longer in circulation.

While preservation and digitization is key to older formats, it’s also incredibly challenging for digital formats as well. Digital content, while often easier to use and access in a lot of cases, is incredibly fragile and subject to many problems such as bit rot and errors, proprietary and complex formats and file types, and costly storage. In reality the world is creating digital content at a staggering pace, resulting in petabytes of possibly important or disposable content. How do we deal with this in our work or even in our personal collections of video or photos?

The Library of Congress has provided a thorough resource for individuals to get a handle on the digital content they are creating, as well as digitizing to share with family and friends across the globe. This is a rapidly increasing need of people everywhere, but how do we decide what do we keep and how much? Witness.org stands out as a good example of an organization that is also promoting a more curatorial culture for our content at large, and for a purpose. They provide a guide to archiving content from a journalism/activist perspective, from creation to preservation and access.

Working in a memory institution, I often feel like I’m helping usher content from the past into the future and that is a tremendously gratifying feeling. ‘This work will outlive us,’ is something I often hear said in libraries and archives and while that is true, there is a huge amount of effort and a lot of tough decisions that go into conservation, preservation, and access. Whether it’s a beautiful tome from the 17^th century or video of one of the last known public appearances of Jimmy Hoffa, it takes detailed work, resources, and careful planning to keep these things alive. In reality, history is written by every one of us. What’s your story?

Michele Hamill

The Stephen and Beth Loewentheil Family Photographic Collection is a spectacular photograph resource in the Rare and Manuscripts Division, Cornell University Library. Abraham Lincoln, the most photographed American in the 19^th century, is well represented in the collection in a variety of photographic processes. Abraham Lincoln understood the value of photography in his political role and as a face of the nation.  He actively sought having his photograph taken and distributed, resulting in photograph types and formats with a remarkable range of appearance, color, texture, and condition. His portraits, recently treated and rehoused in the Conservation Lab, showcase the exceptional value of the Loewentheil collection to explore different 19^th and 20^th century photographic processes and formats from many vantage points. Take a tour of some prominent photographic processes and formats through the iconic image of Abraham Lincoln. A summary of the processes can be found here.

The Loewentheil collection, which brings together a number of Lincoln portraits, has given us the opportunity to develop effective preservation strategies by assessing how each photograph was made, its inherent vulnerabilities, and how it has been affected by time and use. It is a distinct pleasure to work with this collection in the Conservation Lab and contribute to making it available for research, use and instruction.  The Loewentheil photograph collection is particularly rich in the Civil War, African American life, and the rise of the hand-colored photograph.

To learn more about the Loewentheil Collection see: Dawn’s Early Light: The First 50 Years of American Photography (http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/DawnsEarlyLight/index.html).  For more information about identifying and comparing photographic processes, see: http://www.graphicsatlas.org/

J.M. Iacchei

 
Above: Bara la bruja

We thought it a fitting time of year to highlight Cornell Library’s world class Witchcraft Collection, specifically the Witchcraft in Popular Culture subdivision.

Those of you familiar with Harry Potter may recognize Reparo as the Mending Charm:

“The Mending Charm will repair broken objects with a flick of the wand. Accidents do happen, so it is essential to know how to mend our errors.

– from the Book of Spells, (http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Mending_Charm)

With hundreds of vintage movie posters, movie stills, and promotional materials depicting Witchcraft in Popular Culture (including Harry Potter movie posters and memorabilia) a mending charm in the Conservation Lab would be put to good use!

Laurent Ferri, Curator, Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections (RMC), is leading the initiative to expand the Witchcraft Collection begun at Cornell in the late 19th century to encompass “Witchcraft in Popular Culture.” Laurent kindly provided a brief overview of this collection, its significance to scholarship, and importantly, the reason as to why it was necessary to branch out from the original collection, mostly 17th and 18th century bound volumes, into the new terrain of popular culture.

Here are a few words from Laurent:

Since 2012, we have assembled a unique and spectacular collection of approximately 490 pieces of vintage witchcraft-and possession-related movie material covering the period from 1916 through 2015 — that is, 99 years of outstanding material documenting the cultural impact of witchcraft and possession through the history of world cinema.

This is the perfect complement to the Witchcraft Collection started by A.D. White in the 1880s, as today affordable demonology treaties and witchcraft trial records appear less frequently on the market, and more researchers choose popular culture as their field of inquiry.

Numbered #4781 in RMC, “Witchcraft- and Possession-Related Movie Posters, Lobby Cards, and other Cinema Memorabilia, 1916-2015” is a great resource for the study of the rich iconography of witches. It also offers an opportunity to reflect on film genres and sub-genres as defined by the film industry, critics, and censors (“horror film”, “nunsploitation film”, “adult movie”, etc…). Given the graphic imagery and permanent recycling of erotic stereotypes, it could be used in conjunction with Cornell’s vast Human Sexuality Collection as well.

These striking, colorful, and often very large items are gradually making their way to the conservation lab for treatment – cleaning, pressure sensitive tape removal, stabilization of weakened or torn areas, and humidification and flattening prior to storage. Overall, these items are of great variety in both their physical characteristics (dimension, support, and condition) as well as their artistic and graphic styles.

Laurent also points out the significant aesthetic quality of the collection “…movie poster design is an art, sometimes. Take, for instance, Bill Gold,  who worked in the art department of Warner Bros and produced more than 1,000 posters until his retirement in 2004. The poster for “The Exorcist” (1973) serves its purpose perfectly: it points to the tradition of the American “film noir”, and it is inviting but not a spoiler. Another “masterwork” is the minimalist and eerie poster for “Rosemary’s baby” (1968)…the president of the advertising company Young and Rubicam, Stephen Frankfurt (a kind of Don Draper in “Mad Men”) is often credited with the choice (and, perhaps, the idea).”

Another masterwork of poster art is “…Giuseppe Bassan’s poster for “Suspiria” (1977), which is reminiscent of Aubrey Beardsley’s decadent illustrations for Salome (1893) — they both evoke what’s been termed by some art historians “aesthetic Satanism”.

 Here is one example of a treatment carried out for this collection:

The poster below was printed on a wood pulp paper. Overtime it had become increasingly brittle and discolored from acid degradation. It had also, at one time, been stored folded leaving extremely fragile and weakened areas along the folds. As you can see, it became separated along the folds into five frail pieces.

Left: Before Treatment; Right: During Treatment, blotter washing

Each individual piece was blotter washed (to provide support during aqueous treatment when the wood pulp paper is extremely fragile),  flattened, and dried underweight before being pieced back together with a thin Japanese tissue and wheat starch paste. This treatment reduced the acidity and brittleness of the paper support, making handling much less precarious. In a more stable condition, this is one of the many items of the Witchcraft in Popular Culture collection now accessible for use.

Or maybe I just said “Charta Reparo!”

Above: After Treatment

More information about the Cornell University Witchcraft Collection can be found here: http://digital.library.cornell.edu/w/witch/

Also of interest is a current exhibit, co-curated by Laurent, at the Johnson Museum of Art, Surrealism and Magic. More about the exhibit can be found here: http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/surrealismandmagic/