Volume 10, Number 3
Jun 1986

People

• Mirjam Foot, bookbinding expert at the British Library, has been made an honorary fellow of Designer Bookbinders. Dr. Foot joined the Library in 1965. She worked with Howard Nixon, succeeding him on his retirement, and is now assistant keeper in charge of conservation and bookbindings.
• Bernard Middleton was awarded an MBE in the New Year honors list, in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace. The ceremony itself took place on March 18. According to one published report, the Queen pinned the medal on him and asked him what it was that he did. He told her he restored antiquarian books in his home. (No one apparently told her about his impeccable scholarship as a historian of English bookbinding.) "MBE" stands for "Member of the British Empire."
• Margaret Lecky, bookbinder of Los Angeles and founding member of the Western Association for Art Conservation, is the subject of a two-page "profile" in the May issue of the WAAC newsletter, which is also called WAAC.
• Glen Ruzicka, formerly Senior Conservator/Rare Bookbinder at the Library of Congress, was recently appointed Collections Maintenance Officer at the Milton S. Eisenhower Library on the campus of Johns Hopkins University.
• David Stan became University Librarian at Syracuse University on March 1, 1986.
• Holly Maxson, formerly of the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts (CCAHA), has opened a private practice in Philadelphia for the conservation of art on paper, photographs and archives. Her address is 427 South 16th St., Philadelphia, PA 19146 (215/732-4770).
• Elaine R. Schlefer, formerly Book Conservator at the New York Public Library, was appointed Book Conservator for the New York Academy of Medicine Library, in March.
• Michéle V. Cloonan, doctoral student at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, will be teaching a course there this summer on the preservation of library materials. The course will run from June 18th until August 6th.
• Karen Garlick, paper conservator at the Library of Congress, taught "Introduction to the Preservation of Library and Archival Materials" at the University of Maryland this spring.
• Garry Thomson, author of the Museum Environment and president of IIC since 1983, announced in January that he would leave the field of conservation entirely when he retired from his post at the National Gallery. He resigned the IIC presidency and was succeeded by Susanne P. Sack.
• Jan and Jarmila Sobota have opened a gallery for graphic arts, where they will also accept orders for the restoration of books and prints, at 565 East 185th St., Euclid, Ohio 44119 (216/486-9199). It is called "Saturdays' Gallery" and is open 2-6 Tuesday and Wednesday, 10-7 Thursday, 2-7 Friday, and 10-5 Saturday and Sunday. Jan continues at his job in the Cleveland Health Sciences Library, and Jarmila is running the Gallery.
• William Bull, head of book conservation at the British Library India Office Library and Records, was elected President of the Society of Bookbinders and Book Restorers for 1985/86. Mr. Bull served an old-fashioned apprenticeship, worked 18 years for Zaehnsdorf, established the book section at the India Office, and taught for 12 years at Camberwell.
• Robert Futernick, paper conservator at the Fine Art Museums of San Francisco, is the 1985/86 President of the Western Association for Art Conservation.
• Maria Pukownik, former Chief Conservator at both the Regional Museum and the Scientific Laboratory in Plock, Poland, has accepted the position of Assistant Conservator with Joseph J. Marotti Co. in Rutland, Vermont. She took her degree in paper conservation at Copernicus University. Prior to joining the Marotti staff, she was in private practice in Rome, Italy.