It is hard to believe, but the Hayle Mill of the Barcham Green Paper Company closed June 30 after 180 years, citing (according to the sad story in the July Fine Print) "roller-coaster financial difficulties, unfavorable currency fluctuations, and punitively heavy British taxes." It was the last large-scale commercial mill making paper by hand--the last one in the world, apparently. Much of the inventory has been bought by Andrews/Nelson/Whitehead. Write Ellen Golden, Art Paper Dept., 31-10 48th Ave., Long Island City, NY 11101.
Pest Control in Museums is not being given away free by anybody, despite what you may have read in the last issue of this Newsletter on page 66. The 1981 edition, originally published by the Association of Systematics Collections, is being revised by the Foundation of the American Institute for Conservation (FAIC). It will be announced when it is ready for publication. (For information on the current availability of the first edition, call Eva Hudson at the Museum of Natural History, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas: 913/864-4540. When it first cane out, it was priced at $15.)
Approaches to Pest Management in Museums (1985), written by Keith Story for the Smithsonian Institution, is distributed as a service to the museum community in response to written requests on business or institutional letterhead, by the Conservation Analytical Laboratory of the Smithsonian. An accurate notice of its availability appeared in the April 1986 issue of this Newsletter on page 28. (Libraries, archives and independent conservators as well as museums may receive the book.)
Teleprint, a company that provided photocopy replacements of brittle and out-of-print books, has sold out to a company called InPrint (P.O. Box 5694, Charlottesville, VA 22905, 804/296-7698) which does the same kind of work, but which has concentrated so far on printing books and copying journals rather than the "library business." Work that was in progress with Teleprint, and that has not yet been returned to the customer, is probably in InPrint' a backlog. (Thanks to Cynthia Clark for the lead on this story.)
Helene M. Donnelly, of the Data and Archival Damage Control Centre in London, had a technical note in the April CAN:
A serious problem recently arose during a flood in a snail archives. Many documents had been encapsulated with double-sided tape. The tape proved to be water soluble, and stuck to the documents. It posed quite a mess, and damaged many of the papers after drying.
We have yet to test any double-sided tape that did not allow water to penetrate the very document it was to protect. I would strongly recommend that if there exists any chance of water damage to areas where encapsulated documents are stored, then the only safe method of encapsulation is the ultrasonic method.
A simple hone experiment in the Editor's kitchen has confirmed Ms. Donnelly's findings.
Conservation scientists have always been recruited (or welcomed) from other fields: paper chemistry, forensic science, and so on. In 1983, Susan Barger advocated the Ph.D. in materials science as the best preparation for a career in conservation science (AN v.7 p. 36). It Is a joint program of the Conservation Analytical Lab of the Smithsonian and the Materials Science and Engineering Department of Johns Hopkins University. Fellowships are available from CAL. For information write Jerome Kruger, Chairman, Materials Science and Engineering Dept., Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218. (The program will torn out scientists prepared to work on both museum and library conservation problems.)
Judith Hofenk de Graaff, scientist at the Central Research Laboratory in Amsterdam, writes that her institute has organized a working group on archive conservation. The members are archivists, conservators and scientists, representing various state, provincial and municipal archives. They discuss all important topics in the field and form task forces for special projects:
In addition, she has a letter to the editor in the January Maltechnik/Restauro IADA pages, which opens, "Because of the steadily rising cost for conservation of paper which does not meet the quality requirements of archives, archival material should always be printed on the highest quality paper' [English translation]. A working group has been formed to address this problem, with one representative from the present Ministry as well as representatives from the Archives and the Central Research Lab. They will start by investigating xerocopies.
After a long gestation period, the Wisconsin Plan for Preservation (WISPPR) has been established. Although it will serve only libraries, it will offer a wide range of services, including preservation education and training, consulting, microformatting, conservation treatment, preservation grants program, and a "last copy" program to ensure that no one throws away the last remaining copy of anything in Wisconsin. There will also be an information clearinghouse, disaster recovery aid, determining of priorities, and long-term development. The basic administrative structure is in the form of a partnership between the Council of Wisconsin Libraries and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The Council will specialize in planning, which is its normal function anyway, and the University library will specialize in execution. There is a 13-page description of the plan, which clearly describes the administrative structure, membership and fees ($50), funding (fees, grants, donations and endowments), and the various programs. For further information, call Deb Reilly, External Relations Coordinator for the General Library System, 608/262-2566.
A spokesman for the Institute of Paper Conservation in Appleton, Wisconsin, has assured the Abbey Newsletter that the IPC is very supportive of the Museum, now and for the future. They think the Museum has a bright future.
Cathy Baker, President of the Friends of the Dard Hunter Paper Museum, is currently in the process of moving to Buffalo, along with the whole Cooperstown conservation training program. Her address there will be 77 Admiral Rd., Buffalo, NY 14216 (716/878-5025).
In its "Annual Review of Projects for 1986," the Canadian Conservation Institute reviews projects for 1985-86 and outlines goals for 1986-87 research projects. Last year's projects included an evaluation of ease of removal of gummed and pressure sensitive tapes; the planning of a study of the alkaline sensitivity of celluloses (borohydrides may decrease sensitivity); a literature review on bleaching and a related series of interviews with conservators who use bleaches; initial testing of substances that are placed permanently into skin and leather; and compilation of a "Pest Control Information File," which is updated twice a year and sent out to museums expressing an interest in it.
Goals for 1986-87 include completion and reporting of the bleaching review; a study of volatile emissions from display, storage and packing materials, and development of methods for monitoring and analyzing volatile emissions; a study, with GCI, of the possible effects of the fumigant Vikane on cellulosic and ligneous materials; a contracted-out study of freezing as a means of insect control; testing of more adhesive samples; and production of time-lapse film sequences to show the effect of humidity changes on wood.
A gift of $750,000 from Mr. and Mrs. Edwin A. Malloy and the Tudor Foundation has enabled the creation of this country's first endowed preservation position at Harvard University. Several libraries now have, or will soon have, endowments for their preservation programs, but this is another sort, like an endowed chair at a university. It has a name: the Malloy-Rabinowitz Preservation Librarian. When the position is fully funded (the press release does not say at what level this will be), the first librarian will be appointed. Until then, Ms. Lofton Wilson will serve as a preservation fellow, with a salary apparently funded from the same endowment. Ms. Wilson's background is in computers and administration.
The new Preservation Department of the University of Chicago Library, created in 1985, includes a photoduplication laboratory with long experience in preservation microfilming of materials both from the University of Chicago and from the Center for Research Libraries (CRL) and the American Theological Library Association (ATLA). It has issued a four-page description of the operation, including standards, procedures and equipment used, for the information of libraries considering a reformatting contract to preserve deteriorating holdings. The address given is: The University of Chicago Library, 1100 E. 57th St., Chicago, IL 60637, 312/702-8756.
The National Center for Film and Video Preservation, established 1984 at the American Film Institute's Los Angeles office with the help of the National Endowment for the Arts, serves as the central office for establishing and implementing American preservation policies on a national scale. Its eight-part mission statement includes the following activities:
Administer the AFI/NEA Film Preservation Program, which annually awards grants for preservation projects to public archives across the country. Acquire a diverse range of films and television programs for the AIF Collection at LC and other archives.
Develop the National Moving Image Database (NAMID), a central computer allowing access to information on the film and TV holdings of American archives and producers.
The Center's brochure says that "many moving image treasures have already vanished. Of more than 21,000 feature-length films produced in the United States before 1951, only half exist today. The rest have been lost, destroyed or have deteriorated beyond repair. For newsreels, documentaries, and television programs, the survival rate is less than half.... Color films, including many being made today, will ultimately fade to an ugly magenta. The permanence of videotape is still in doubt, and many IV programs have been deliberately erased." Support for the Center's activities are being sought from individual donors. Its address is 2021 North Western Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027.
The New Library Scene for February lists all the certified library binders that offer 23 different services or types of binding, including encapsulation and deacidification. The quality of their work is not evaluated; the customer should prepare to do that f or himself, even though certified plants are inspected regularly by the LBI. Fifteen plants (Arizona, California, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Canada) will deacidify. Thirteen (Alabama, Arizona, California, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, and Canada) will encapsulate. The list can be obtained from the Library Binding Institute, 150 AlIens Creak Road, Rochester, NY 14618 (716/461-4380).
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