Volume 26, Number 2
Aug 2002

People

Anne Kahle, Claire Antonetti, and Niccolo Caldararo have been using a modified facing technique, developed by Keiko Keyes, on severely deteriorated moisture-sensitive works of art on paper, to remove backings and mount. One of the works treated was a beautiful watercolor by Moran. [From the May WAAC Newsletter]

Michael McColgin has been awarded the Society of Southwest Archivists' Distinguished Service Award. As Conservation Officer with the Arizona State Archives, he is known for his presentations and workshops, as well as for his willingness to promote the Archives and its programs. In 1980, he founded the Arizona Paper and Photograph Conservation Group and went on to edit its newsletter for 10 years. He also served two terms as chair of the preservation section of the Society of American Archivists.

Linda Nainis sent in the new address for her business, ProText: P.O. Box 30423, Bethesda, MD 20824 (301/320-7231; fax 301/320-7232; email: protext@protext.net). She says they are going to be offering a new product soon: an emergency team kit that will be called the PROACT-PAK, which will include personal safety items. When it is available they will display it on the ProText web site at http://www.protext.net/.

Richard Horton writes for the newsletter of the Bridgeport Bindery, where he works as a bookbinder/conservator. In the Summer 2002 issue of the Bridge Report, he described the work he had done on 146 old ledger bindings for the Westfield Savings Bank, and reviewed the history of ledger binding as exemplified in the volumes in that job. He can be reached at 800/223-5083; fax 413/789-4007; or e-mail: info@bnbindery.com.

Gay Walker was Head of Preservation (from 1972) and Curator of the Arts of the Book Collection (joint appointment from 1979) at the Sterling Memorial Library, Yale University, until 1990, when she left to work with her husband in running a DNA synthesis business. They moved to Oregon in the Portland area in 1991, setting up the business with about 30 employees and living near both families. She served as Vice President and then President of the firm, covering the business and finances, personnel and regulatory matters. She left this spring to start as Special Collections Librarian at Reed College Library on May 6. (Reed is her alma mater). She is responsible for preservation of the library's collections containing about 500,000 volumes as well as some reference work, and she heads up the Archives, Rare Books, Reediana, and other special collections in the Library. She says she is "delighted to return to the world of books but will be concentrating on the Special Collections portion, although it is wonderful to be back in touch with Preservation friends."

David Seaman has been named director of the Digital Library Federation (DLF), effective July 25, 2002. Since 1992, Mr. Seaman was director of the Electronic Text Center at the University of Virginia Library. He will work from the Washington, DC, offices of the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR), which is the administrative home of the DLF. Mr. Seaman holds a master's degree in Medieval Studies and has completed coursework for a Ph.D. in English. He succeeds Daniel Greenstein, who directed the DLF for two and a half years and is now director of the California Digital Library.

Decherd Henry Turner, founding director of Bridwell Library, passed away July 7 at the age of 79. A memorial service will be held Sept. 1 at Bridwell Library on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. "A librarian among scholars, a scholar among librarians."

Eleanore Stewart is now the Assistant Dean for Technology at the University of California, Irvine. Her e-mail address is estewart@uci.edu.

Ann Seibert was named Head of the Preventive Conservation Section of the Conservation Division, Preservation Directorate, of the Library of Congress and assumed her position March 10, 2002. She has worked in the Conservation Division of the Library of Congress as a senior paper conservator since 1989. Besides extensive work on LC's emergency preparedness, care and handling of collections being digitized, and training and oversight of the Preventive Conservation Internships, she has trained professionals in Chile, Brazil and Italy through ICCROM.

Paul Hepworth received the 2002 Carolyn Horton Award for research and training involving Islamic bookbinding techniques. He proposed private studies with Nancy Lev, Tom Albro, and Yasmin Khan, among others.

Nora Lockshin gave a paper at the Annual Student Conference (called ANAGPIC for short) in April, describing her student project at the Austin PCS program, a 1938 artist's book. Her paper was called "Ist das nicht ein Schnitzelbank? Nein! Das is a case study of deteriorating cellulose acetate in books." Sarah Reidell, also of the Austin program, gave a paper at the conference on a handwritten eyewitness account of the Battle of the Alamo. It was previously believed to be a forgery, but she showed that none of the materials were modern. The conference was reported, in English, by Irene Brückle, in v.3 #2 (2002) of PapierRestaurierung. German readers must have gotten a kick out of Nora's title.