Dr. Tessa-Mae Little and Hannah Schock are collection management technicians at the Library of Congress, Collections Management Division. This blog is written as a collaborative effort to detail the journey of a request. Have you ever placed a request for a library book and wondered what actually happens next? Does it magically float off the …
In celebration of Washington’s birthday this year, learn about a special portrait of the nation’s first president. Scientists in the Library’s Preservation Research and Testing Division, working with a visiting researcher, recently discovered the use of a unique artist material in the drawing, making it a truly exceptional portrait of President George Washington.
Creating an exhibition requires far more than choosing and displaying collection items. Go behind the scenes and hear from preservation staff who helped to put together the Two Georges exhibition at the Library of Congress. This blog highlights work the public rarely notices such as materials testing, object support, and environmental monitoring.
The General Collections Conservation Section routinely performs urgent treatments on books needed by Congress and interlibrary loan. Sometimes, though, a request comes through that’s special even for them. Staff member Meg Gray offers an inside look at one such request.
When preparing items for conservation, identifying how an object was created is the first step in understanding its context and manufacture. By looking carefully at certain characteristics, like ink color and line quality, contextualizing the items in front of us is possible. This blog post describes these qualities and situates them within a brief context of writing implement evolution.
