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Category: Conservation

The Apocalypse, The Hellmouth, and Spectral Imaging

Posted by: Tana Villafana

Nothing says Halloween quite like Apocalypses and giant Hellmouths. The Preservation Research and Testing Division (PRTD) wanted to know what this Hellmouth was made of. So, we dove right in. This blog was written jointly by Tana Villafana, Meghan Wilson, Amanda Satorius, and Stephanie Stillo. Meghan Wilson and Amanda Satorius are Preservation Science Specialists in …

Close-up view of two hands carefully at work on an aged, yellowing manuscript with handwriting

If Only Flutes Could Talk – A Tale of Science, Music, and Napoleon’s Flute!

Posted by: Tana Villafana

This is a guest post by Lynn Brostoff, a chemist in the Preservation Research and Testing Division. Her research interests include the characterization of iron gall ink, verdigris pigment, and glass deterioration. Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford (left), Curator, and Lynn Brostoff (right), Chemist, examining a Laurent flute in the Music Division’s Flute Vault. Photo Credit: Larry …

Close-up view of two hands carefully at work on an aged, yellowing manuscript with handwriting

But, What Is It? How Research Science Informs Preservation

Posted by: Tana Villafana

I’m a research scientist and I’ve worked in a laser, microscopy, or spectroscopy laboratory (and sometimes a lovely combination of the three) for the past seventeen years. The last five of those years I’ve been lucky to call myself a Chemist at the Library of Congress, working in the optical properties lab of the Preservation …