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.
The following is a guest post by Anna Darden, intern in the Preservation Research & Testing Division (PRTD). Not so long ago, LeVar Burton graced TV screens on Reading Rainbow with his emphasis on building reading comprehension and instilling a life-long love of reading for me and others in my generation. Reading is usually reserved …
Luke Ayers reminisces about his summer internship in General Collections Care(GCCS) where he learned techniques on how to care for, preserve, and repair books in both GCCS and the Rare Book Division.
As we celebrate 125 years of binding at the Library of Congress, our final chapter in this blog series looks at the changes in binding and the industry with the rise of the digital age. The past 40 plus years brought the Binding Office to a new home, created a new partner, and finally, gave it a new name that is more forward looking than past. With quotes from the people that were there and made it happen, we share this retrospective conclusion, on the 125th anniversary of the office first opening its doors.
This year the Conservation Division welcomed a brand new addition – a digital box cutter! This tool is crucial to creating collection enclosures in a fast and efficient manner. Farewell, old boxmaker, you served well, and welcome to our newest conservation tool.
It’s not very often that you have the chance to look at 99 copies of the same book. However, among the Library’s vast collections are an extraordinary 99 copies of Ptolemy’s Geographia, divided between the Geography and Map Division and Rare Book and Special Collections. Book conservators in the Library’s Conservation Division, undertook a survey of every one of these 99 copies of Geographia, and found some fascinating things that provide context for the rich history of book binding and manuscript arts.
