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Category: Preservation

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The Art of Color Analysis: Using Analytical Chemistry in Pigment Research

Posted by: Bobbi Hinton

Preservation Science Intern Jessica McKenzie breaks down some applications of analytical chemistry in the Library of Congress, where she uses Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy to expand the Preservation Research and Testing Division’s database for pigment analysis. She then demonstrates how she has assisted in applying her work to collection items.

Team members stand in a lab space reviewing a piece of parchment skin together.

Of Inks and Skins, and the Stories They Tell

Posted by: Bobbi Hinton

The Inks and Skins collaboration studies material aspects of medieval Gaelic manuscripts, fusing scientific analysis with codicology and linguistic study. These manuscripts contain a wealth of tales and poetry, historical, legal, and scientific writing from medieval Ireland. The manuscripts themselves, their creation, and their survival each have their own tales to tell.

Commercial Binding Industry: Standard Materials for Custom Binding

Posted by: Amelia Parks

In 2017, Jeanne Drewes, began an independent oral history project as part of the Occupational Folklife Project to document the occupational trade and work-related experiences of professional bookbinders. Now available, the interviews document the histories of individual binderies, trace intertwined firm histories, and encourage interviewees to discuss how the binders’ occupation and the preservation of books have changed over the years.

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

Preservation Intern Profile: Gabrielle Alongi

Posted by: Aaron D. Chaletzky

This is a joint post by Aaron Chaletzky and Gabrielle Alongi. This past June, the Preservation Services Division (PSD) took on a new Preservation Intern: Gabrielle Alongi. Gabrielle is currently enrolled in the Information Sciences program at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She comes to PSD with an interest in digital library and management work, …

A girl with long dark braids stands at a counter slicing strips of paper.

A Blast to the Past: Testing Decades Old Predictions

Posted by: Bobbi Hinton

Scientific research meets the allure of the past as Tineta Nkoronye, an intern at the PRTD at the LOC, delves into the world of preservation chemistry as she explores predictions made by William J. Barrow. Learn about the analytical methods used to carry out this experiment and discover whether Barrow's predictions were accurate or not.