Conservation in the Age of COVID-19

My average work day as an assistant conservator for Emory Libraries is spent primarily at the bench, performing conservation treatment on special collections materials. So, what have these first weeks of working from home looked like for me? I brought home my work laptop and completed several crash courses on using Zoom and working remotely. Read More …

From the Conservation Lab: Using Gels to Remove Stains from the “Oratio in die Omnium Sanctorum” (1483)

The Oratio in die Omnium Sanctorum is a series of sermons written for All Saint’s Day by Thomas de Capitaneis. From the Pitts Theology Library incunabula collection, it is a small pamphlet printed in 1483 with simple paper covers. The pamphlet appears to have been partially submerged in liquid and allowed to dry. As the Read More …

Rescuing Moldy Photographs

  In April, the Preservation Office of Emory Libraries received photographic items to be treated for mold from the African American Collection of the Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library. These photographs included sixteen studio prints, four tintypes, three ambrotypes, and two larger convex photographs. Mold covered the images due to moisture Read More …

Environmental Monitoring at the Emory Libraries

Emory Libraries Preservation Office is responsible for monitoring the environmental conditions (temperature, relative humidity, and light levels) of all libraries on campus. We currently use data loggers to monitor in twenty-seven permanent locations throughout campus: fifteen in the Rose Library, one in the Schatten Gallery, six in the Health Sciences Library, three in the Pitts Read More …

First African American Reporter on Nashville Newspaper: Conserving His Scrapbook

By Kim Norman, Conservator, Emory University Libraries Preservation Office Rare scrapbooks that document African American life in the United States from 1890-1975 are being preserved with support through a “Save America’s Treasures” (SAT) grant. The project is a collaborative effort with the Emory University Preservation Office, Digitization Center, and the Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Read More …

My Internship Experience: Processing the James Egert Allen Papers

  By Nika B. Carter, Graduate Assistant, CLIR Hidden Collections Grant, Amistad Research Center at Tulane University “Working for Freedom:  Documenting Civil Rights Organizations” is a collaborative project between Emory University's Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library, The Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History, The Amistad Research Center at Tulane University, Read More …