Preservation Beat

Thursday, October 30, 2008

After much discussion we finally decided on a structure for rehousing the records. Gary suggested a three flap structure so I came up with a prototype for the LPs and the 45s. The LP prototype was sent out to be manufactured for us.  The structure has a T shape, the middle flap folds in first, then the side flaps are folded in. The 3 ply of the 10 pt. card gives it added support, The fact that the flaps are loose eliminates the problem of seams and adhesives. They will be housed in polyethylene sleeves with the original covers. 

Friday, October 24, 2008

It took a couple days before we had assistance to move the books and a room secured for the returned freeze-dried materials. In the meantime we kept them in the basement. It never dawned on me that someone might think these materials should be re-cycled! Thankfully someone labeled our stacks.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

The items that were sent off to be freeze dried came back today. The books from the National Czech & Slovak Library & Museum are back on skids in the NCSLM building in Cedar Rapids. The materials from the African American Museum of Iowa and the Johnson County Historical Society were delivered to the University of Iowa Main Library. We couldn’t wait to see what the books looked like so we opened up a few boxes right away. The items from the JCHS collection were flooded from underground water so they aren’t muddy. These ledgers from the JCHS are wrinkled and show some bleeding of ink — all in all, not too bad!

Here’s hoping the rest look as good.

Friday, October 17, 2008

This small metal box is full of buttons of all shapes and sizes that are from Mason’s Dry Cleaners that was owned by Elmer Smith Jr. in Cedar Rapids. These buttons, and the box they are housed in, were painstakingly cleaned by one of our volunteers, Diana Henry. She sorted the buttons by material and worked with Gary Frost to determine the best method of cleaning for each. This is among the items that will be returned to the African American Museum on Feb. 3, 2009.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

These Sandals are one of two pairs from the African American Museum. They were both caked with mud and sludge. We chose to clean these sandals because they were in better condition than the other pair, which had some warping and cracking.

For these I used a PVOH sponge to do an initial cleaning and then went in to do the detailing with swabs and saliva. According to Susan Kuecker they look better than they did before the flood!

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

While cleaning the records for the Czech Slovak museum, we noticed that upon drying, some of the 78s had some residual “ghosting”.  We tried a second wash but we couldn’t diminish the staining.  We took a couple of the 78s over to the Audio Visual department to do a test run with Rod Mickle. The records played but had very poor sound quality. Rod said that they could be enhanced digitally but that it would be very time consuming and expensive. He explained that what we were seeing was dirt lodged in the grooves of the records. We plan to do a second cleaning and hope that will diminish more of the ghosting. 

Friday, October 10, 2008

Three feather and wicker fans were salvaged from the African American Museum, all three were moldy and covered with a thick layer of muck. We knew they would take a very long time to clean so as part of the museum’s triage we were told to save two of the three. I began working on the first fan at the Campbell Center in Mt. Carroll, IL under the instruction of Conservator Helen Alten.

Cleaning feathers is a tricky business, each feather needs to be brushed out individually without disturbing those surrounding it. These fans were constructed with a wicker handle and
fan, with feathers woven in around the perimeter.

There were multiple layers of feathers and those on top were downy so we had to fluff them up again. I went around and separated out each feather with a piece of blotter paper to support it and brushed it out with water, trying to keep the original shape. They were then left to air dry. They turned out surprisingly well considering their original condition. Combined, the two fans took about 15 hours to complete.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

We march on with cleaning baskets. This consumes most of my time at the lab now, as we are trying to finish cleaning the baskets before November 11th. I think we might cut it close. Sometimes it is difficult to know when to stop, as it seems there is always more dirt coming off. Is it flood gunk? Is it dust from before? I can’t tell, really, but it all comes off on the swabs. With this basket, cleaning the interior poses a problem, since the opening is too small to see anything inside. I brushed out, gently, what muck there seemed to be, and then vacuumed inside with the homemade attachment. I have spent a considerable amount of time on this particular basket, and will almost be sad to finish it. Almost.

Monday, October 6, 2008

Among the artifacts from the African American Museum were two mats woven by George Washington Carver. The mat pictured was cleaned in about 15 hours by myself using saliva and swabs. I began work on the other but it was so fragile and brittle that I decided to send it to Helen Alten, our objects conservator.