Tuesday, November 12, 2013 Submitted by Bill Voss This neo-Sumerian clay tablet, recording the sacrifice of a kid goat dates to ca. 2050 B.C. and is frequently shown to students as an early example of writing in cuneiform accompanied by the impression of a cylinder seal. Due to its frequent use it was decided toContinue reading “Clay Tablet Gets Custom Box”
Author Archives: Nancy E. Kraft
The Wunderkammer at Grinnell: Supporting Foldouts
Tuesday, November 5, 2013 Submitted by Brenna Campbell Many of the books in the Wunderkammer show at Grinnell had elaborate foldout illustrations, which required custom supports. These were typically made separately from the cradle, and were often strapped into place once the book was in its display case. It was important to strap the bookContinue reading “The Wunderkammer at Grinnell: Supporting Foldouts”
The Wunderkammer at Grinnell: Making Custom Cradles
Friday, November 1, 2013 Submitted by Brenna Campbell After all 93 items for the Wunderkammer show were unpacked and condition checked, they were prepared for exhibition. The most time consuming part of the process was constructing custom mounts for the 76 books being displayed. Bill and Brenna used a polyester sheet material called Vivak®, whichContinue reading “The Wunderkammer at Grinnell: Making Custom Cradles”
The Wunderkammer at Grinnell: Unpacking and Condition Checking
Tuesday, October 29, 2013 Submitted by Brenna Campbell Conservation Technician Bill Voss and Assistant Conservator Brenna Campbell recently returned from a trip to Grinnell College’s Faulconer Gallery, where they spent seven days installing the exhibition “From Wunderkammer to the Modern Museum, 1606-1884”. Ninety three items from the collection of Florence Fearrington were unpacked, checked forContinue reading “The Wunderkammer at Grinnell: Unpacking and Condition Checking”
Tool Making for Conservation and Book Arts
Tuesday, August 27, 2013 Last month Conservation Technician Bill Voss served as a Studio Assistant to instructor Shanna Leino, during a two week class at the Penland School of Crafts on Tool Making for Book Arts. Shanna is a well known tool maker and alumna of the UI Center for the Book, whose tools andContinue reading “Tool Making for Conservation and Book Arts”
Book Repair Reback-a-thon
Wednesday August 14, 2013 Submitted by Susan Hansen Our goal in the UI Libraries’ book repair unit is to return a circulating book to the shelf as soon as possible; however, sustained speed is not a top qualification for our students. In the day-to-day operation of the unit, we don’t have races. But when IContinue reading “Book Repair Reback-a-thon”
Columbia Hand Press
Tuesday, July 9, 2013 Submitted by Jessica Rogers We moved our Columbian hand press from the first floor of the library to the third floor, in front of Special Collections, to make more room for the Learning Commons. If you have not yet had a chance to see it, please, stop by and gaze inContinue reading “Columbia Hand Press”
Elizabethan Pocket Almanac
Friday, June 21, 2013 Submitted by Pamela Olson* During the second week of PBI, I participated in a workshop by Pamela Spitzmueller, former conservator for the University of Iowa Libraries and currently a rare book conservator for Harvard University. The focus of her workshop was to study and create a model of an Elizabethan pocketContinue reading “Elizabethan Pocket Almanac”
ICPC Save Our Stuff! Conference
Tuesday, June 11, 2013 This year’s annual Iowa Conservation and Preservation Consortium’s Save Our Stuff! conference was held in Mason City, Iowa, Friday, June 7. SOS! is a time to get together and share successes, current projects, and creative solutions and to be reminded that no matter the size of collection or institution we haveContinue reading “ICPC Save Our Stuff! Conference”
Respirator Fit Testing
Tuesday, June 4, 2013 Last week I attended the American Institute for Conservation annual meeting. To keep up with my disaster response training, I went to all the sessions of particular interest to AIC-CERT (Collections Emergency Response Team) members. One session was on respirator fitness testing, including the actual fitness test. Before we could takeContinue reading “Respirator Fit Testing”