Thursday, January 29, 2009 Since all the cleaned items will be off to their home, I am taking today and tomorrow to box them up for travel, and also future protection. It is so pleasing to see these items we have lived with snuggled in new boxes, waiting to be picked up. Making the clamshell boxesContinue reading “Boxing Up African American Objects”
Category Archives: Flood Recovery
African American Museum of Iowa Grand Re-Opening
Friday, January 16, 2009 Today was the grand re-opening of the African American Museum of Iowa. A feat to be commended and celebrated. Since the June flooding, they have mucked out their building and restored it sufficiently to have staff back in the building, the beginnings of a museum store, and an exhibit installed. WhileContinue reading “African American Museum of Iowa Grand Re-Opening”
Good Preservation Practices Save Photos
Monday, January 12, 2009 These photographs were found among the documents from the African American Museum that were returned from the freeze dryer. This is one example of many envelopes full of photographs. These photographs were interleaved with sheets of archival paper which were adhered to the photographs when they were immersed by the flood.Continue reading “Good Preservation Practices Save Photos”
Cleaning LP Covers
Friday, January 9, 2009 We have started on the covers, finally. After Caitlin and Nancy worked out the prototype, and found and ordered the proper plastic sleeves for the job, we just have to start digging in and doing the work. It makes the most sense to work on a box at a time, toContinue reading “Cleaning LP Covers”
Leigh Ann Inspects Proposed Conservation Work
Wednesday, January 7, 2009 Our close proximity to the museums we are working with gives us the advantage of easy communication with their curators. Leigh Ann Randak of the Johnson County Historical Society was able to come down to see how our Head Conservator, Gary Frost, was coming along with the ledgers and county registers heContinue reading “Leigh Ann Inspects Proposed Conservation Work”
Moving The Music Library
Monday, January 5, 2009 Since we don’t know how long the music library will be inaccessible or even if the building will remain, the music collection needed to be moved. The Music Library began it’s move to the Main Library today and will probably take two weeks. The preparation for this move actually started inContinue reading “Moving The Music Library”
Up Close and Personal
Friday, January 2, 2009 I like to wear these magnifying glasses to demonstrate how fashion forward we are at the University of Iowa Conservation Lab. Aside from being extremely attractive they are actually quite helpful in situations like this one. The infamous gourd drum which took roughly 40 hours to complete has hair attached aroundContinue reading “Up Close and Personal”
Cleaning Gourd Drum
Wednesday, December 17, 2008 This gourd drum, an artifact from the African American Museum is a dried and hollowed gourd, the top has been sliced away to create an opening which has leather stretched across it. Two sticks intersect inside the gourd with the ends protruding from the sides, through the leather as you canContinue reading “Cleaning Gourd Drum”
Salvaging 45 Record Covers: From the Ridiculous to the Sublime
November 18, 2008 Unlike most of the LP covers, the 45 covers are typically printed directly onto the cardboard instead of printed separately and then adhered. This can be helpful or it can be a huge problem as in the case on the right. When this cover got wet, the image was transferred to theContinue reading “Salvaging 45 Record Covers: From the Ridiculous to the Sublime”
Making A Difference With Baskets
Wednesday, November 12, 2008 The African American Museum has a collection of baskets that were sent to us after being damaged in the flood. In September we were sent to the Campbell Center in Mt. Carroll, IL for training in cleaning and preserving these baskets. This is an example of one of the baskets I cleaned. This particularContinue reading “Making A Difference With Baskets”