Tuesday, December 15, 2009 This carved wooden pipe from the Czech Slovak Museum was covered in mud and dust. Since it has so many small crevices it was very hard to clean. I used dampened swabs to remove the dirt. It is in three pieces and combined it took 6 hours to clean. Below isContinue reading “Czech Pipe”
Category Archives: National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library
New Volunteer Elizabeth
Friday, November 20, 2009 Elizabeth Boyne has joined us in the lab as our newest volunteer. We have no shortage of projects. She started with cleaning and flattening newspapers from the Czech Slovak Museum but will most likely clean a collection of busts from the African American Museum and assist with cleaning and flattening manuscriptContinue reading “New Volunteer Elizabeth”
Where We Are Now
Monday, November 16, 2009 On October 23 we sent another round of artifacts back to the African American Museum. We also sent back the first of the manuscript boxes to be cleaned. We hope to be out of Oakdale Hall by the end of the year and it is heartening to see it empty outContinue reading “Where We Are Now”
inventory fun
Thursday, September 24, 2009 Keeping order in the aftermath of a disaster is not easy to do. When the flood hit Cedar Rapids in 2008 there was very little time to get everything out of the museums and things that weren’t rescued until after they had sustained flood damage were at times so unrecognizable itContinue reading “inventory fun”
Record Cleaning
Wednesday, June 10, 2009 Caitlin and I discussed the timeline for returning the LPs and 45s to the Czech Museum yesterday, and we decided to start forging ahead with the final wash of the albums. We are using the same method we used right after the flood, when there was still a ton of mudContinue reading “Record Cleaning”
A Typical Day of Flood Recovery Work
Tuesday, June 9, 2009 I checked in with the conservation lab staff this morning. I happened to have my camera with me and thought you might like to have a snapshot of a typical day. This is the activity I captured at 10AM this morning. While the ledger from the Johnson County Historical Society driesContinue reading “A Typical Day of Flood Recovery Work”
Clean Water Coming UP!
Thursday, May 14, 2009 At long last we are seeing action on obtaining a new water system. Our proposal to replace our old system was first drawn up in September 2007. We finally had it accepted in the spring of 2008. Then the floods came. No more money. We could not keep our old systemContinue reading “Clean Water Coming UP!”
For the Record: First Box of Czech/Slovak Museums LPs Done!
Thursday, May 14, 2009 For months now we have been slugging away, dry cleaning the Czech Museum’s LP album covers, and we are just past the half-way point. As we get closer to the end, we are filling the area that currently houses the clean records and the clean covers. I thought it may beContinue reading “For the Record: First Box of Czech/Slovak Museums LPs Done!”
Czech letter 3
Tuesday, April 7, 2009 This letter was simply dry cleaned, there was no mending needed. It was pretty flat already, but I put it between damp blotters and under weight to get rid of the small amount of warping. The sewing was stable and the manuscript dingy, but legible.
Czech letter 2
Monday, April 6, 2009 This letter, besides being filthy, had a severe crease across the center. It was a manuscript rather than printed so I couldn’t wash it. I dry cleaned the three pages of the letter and placed it in a humidification chamber to relax the paper. I then put it between slightly mistedContinue reading “Czech letter 2”