Conservation & Collections Care News

Ghosting on 78s

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.

Feather Fans

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.

Basket Cleaning

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.

George Washington Carver Woven Mat Cleaned

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.

Music Rare Book Room Project Continues in the Dark

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

It’s business as usual in spite of the challenges. About a year ago, Gary Frost and Linda Lundy started a boxing project for the Music Library rare books. Gary takes the measurements and Linda makes the boxes. In the past, Gary would go over to the rare book room, take the measurements; Linda would make the boxes; then Gary would take the boxes back and the cycle would start all over. Now they have to get permission to get into the library and take lanterns with them since there is no light. Linda finds the books and inserts them into their boxes while Gary takes measurements for the next set of boxes. They are very close to completing this project.

Goodby Ventilation Equipment

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

All are in agreement that we no longer need the additional ventilation equipment. Early arriving staff will finally be able to enter the building through the west door. It’ll be good to be back to “normal” — at least for the Main Library staff. We’ve had the equipment around so long that someone personalized the air tube outside the administration offices. I have been entering my work area for several weeks by walking under this tube. Taller people have had to duck.

Training Under Helen Alten Continues

Thursday, September 17, 2008

Waking up in our dorm rooms, we went to work nearly immediately, as the lab was only fifty feet away. Caitlin and I began tackling the “George Washington Carver clay mess.” Clay had absorbed water in the flood, slid out of its storage jar and resealed itself, becoming moldy. We needed to get the mold out. We siphoned off the water and left the portion of the clay that was still wet to dry. The clay still inside the jar was dry but moldy, and we decided to take out the clay, wash the glass with Orvus liquid, then attempt to scrape off the mold on the surface. Mold, however, had penetrated every cranny and we scraped away most of the day, in between visiting the local dollar store for bamboo sticks and cotton and containers, and learning other techniques from Helen. The objects in the photo are the items that we managed to complete under Helen’s supervision.

Training Under Helen Alten

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

After the pretty drive over to Illinois, Caitlin and I unpacked the car–a load of baskets, the clay from George Washington Carver, some metal objects, a few gourds and some supplies Helen had recommended we bring. Although it was almost dinner time, Helen thought we should dive into some training, and then reward ourselves with dinner out.

Helen went over the “levels of cleaning” and demonstrated on one of the baskets. She had clipped an end from a disposable dropper and attached it to the end of the Nilfisk vacuum hose, which resulted in finer suction. Helen also
introduced us to the PVOH sponge. It was an immediate hit; the sponge took up quite a lot of grime from one of the gourds we brought. After the intro lesson, Helen then showed us the wonder of sauerkraut as a pizza topping.

Conservator Helen Alten Visit

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Helen Alten is teaching at the Campbell Center, Mt. Carroll, Illinois, http://www.campbellcenter.org this week and graciously agreed to stop in for a visit to assist with some of the African American Museum of Iowa objects. To our surprise she offered to train Beth Stone and Caitlin Moore on how to clean baskets, gourds, and clay in the evenings at the Campbell Center. We promptly took her up on the offer. These items do have some of the same characteristics of paper. Learning to work with these materials will greatly enhance Beth’s and Caitlin’s skills. Having them clean these objects rather than Helen will also reduce costs to the AAMI.

Helen selected a few items for us to send her way and offered lots of great advice during our afternoon together. Susan Kuecker as the AAMI curator stayed throughout Helen’s visit so we could have instant decisions as to what to spend time on and who should work on what.

Celebration

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Finished with the initial cleaning of all–yes all– the records. We had abused the Oakdale paper facility for the summer, and Tim let us use the space for a party. Nancy picked up sandwiches, Gary and Joyce brought drinks and the table decoration, and Caitlin, Kat and I cleaned up the space. Kristin, Joyce, Bryan, Bill, and Kat–who had all helped with the cleaning in various stages came as well as the nearly the entire Preservation Department from the University’s Main Library. It functioned as an open house, as it was the first time some of the staff had gotten to see the paper facility and how we had been using it to treat flood materials. Some of the staff also toured the storage facility in the research building.