Description: Though a large part of our collections are flat—that is, they are unbound materials as opposed to bound, three-dimensional objects—a significant group of our holdings do live in bindings and book structures (some of my previous blog contributions have dealt with books, but none with as great a degree of intervention). Treating a field book became more complicated—and more
Description: Much has been learned and uncovered about the Hungerford Deed—but what is still out there to learn? Dig in with us to explore a few of these unanswered questions!
Description: As we teased earlier this spring in our Facebook Live event, last week Senior Conservator Nora Lockshin and I traveled to Houston, Texas, to share our work with conservation colleagues at the 46th annual meeting of the American Institute of Conservation (AIC). Our contributions centered around work with the Field Book Project, as did our Facebook Live.Another successful
Description: Finding a unique housing solution to preserve a historic photograph, detailing the history of one of the Smithsonian's earliest employees.
Description: The Smithsonian’s Field Book Project is a continuous fount of work for both our digitization crew here at the Archives and for me as the conservator in charge of the project’s physical needs. Over the past several weeks I have worked on a variety of field books with different structures and treatment requirements, and will share a few of the most common features I’ve seen in
Description: When a television channel asks to film our collections, we want to show them at their best. Read how we accommodate media requests while keeping our collections safe.
Description: One of our recent projects, these photographic crayon enlargements, associated with founder of the National Zoo William Temple Hornaday, were made on sensitized paper that was then adhered to a linen “canvas” stretched around wooden frames. The paper had become brittle, and handling at some point in the past led to a number of punctures and tears through both the paper and the