I received this newsletter dealing with the Conner-Bishop Historical Resource Center planned for the Portland, Oregon area. It was written by my friend, Jan Healy, and gives some idea of the progress being made on the collection since their nearly disastrous fire sprinkler flood last March. I asked Jan for permission to use the info. on the blog, and both she and Ruth Bishop told me to go ahead and print it. I found it interesting…
Dear Friends of the library,
This is what has been going on of late, I still have my little helper (when they haven’t been snowed in on Bald peak) Victor so things are moving slowly, we go to the Beaverton library every week which is helpful for me as I have ordered in some books on restoration of paper and edge treatments to name just a few. He loads up on DVD’s and books and then we come home and I work while he entertains himself for a few hours. Some of the books I have brought in from far and wide have been helpful by telling me my ideas were right on target for flood damage cover up etc. Some of the info has been of interest but of no help with this project.
We have spent a lot of time the last couple of months pamphlet binding, he likes to help with that and is getting pretty proficient at making his own pamphlets for sticker books so he made 16 for his class for valentines day with a bit of help from me and mom on a snow day. He can even thread his own needle now, properly fold paper with a bone folder and punch the holes with a awl, not bad for a five year old.
After much thinking and studying along with some preliminary tests here is what I have come up with.
The proposed plan is as follows, paper bound will be clamped and sanded on the edges that are stained to clean off as much as is feasible. While using a heavy duty dust mask and vacuum. The less sanding that I have to do the better I like it, as it is a very messy job for here at the house, but it is still to cold in storage as we have all been passing around colds it seems this year.All covers are being wiped down with Alcohol to kill any mold spores that might be present, all price and library stickers will be removed with an archival safe product out side (not good to breath). All books are being stamped on the back fly leaf with “Survived 18 March 2008 fire sprinkler flood” so that we will know why they are doing what ever they decide to do in the future.
On the hard bound books it doesn’t work to try to sand at the spine area on the heads and tails, so unless it is only the fore edge they will get an edge treatment of Higgens drawing ink using a watercolor “flat brush” to apply it. With scraps of mylar between the boards and the text block, book board and two scraps of wood and C-clamps to keep them nice and tight. I didn’t like the look of the splatters over the mess so will cover the whole edges with the ink. Amazingly this really hides things well where I have used it so far. Yes, I am using the drawing ink as it is “NOT WATER SOLUBLE” so is permanent should these books get wet in the future. So as you can see I am making things as quick and easy as possible. There is no quick fix for these things as once I edge treat them they have to dry for at least 24 hours before disturbing the boards and taking the C-clamps off. This is one thing that I can’t really use the “bindery in a box” for I have discovered. It works great for the sanding but for the edge treatment I need to be able to move the book around in the light, etc.
Record keeping for down the road, also is going on for each book I work on. It is getting a 3 x 5″ card listing the title author etc what it was sent to repairs for, and what has been done and used on it. This is good archival practice. I would have done this on the computer but Ruth wanted 3 x 5″ cards so that is what we have for now. I will have to say they are quick and easy to fill out and I don’t have to have the computer handy. These will be filed at some point via title in alpha order, right now they are just green for pamphlets and white for books in bundles.
Some of the small books with comb bindings we made the decision to put them in pamphlet binders like you saw at the last board meeting. This does away with the breaking combs, rusting staples on the side stapled small books from societies, and gives a place to put a shelf tag with call number etc. Some of the small perfect bound books are going into these also as they are falling apart or will shortly.
We have also received some wonderful book donations out of Salt Lake, some are in pretty sad shape but are repairable and or we can reprint and then bind them. Some will be placed in the rare book room as they are extremely rare. Some will have to be stored in Phase boxes for protection until we have time to do more with them.
This pretty well covers what is going on at this time with restoration of flood damaged books etc. Unfortunately so far we haven’t found a suitable building. The biggest problem with that is funding. Just remember all good things take time.
—
Janice M. Healy
(Mrs. Edmund A. Healy)
Corporate Secretary
Accessions Chairman
Collection conservator
mailto:jmhealy1@comcast.net
1-503-649-1532Federal Nonprofit #61-1506583
State Nonprofit Corporation
Registry Number: #306888-99Shipping address:
Conner-Bishop Historical Resource Center
% Janice M. Healy
4210 SW 198th Ave.
Aloha, Oregon USA 97007-2343