>> From the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.
[ Silence ]
>> So it is my pleasure to welcome all of you all here in this room
to the 61st Tops, which is celebrating the 25th anniversary
of the art conservation department at Buffalo State College,
which was formerly the Cooperstown Graduate Conservation program
for historic and artistic works.
We had signed on, and hopefully they'll join us later virtually,
colleagues from Buffalo, from Syracuse, from Albany, from Pratt,
Yale, Johns Hopkins, New York Public Library, the Mariner's Museum,
the Shelburne Museum, the Smithsonian,
and the National Archives, and so hopefully, as I said,
they'll come online later and have a chance ask any questions
if they have any.
Today's speaker is Patrick Revenes Ravines, I'm so sorry I've known him
for decades and I pronounce his last name different ways all the time
and I apologize Patrick, [laughing] but, and he's the third
in our series that the library has been sponsoring
to commemorate seminal anniversaries of some
of the major U.S. graduate training programs
in cultural conservation of collections.
And as I said, I've known him for decades,
primarily through our long association
with the International Council of Museums, the Conservation Committee
for Graphic Documents, and during most of that time, Patrick,
for almost two year, decades, head at the conservation office
at the Vichy World Center in Israel,
and I'm very glad that he's stateside now.
He is currently the director of the art conservation department
at Buffalo State College, and he did,
he took this on following a stent as the senior projects conservator
and research fellow at the George Eastman House, International Museum
of Photography and Film, and while he was there he was working also
with the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Metropolitan Museum of Art,
studying the deterioration of the gara types.
And he also has also worked here with us at the Library,
he gave an earlier tops talk on some of the work that he's been doing
in the earliest photography system,
and he's still very much involved in that.
His experience in education have prepared him very well
for his leadership role in preservation, he earned an M.S.
in Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin, and an MLS
and Certificate in Library and Archives Conversation
from Columbia University in 1985.
He was an intern at the Library of Congress and he was also an intern
at the JP Morgan Library in New York.
He also attended one of the earliest quam courses on photo conservation
that held at the University of Delaware.
So his experience at Columbia University, and his experience at,
our first earlier talk we had, the very prior talk,
was from Columbia University so he fits in very well
because our next talk will be about the University of Delaware
when they have a seminal anniversary coming up.
So this places some very, very well to join us,
and members of our own staff who are graduates of the Cooperstown program
and the Buffalo program, to talk about their experiences at the,
through that particular training program.
So please join me in welcoming Patrick to the podium.
[ Clapping ]
>> Good morning everyone, and Diane thank you very much
and thank you all for coming, I hope to give you 20 minutes
of an exciting program at Buffalo.
But it's really nice to be here, in many ways, like Diane said,
I've known her for many years, won't say how many, but also,
it's kind of like coming home to a certain degree,
one of my many homes, I spent a really nice year downstairs,
I enjoyed it, I was, you know, usually four days in book
and one day in paper with Marianne Dorado [assumed spelling],
some of you remember her, and I remember those days very well,
and I hope all of you are still having fun.
Anyway, what I'd like to do.   >> [Laughing]
>> Boy, okay, there we go, wrong button,
is tell you about Buffalo State, now we're celebrating 25 years,
but please remember this is only since we moved to Buffalo,
we're actually older than that and we started off in 1970,
and Holly will be telling you a lot more about that, but I just want
to point out, for those of you who remember, that fellow right there,
come on, anyway, the man standing at the far end on each
of the screens is Chris Tahk and he was the director for about 25 years.
So Chris Tahk, followed by Elizabeth Pena, and then James Hamm,
and myself were kind of carrying on the torch of art conservation
and really conservation of cultural heritage at large at Buffalo State.
Now this is the building that's been around for many, many years,
the building use to house the Ridgefield Penney Art Center
on the top third floor, and basically they had moved out,
they moved out to a very nice building
which actually means many things to us, and Elizabeth had the foresight
to say look, we'd like to grow, we want more space,
so what I'd like to do, is tell you about that space, but how it also,
our changes in faculty, you know, retirements, new staff,
as well as our programming to accommodate and enhance our library
and archives conservation program, is in the sense all fitting
into this new space, and how it all intertwines with each other.
Now basically, when we occupy the north wing, we,
the second floor completely and half of the first floor,
the other half is housed by music, we'd hoped to move music out,
but our Dean said no, so we figure we'll stay satisfied
with the third floor, and basically these are all the fun things
that we do on that second and first floor for now, but basically I want
to talk to you about some of the growths, some of our changes
and challenges that we're meeting, basically having to do
with these three concepts, the education, the faculty, facilities,
and in more detail, this is what we're dealing with.
Basically, we've received grants from the Mellon Foundation
to enhance our archives and library conservation program,
which is really nice because this fits in really well with the library
and archives conservation here at the Library of Congress,
and we have a teaching residency which starts this coming fall,
and this is in a sense to look at the possibilities of people
who are just interested in education,
because of the upcoming changes in faculty,
and we also have a very generous grant from the Mellon
for graduate student support, and that is also been enhanced
over the last couple years, and actually since the program started
with the National Endowment of Humanities,
which we're all very grateful for.
One thing we've done just recently, is we completed a challenge grant
to acquire a confocal microscope to give us an entry into the whole area
of surface metrology applied to works of art,
and that means anything dealing with surfaces, could it be paper,
lacquer objects, metallic's, whatever, to start looking
at surface changes from a quantitative as well
as a qualitative view and seeing
if we could actually see changes starting
at the submicron anemometer level before they become visibly apparent.
We also have faculty issues that I mentioned earlier,
regarding new faculty coming in and retiring faculty,
and we're very sad, but we know this is something that just happens.
As you all know, Diane is a good example of somebody retiring in,
gosh, a month, and then the facilities.
So these many aspects are kind of intertwined and what I'd
like to do is talk to you about our facilities since,
although our main asset is really our faculty and our students,
the facility makes it much more pleasant
and they all cohabitate together, and what's interesting,
this is what it will look like, and we had a student
in our interior design department make this model which kind
of gave us a better idea of where things are going to be,
and I'll discuss this in more detail
because I think it has quite a few implications for how we're going
to be able to satisfy the library and archives enhancement,
the library and archives conservation.
So Judy Walsh, as you see here with one of our students,
Iesha Wahub [assumed spelling], is very excited, she's been to Leh
and she's going to get almost three times the space
in paper conservation, and we're referring to it as a center
for paper based artifacts to include everything and anything
that has surrealistic material in it, and that could be paper,
works of art on paper, it could be photographic materials,
as well as books.
Now, when it comes to sculptures, then we go to objects
and I'll show you that later,
but basically you see here the many different aspects of it
and we're going to have a separate book laboratory specializing
in rare books, 3D, printed materials, as well as manuscript,
we'll have a main paper laboratory which will take care of works of art
on paper, maps, archival documents,
and our photographic conservation laboratory which will be
and the far corner, and that is also augmented by spaces that will be
in conservation imaging that will be for processing
and studying 19th century photographic techniques,
as well as the now historic silver gelatin process which just,
I guess we could say died in the last ten years.
Okay. So this is Judy Walsh, as you've seen her earlier,
and she came to our program about seven, eight years ago,
and she replaced Idina Brooklyn [assumed spelling] who left
to Germany, and then had replaced Kathleen Baker [assumed spelling]
who is now in Michigan, so again, a long line of very well known,
and very able paper conservators, and Judy, in addition to teaching,
has research interests, which we, our college demands
that we do research, remember it's publish or perish,
and Judy's areas are technical connoisseurships, so, you know,
basically technical art history on American water colors
from the Civil War to World War I.
We all, and this is a student flattening out a work of art,
but also I'll show you an example of what will have in the future.
Now, the green chairs will not be there,
it will be a different color chair.   >> [Laughing]
>> But, but basically we have plenty of space so students will able to,
you know, work on much larger works of art, especially, you know,
modern drawings that are in a sense, you know, wall size,
and it'll be a really more exciting space for our faculty and staff,
and Judy is really beside herself
because she is enjoying choosing the finishes
and the fixtures for the lab.
One thing I did forget to mention earlier,
is that we have a local architectural company,
architectural resources working with us,
but they subcontracted this particular portion of the design
to Sam Anderson of New York City, whose had much experience dealing
with labs, and Judy's had a great time working with them,
and actually since I've come, I've been working with them as well.
Are we connected now?   Is my time up?
>> [Laughing]
>> But anyway, and so it's been really a pleasure
because he has experience in designing labs and so we didn't have
to break him in, so to speak, he knew what we were looking
for because he'd done the labs at the Morgan, done labs at Harvard,
and many other places so it was just a very nice fit, and,
so this is in a sense what we're enjoying,
is the fruits of their labors and our needs.
Now, we have the Center for Conservation Imagining, which is,
I think Dan is going to grow about six times the space,
which he's very excited about, but the interesting thing is
that Dan will be retiring, so he's been deciding this for himself,
but actually for his successor, and basically we're going to have,
the x-ray room's going to be enlarged and it's going to be right
in here, interestingly enough, they just finished about a month ago,
lining the entire room with lead, and it so happens
to sit over the Dean's office.   >> [Laughing]
>> The Dean was very worried that he'd glow in the dark,
and if he didn't then his clarinet, he's a musician,
that his clarinet would glow in the dark,
or at least the metallic pieces, and we assured him they wouldn't,
but anyway, that has been one of most complicated rooms
because it had
to have reinforcements for all the lead work.
We will have a much larger photo studio, what you see in the center,
and a room for flat works, that which is referred to as Copy Stand
for now, and in the middle we have film processing and print making
and that's where we'll be able to teach the 19th century
and 20 century wet photographic prophecies.
And on my far right, we have the digital darkroom, or the light room,
and that's where the students will be able to do all their processing,
printing, and take care of all the digital imagining
that will take place.
And in referring to, we're referring to it as the Center
of Conservation Imagining, and we're borrowing, or I should say,
I am borrowing the term from Medical Imagining,
basically where you apply a variety of imagining techniques to be able
to extract information on the condition, the way it was built,
and any different aspect of the particular work using daylight,
ultraviolet, infrared, and x-rays,
and this is what Dan has been teaching.
An area that he has been interested in
and his successor will continue is that of hyper and multispectral,
also using 3D computed demography, you know, using x-rays,
as well as going into the third dimension for, you know,
3D imagining and scanning.
So basically, these are the areas that we will touch upon,
perhaps won't create experts at it,
but at least our students will have these, know that they exist
and be able to use them where appropriate,
or suggest a more appropriate for their work.
Okay, so you see Dan here smiling, and he's usually a smiling guy,
and this is one of the things that Dan has enjoyed doing quite a bit is
that of x-rays, especially that of objects, and this is one that came
in just recently, and I had to show you, we're actually working
with some professors at the Rochester Institute of Technology,
their Center for Imaging Science, and we're doing image fusion,
and it's really interesting to see this orangutan that comes
from the Museum of Science in Buffalo, and doing the x-ray,
I thought was kind of neat in that it kind
of looked like a constellation.
A new constellation, the orangutan constellation, but these are some
of the thing that we are doing, and this is the spaces
that we'll be doing it with, Dan is currently doing it
in a very small space, you know small, really a small room
that maybe could be the first three rows here, as Gwen will then attest,
but he will be going into the room on the right,
that's the architectural rendition, and that's going to be huge,
so we'll be able to accommodate things much better.
Okay, the one thing that we have, that we have been able to work
on is our library is in a different building, it's in the basement
of Beacon Hall, and we're actually going to bring that with us as part
of the consolidation, and that's really good because our students,
well we and our students, dislike having to cross over,
especially when you have six feet of snow, to go get an article.
This will be our showcase room as well, and it's,
you'll see the finishes in a bit, but what's nice also is, sorry,
what's nice about this is that we have a forensic science program
in the chemistry department, and they're always wanting to know,
well, what do you guys have, and can we access it,
this will allow them greater access
because we'll be able to supervise it.
Our library is part of the overall Butler library system
at Buffalo State, and we're catalogued, they take care
of all the, in the sense, organization of the materials,
but we have it under lock and key, and it's a, we don't borrow,
people can come use it, but we do not lend out.
Basically, stuff just disappear, and this is the look of what we'll
and we're all looking forward to this, the floors will be cork,
the wood's going to be a nice white blonde birch,
and we'll have these designer seats, so it's really going
to be very comfortable, perhaps for napping as well as doing research.
Now, so we're expanding into the third floor,
and we will also be able to move things
around on the second floor and the first floor.
The first floor is mostly where our science facilities are,
second floor is where the conservation studios and lab spaces,
and James Hamm, shown here with some of his students,
is actually a very happy chappy because he's going
to be doubling his space, basically right now, he only has room 233,
the far room at the corner, he'll be expanding into room 231, with the A,
B, C, and D's, the slightly darkened area, and basically he will be able
to do much more in terms of education
and the students will actually be able to be working
on larger canvases and painted works, in other words,
just kind of doing more of this which is really good.
Objects conservation, this is Jonathon Thornton,
he'll be able to expand, also he's another very happy fellow,
he'll be able to expand into room 225,
which is where paper is right now, which allows him
to then separate the, everything that's organic and inorganic,
which are in a sense mixed together, we're looking forward
to being able to, in a sense make one an organic area,
that would be room 225, and room 234 would in a sense be the inorganics
and it also allows him to start allow him to looking at dealing
with larger pieces of furniture, and so we're really excited about that.
The other thing is, we have this teaching residency for, you know,
conservators who would like to move into the education arena,
we're also looking for somebody, sent out the call,
looking for somebody that would be interested in paintings or objects,
and Jonathon is hoping that it'll be an object conservator
so that way he would have somebody to assist him in the education
of either archaeological or, you know, wooden furniture artifacts,
which would be really great and we would have the space for that.
So the move up is also helping us expand downstairs to be able
to broaden our horizons in terms of the objects, the sizes,
and the qualities in different varieties that are available.
Push some more and we come to conservation science,
and we're actually able to, or actually for essence,
will take the leaded room that's in the second floor,
where Dan has all his x-ray equipment, so it will be safer,
it will be in compliance, bitter compliance with the health system
at Buffalo State, and like most people across the state,
he'll be able to stay, but we're also opening up the area
of surface metrology, and with the challenge grant
that I mentioned earlier, we have, we will be looking
at getting a confocal microscope which will allows us to look
at stuff in the submicron region, and nanometer region,
for a variety works of art, and start looking
at changes hopefully before they become visibly apparent,
and this is in a sense a diagram of what we will probably get,
and this will probably sit either on the second floor
or the first floor depending on mobility,
or in sense the shake of the building.
We want to have minimal shake, similar to the requirements
So this is pretty much where we'll be expanding into the second floor,
our XRF and roman will definitely be coming up,
confocal we're not sure yet, but we also have pretty much two thirds
of the rooms downstairs for science.
Okay. And this is Corina Rogge, she's our new scientist,
she's the one that teaches organic materials, and here she is,
very calm and demur, and basically there's a lion in there,
sorry a tiger behind her, and this is her student's went with her
to the Museum of Science to look at the stuffed animal collections
and start look at pest residues on them for heavy metals,
and basically a portable XRF allowed her to kind of do a survey
in coordination with Aaron Shugar, whose our other professor
and he's basically, he teaches inorganics and metaler,
just an archimetaler just by training, and in a sense,
just loves techniques and you can see him in the middle
with Jonathon Thornton, that tactually fired up and old kiln,
actually they made the kiln and there's melting,
and they do this just a couple of years just to show the technology,
we're big on technology, how things were put together, the techniques,
and the materials used to generate the works of art of the craft.
And I show you the staff that is very responsible
for keep us together, and Meredeth Lavell is our program manager,
and she does a fantastic job of keeping me in check as well
as the other faculty making sure we don't ever spend,
and Kim Fox is our secretary and I was unable to get a photograph
of her, she snuck away, and, but I wanted to recognize them
because really it's all of us, the faculty, the staff, and the students
that really make the program, and make it what it is so that basically
when they come to do their internships here, they shine,
and hopefully they shine bright.
So briefly, to kind of recap, we've had educational programs put
in place over the last, you know, 40 years,
but these are the more recent events in terms
of the Mellon supporting book and archives and the Agency
of supporting graduate students with funding,
we have many private foundations nationally,
and we have local foundations that help us, and this is actually,
it's good and it's part of the reality of having to reach
out and search for funding.
We don't want to, in a sense, place a financial burden on our students,
we want them to be able to be educated, trained, and in a sense,
have not too comfortable of a life but, you know,
enough that they can survive decently and not party to hard
on weekends, and then we have new faculty coming in.
Dan will be, as a matter of fact,
tomorrow we start interviewing the replacement for Dan,
in some ways it's very sad, but also at the same time it's very exciting.
And we have the new facilities to kind of help us accommodate it
and move and make more room for everything, and basically one
of the things that excites me about this field is
that it's a blend of many things.
We have the art, the science, technology, the craft,
and it all put, comes together, and sometimes it works,
and sometimes it doesn't work, it's very frustrating,
both in the scientific end but also from the treatment end.
Not always are treatment successful, and those are the things
that make us grow, and hopefully make us more cautious
with our own culture and our own art.
And I thank you very much for your time, and I recommend
that you come visit us at the website, and if you have time
and you want to visit us in Buffalo, please come, we are very close
to one of the natural wonders, remember Niagara Falls is there,
and the Canadian side has a lot of entertainment,
but it's really a beautiful work of art by Mother Nature.
Anyway, thank you very much.   [ Clapping ]
[ Silence ]
>> Hi, I'm Holly Krueger, I'm head of, can you hear?
[ Background noise ]   >> Can you hear now?
Can you hear me now?
I'm Holler Krueger, I'm head of paper conservation here
at the Library of Congress, and Sylvia made it, oh good, yay,
Sylvia and I actually are graduates of the Cooperstown part
of the program, and we were in the same class,
so since she barely made it here today, I agreed to give the talk
on behalf of both of us, but we were in the same class,
and had all the same experiences, and I was really just so heartened
to see Patrick's talk because I have not been up to Buffalo
and I was just thinking about how my grandfather was trained
by a very mysterious French Count, Balderon, who would sweep
through the Midwest, and my, and you now, work on the collections there,
and my grandfather who was a guard and an art student,
is how he got into conservation.
He then got very much into the training at the time,
but that's how it all started, so, with that, in September of 1970,
the Cooperstown Graduate Program and the Conservation of Historic
and Artistic Awards admitted its first class.
It is the second training program of its kind for conservation,
the first established at NYU by the preeminent paintings conservatives,
Carolyn and Sheldon Keck.
The Keck's, this is very early in their lives,
[laughing] the Keck's throughout their long career,
embodied the basic tenant, high minded but practical,
that Andrew mentioned the other day that I thought was worth passing on,
and they had learned a new approach to their craft
from Edward Waldo Forbes, of the Forbes collections,
who brought art historians, restores, and scientists together
at Foggs, at Harvard's Fogg Museum
in the early decades of the 20th century.
This new approach taken for granted today, met scientific research
of art materials, documentation of examinations and treatments,
and open sharing of practical information among colleagues.
I couldn't help but throw this in, as a point of interest,
Sheldon Keck was one of the monument's men during World War II
that fought to save art treasures from Hitler, and I understand
that George Clooney has just signed up to star in the film version
of this book, I don't think he'll be playing Sheldon though, I wish.
While the Keck's had successfully apprenticed trained several
conservators in the 50's, there was at the time, a growing recognition
for the need of a formalized course of study
which encompassed a broader swath of this rapidly expanding field.
Professionalization in the modern area of conserve,
era of conservation also required the academic credentials
and stature afforded by a degree from an accredited institution.
Cooperstown Graduate Program were designed to deliver two years
of academic study, followed by a one year internship
at a practicing conservation studio under a senior conservator.
The curriculums at both NYU and Cooperstown included the technical
and scientific methods employed in examination and treatment
and documentation of artifact structure and materials,
and the chemical and physical causes of their deterioration.
Lectures on traditional materials
and manufacturing techniques were followed by laboratory sessions,
introducing, among other things, analytical equipment.
Then irrespective of their planned areas of specialization,
all students completed paintings, oh the trailer,
did you see the trailer, we had a trailer, you have what you have,
but we had a trailer [laughing] then irrespective of their planned areas
of specialization, all students completed paintings, objects,
and paper conservation projects during their first three semesters.
It was. [laughing]   >> [Inaudible]
>> Okay. It was only in the first semester, fourth semester
and third year internship that students focus singly
on their chosen specialty.
This first hand broad introduction to all areas of conservation was,
and still is, an essential aspect of the curriculum, and has served
as a model for other program, such experiences allow graduates to draw
on materials and techniques from all specialties
in devising conservation recommendations,
and encourages collaborations among others in allied professions.
There were also classes in ethics and outreach activities,
preventive conservation was woven into all classes,
an essential component to care of collections, and also highlighted
in the science blocks of instruction.
We were taught the basics of environmental monitoring,
pest control, and emergency preparedness.
The instruction, instruction was delivered
by highly respected conservation professionals.
The Keck's taught traditional paintings methods
and conservation techniques.
Chris Tahk taught chemistry and physics instruction.
Paper conservation was taught by notables Kayco Keez,
Marilyn Wiedner, and our instructor Cathy Baker shown here
in a very hip 70's era photo with Dan Kushel,
our master of photo documentation, with black hair.
>> [Laughing]
>> The Cooperstown program was located in a lovely
but small town in upstate New York.
This is what it looked like in the fall,
but this is what it usually look like, or this,
its isolated location, as well as the fact that there is only one bar
in town, encourage intensive study, here's a study break at the pit
and there's Chris Tahk, and you can see Frank Zicari,
I don't know if you know him.
The academic year was divided into two semesters
with the course work as described above.
Here's our class at the beginning of our first here,
all ten of us are still gainfully employed
in conservation here and abroad.
Over half of us practice in the D.C. area and Baltimore and half
of us are married to each other.   >> [Laughing]
>> And here is a second photograph of us at the end of the first year,
we made it still intact with,
I hope you notice the mint juleps in our hand.
Summers were spent on projects where teams of students were sent
to a site to manage a six week conservation project.
The projects were located in a wide range of institutions,
including national park sites, universities,
and historical sites, and museums.
All types of materials were encountered.
The challenges were enormous but vital
to building our confidence to face the real world.
My first summer work project was spent at Saint Gaudens State
in Cornish, New Hampshire, Augusta Saint Gaudens, may be familiar
to you as a bizarre sculpture of these famous pieces,
or for the artist colony he formed at his estate
in Cornish, New Hampshire.
His estate is a national park service site, really lovely,
but this is what the storage area looked like.
Many of his plastic casts and models were stored haphazardly
in a metal warehouse that it literally froze in the winter
and rained in the summer from condensation.
Various creatures had found prime nesting spots inside Lincoln's head,
among other spots, when we arrived,
we first set up an environmental monitoring program
that could be carried on after our six week project
so that the site could continue to collect the data needed
to argue for better conditions.
Then the task of cleaning and organizing the materials began,
sculptures were dusted off, nests cleared out, shelves erected
and padded, and then the materials placed in them.
The materials were varied, requiring individually tailored housing
materials such as this custom sewn bag
to protect the delicate plaster casts, or providing protection
from breakage of the oversized casts.
And this is what the storage area looked like after we were completed.
The materials were accessible, safely housed,
and the rudimentary conservation was performed.
Included at the end of the project was a show and tell display
to educate the stake holders, of not only the work that was accomplished,
but recommendations for moving forward.
I compare the before photographs
of the Saint Gaudens Estate encounter during my time
at Cooperstown with the situation I encountered here at the Library
in 2001, the Herblock basement.
In 2001, the iconic political cartoonist, Herbert Block died,
leaving his entire collection of original drawings
for daily cartoons he published at the Washington Post to the Library.
All 14,450 were stored in this Georgetown basement along
with 50,000 rough sketches.
We basically undertook the project following the same procedures,
established so many years ago in Cooperstown,
by assessing the collection, addressing basic needs first,
and setting up a program
for ensuring the individual objects safe access
by tailoring storage housing and furniture.
And here's an image of all the drawings safely tucked away in LC's,
P and P, climately controlled vaults.
The use of light sources, both natural and artificial
to bleach discoloration from paper is a lasting legacy
of paper conservation training at Cooperstown.
Where experiments began during our academic years
and continued during Sylvia's first year summer work project.
Of course the technique of lighting the color of cotton
and linen clothes using energy from the sun has ancient origins,
and the light bleaching of pope and rags was an intrical part of Eastern
But the idea of using light to, sun to lighten stains in works of art
and other paper artifacts was not well known in the U.S.
until after Cooperstown began to explore the possibilities.
Science professor, U.S. science professor at the time, Chris Tahk,
helped to design an initial experiment in compared samples
of naturally aged ragged paper, sun bleached and alkaline water
in California by former Cooperstown professor Kaco Keez,
with samples of the same paper in the same solution bleached
under artificial light sources
by Cooperstown graduate student Tom Branchic [assumed spelling] both
sets of bleached sample papers were analyzed for changes
in light reflectance and folding endurance,
and the experimental results published
The summer work project, Ann Castene [assumed spelling] mane
at the Alley Ryan Maritime Museum involving Tom Branchic
and other Cooperstown students, including Sylvia,
centered around the sun bleaching of nautical prints and water colors
in the museum's collections.
Visual results using both types of light order are pleasing,
and initial scientific results were promising.
The technique began to garner interest among paper conservators
around the country.
More student projects, including an early one done
by our fearless leader, Diane Van deren while an intern
at the Fogg Museum, explored changes in the surf,
in the paper surface strength from exposure to light, and while working
at the Smithsonian Institution in the 80's and 90's, Diane,
along with scientists Mary Baker
and Terry Schaeffer [assumed spelling] studied chemistry
of light bleaching and performed extensive research on the effects
of light bleaching on naturally aged papers.
After their definitive research was published in JAIC, light bleaching
of papers supports with both natural
and artificial light sources became a staple of paper
and book conservation all over the country, including here at LC.
Here's an example of prints and photographs drawn by Hugo Gellert
that was simply, that was bleached by Buffalo intern Baya,
in 2011 using RC's artificial light bank.
And finally I would like to touch on a major project that Sylvia
and I worked on at LC in the mid 90's putting all that we had learned
at Cooperstown, the summer work projects, our internships,
and subsequent careers to good use.
In the early 90's, Sylvia enlisted me to help with a project
that had long been on the manuscript divisions wish list
for major treatment, that is the Jamestown Colony Virginia Company
Papers, the set of manuscripts, documents, the early,
earliest days of the first successful American Colony,
and were noted in even in Jefferson's time to be
in sorry condition, they had undergone
and early restoration technique known as silking in an attempt
to preserve them in the early part of the decade.
The manuscripts were too brittle to enable safe handling,
and thus had been inaccessible for many years.
Sylvia and I began the process by assessing their history,
and uncovered much information
about the journey these priceless documents had taken.
We researched the past and current treatment options available
for silked iron galling documents, and these studies,
along with consultations with our science department,
led us to propose disilking and fully treated the pages,
to not only enable them to be accessible,
but to improve their legibility and physical and chemical state.
And here's a sample page taken before and after treatment
and a detail of an area before and after silking.
And with that, I would like to thank you for your attention, and to Dan
and Cathy, for digging through their archives and sending some
of the images that you saw today.   Thank you very much.
[ Clapping ]   [ Silence ]
>> Thanks.
Good morning, I'm Gwen Ann Edwards, third year student
in the Buffalo program and I'm completing my third year internship
in paper conservation in the conservation division here
at the Library of Congress.
So I would like to share with you my experience
in the Buffalo State College Art Conservation Program,
and how it has informed my time here at the library.
As Patrick mentioned, the program is now located at Rockwell Hall,
on the Buffalo State College Campus, in downtown Buffalo, New York.
The program benefits from the rich cultural heritage of the city,
as students collaborate with several local institutions
to which some Patrick has referred and some are shown here,
as well as private clients in the area
through the Annual Art Conservation Clinic.
In this way, students learn how to develop professional relationships
with curators, librarians, and owners.
As a first year student in the program,
multiple disciplines including objects, paper, paintings,
conservation science, and examination
and documentation are explored.
The history and technology of materials are stressed
through lectures, as well as lab components in all disciplines.
Students gain hands on experience in paper making,
wood block printing, and graving and etching.
Two painting projects also stress the focus
on historical materials and techniques.
The reconstruction of an egg tempera painting, a long standing tradition
from the beginning of the program in Cooperstown, and the reconstruction
of an oil painting, so this slide shows students preparing the Jesus
in water gilding for the egg tempera reconstruction,
as well as my finished painting here on the right.
To better understand the technology of an object,
students also recreate an object or technology
of the student's particular interests following historical
materials and techniques.
This project gave me a chance to explore lymph vellum bindings,
using the medieval bindings in the center of the imagine in top right
of the model, I created the lymph vellum bindings you see here,
in making the paper, including construction water mark,
which is based on a mark from the same period,
working the calhoun used as a rich in spine for the binding,
and casting the metal button for the spine.
In addition, all students are required in their first year
to complete conservation treatments on an object, painting,
and two works of art on paper.
This is an early 20th century copy of an oil portrait
by Joshua Reynolds from a private client
that I mended and then painted.
I also had the opportunity to research
and treat this captain seatback from a small boat from the War of 1812,
and the collection of the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society.
The image in the lower right depicts a clamping system used
to encourage the cracks in the wood to become cleaner,
as the break cleans were adhered together.
This clamping table is referred to actually the Keck mobile,
as it was designed and built by the Keck's in Cooperstown and moved
The paper treatments I completed in my first year were challenging,
with the understanding I would focus on paper in my second year.
The treatment of this architectural drawing included the removal
of previous repairs and tape, washing and filling losses,
while the treatment of this chromolithograph including removal
of a canvas backing and reduction of one
of the two discolored surface coatings.
Throughout the two years, conservation science,
as well as examination
and documentation are studied simultaneously
with the other disciplines.
The conservation science curriculum focused on polymer chemistry,
microscopy, inorganic chemistry, analytical techniques,
and preventive conservation science.
And as you heard, examination and documentation are a large part
of the Buffalo curriculum and are taught through theory
All photographs for the documentation
of each object are taken by students and the vast majority
of the documentation is now digital,
although students still learn the concepts
and gain practical experience with film.
[ Silence ]
>> Students learn various imagining techniques, including visible,
so normal rankings specular transmitted,
ultraviolet induced visible fluorescents, reflected ultraviolet,
reflected and transmitted infrared, ultraviolet
and infrared false color illumination, and X radiography.
Several specified radiographic techniques are also taught
to encompass diverse materials including grams, beta,
and tomagraphic radiography.
The courses also teach emerging technologies,
such as the recently introduced reflectance transformation imaging,
RTI, a computational method which allows a subject to be viewed
with light from any direction, and is capable
of mathematically enhancing the surface of an object.
So guest speakers in workshops by invited conservators,
art historians, and specialist, as well as sight visits
to conservation labs throughout the program,
supplement this mutli-disciplinary approach.
Some examples include workshops on picture varnishes, iron's melting
and metal casting, and book binding shown here as ad junk faculty member
and book conservator from the Boston Athenaeum, James Reid Cunningham.
So through various book binding sessions with Jim,
students learn how to bind various book structures.
So my focus on paper conservation in the second year
of the program allowed me to treat several works of art on paper,
including a water color drawing, chromolithograph,
dried point etching, and a Japanese wood block print,
under the supervision of the paper conservation professor,
Judith Walsh.
The treatments gave experience in tape removal, adhesive reduction,
washing, loss compensation, and end painting.
Students who focus on paper also have the opportunity
to treat photographic materials and books under the supervision
of ad junk faculty conservators.
To gain experience in these related disciplines,
I treated this condux cranium enlargement, as well as re-sewed
and re-backed to cloth case binding.
The second year is also an opportunity to delve
into research pertaining
to the student's interest and their specialty.
So two projects are a large focus of the second year,
for scientific research conducted in conjunction
with the conservation science professors,
and second a specialization project under the guidance
of the student supervisor.
So I investigated the effectiveness of light bleaching
and ethanol is compared to arceus light bleaching,
with and without hydrogen peroxide as a method to reduce staining
and discoloration of works on paper
with water soluble media and seizing.
The project developed skills in the management and organization
of scientific research help, helps gain experience in the use
of analytical equipment and it informs treatment decisions.
This specialization project allows students to research a topic
within their specialty, often focusing
on a complex treatment problem.
So I explored the issues concerning works on paper and photographs
that had become adhered to glass, by treating three works
with varying media, coatings, and paper supports
with this condition problem.
The project involved research, experimentation
with different techniques, and treatment,
including detaching the works from their glazing's,
and subsequent structural repair and aesthetic compensation.
My placement at the Library of Congress, now in my sixth month,
has been what Buffalo intends for a third year internship to be,
an experience that reinforces and expands on its academic studies.
The majority of my time in the conservation division is spent
with the collections, specifically the treatment of works on paper
from the diverse divisions in the Library, such as prints
and photographs encompassing postures to fine prints, rare book,
African and Middle Eastern, Asian, and manuscripts.
Two senior paper conservators supervise my internship overall,
while each treatment allows me the chance to work individually with one
of the many paper conservators in the conservation division
so that I gain multiple perspectives.
My education at Buffalo has given me the background to expand
on more complex treatment problems here at the Library.
I've had the opportunity to work on a variety
of issues including manuscripts in an iron galling,
following the protocols developed here at the Library
to stabilize corrosion of iron to ions, consolidation of flaking media
on parchment manuscripts, aesthetic compensation of a posture,
discoloration reduction of several etchings,
and repair of architectural drawings.
I've also work on several Japanese wood block prints,
the treatment of which I was introduced to at Buffalo,
and some which will be included
at an upcoming expedition here at the Library.
One treatment in particular sparked my interest in further research,
an 18th century Japanese color print by Ki Anaga [assumed spelling]
that contained areas of black and red lead, the print was lined
and adhered overall to two boards that were hinged together with tape,
so that the print was stored folded in half.
Treatment included backing removal, first by pairing
down the board mechanically from the verso to the back
of the front facing paper of the board.
After testing, the print was wetted, and the front facing paper
of the board was removed.   The paper lining was then removed
and the residual adhesive was reduced.
After blotter washing and drying, the black
Intentional alteration of the red lead pigment by the artist,
compared to unintentional environmental degradation
was considered.
After consultation with several professionals,
including the curator, supervising conservator, and my professor
at Buffalo, Judith Walsh, it was decided
to selectively revert the black and red lead
where it was obscuring patterns in the fabric
and could be definitively determined as unintentional blackening.
And then this was done locally with hydrogen peroxide.
Other areas of black and red lead were not treated,
as the intention could not be determined with certainty
and these areas were not visually distracting to the image.
So after blotter washing again, to remove residual hydrogen peroxide,
the print was flattened and mended.
As part of the examination process throughout treatment,
I used the multispectral imagining system in the conservation division
to record the spectral responses of colorance.
This lead to my interest in characterization of the colorance
in the Ki Anaga print by comparison of the spectral responses to those
of known Japanese color and samples.
As part of my research, I expanded the colorance imaged,
as well as the imaging modes available for comparison
to include false color ultraviolet imaging, using color channels
from the visible and ultraviolet reflectance images taken
with a multispectral system, also, used a digital camera
in the conservation photo studio with various filters
to obtain similar results as a guide for conservators
who do not have access to a multispectral system.
So ultimately, using the Ki Anaga print as a case study,
the research will culminate in a proposal to characterize the use
of traditional colorance in Japanese prints.
Hopefully, the proposal will help guide conservators making decisions
about the exhibition, storage, and treatment of Japanese prints,
as many colorance are so altered
by moisture solvents, alkalinity, and light.
And the research also gave me an opportunity to work
with a preservation, with preservation scientist Lim Brastoff
from the preservation testing and research division, excuse me,
preservation, research, and testing division here at the Library
to analyze the colorance in the Ki Anaga print using x-ray fluorescents
and raman spectroscopy to confirm the accuracy
of the preliminary colorant identifications.
In here Lynn is pictured
with Cynthia Carnes [assumed spelling] a paper conservator
and one of my internship supervisors.
During my time here at the Library, I've also become a member
of the Image Documentation Committee,
where I'm helping create protocols for ultraviolet
and infrared digital imaging in the conservation division,
and my participation in the committee,
as well as the imaging focus of my research, are a direct result
of the knowledge I gained in examination
The Library has allowed me to gain experience in the preparation
of objects for exhibition and storage
through creating housing solution, and it's also introduced me
to methods of disaster response, such as the recovery
of mold infested music scores.
The third year internship is a pivotal experience
of a Buffalo program, and interning at the Library
of Congress has been an incredible opportunity,
from working with the diverse collections to collaborating
with the extremely knowledgeable conservators,
scientists, and curators.
So I would just like to thank Diane Van deren
and the conservation division for inviting me to speak
and for this opportunity here at the Library, thank you.
[ Clapping ]
>> Well, I think we've come a long way since the count
and the cape [laughing] swooping through.
Does anyone have any questions for any of our speakers?
I think they've done a lovely job explaining the scope and depth
of training that has a long history in our field, and where we're going
in the future and how the Library can help with that.
We have a number of former graduates from those programs with us today,
so I don't know if any of them want to share any of their experiences,
Marianne Darte [assumed spelling] is with us,
and Sarah Stouterman [assumed spelling]
and am I missing someone else who said, oh yes, I'm sorry.
>> [Inaudible]   >> Yes, right, at the Smithsonian,
Beth retired at the [inaudible] line from the Smithsonian.
Any questions?   Yes, yes Sarah?
>> So where do you think textiles may fall at Buffalo,
do you think that they'll end up in the cellulosic area
or are they going to end up in the inorganic objects or are they going
to maybe be in the, in the paintings area?
>> Patrick can you come up and answer that
and restate it for the [inaudible]
>> The, the question is, where will textiles fit in.
Well actually textiles will probably be in the organic section
of objects, and but, you know, the thing about works is they come
and go, you know, so cellulosic, you know, it's very much like paper,
so Judy would have her, you know, two cents worth,
as well as Jonathon, as well as Ruth, Ruth Norton that comes in,
one of our guest speakers and comes for, you know, to teach,
so it will fit, there is a place for textiles, yes.
[ Background noise ]
>> [Inaudible] I know you're not an economist,
and you're not soup sayer, but in terms of the graduate programs
in conservation and just looking at the changes going on
and higher education in economy and that sort of thing,
how are the programs handling
like new direction in digital preservation?
The programs are, for the most part, looking at, in materials,
so how does digital preservation fit in to your plan?
>> Okay, I'll restate it, hopefully, I'll restate it properly,
and that is basically how are we looking at digital,
the aspect of digital and the preservation of information,
and what are the, or what is Buffalo State doing with that.
This is an area that's really, really interesting,
and I think this part of the Mellon Foundation
to enhance library archives and conservation program,
we're looking at that in terms of preservation strategies,
and we have a series of lectures that we'll be coming in for that,
but really that's a very unique aspect, you have,
not only do you have the electronic information, you know,
the electrons that you want to save in a particular order,
but you also have the materials of where the electrons are being held,
be it a digital disk, or be it a magnetic media,
so I think it's an interesting issue of preserving the information,
but also preserving the material that the information resides in,
so if there's a material aspect, as well as the,
I'll call it the information aspect, or the more, shall we say,
intangible aspect that is held by the material,
and I think we can provide a lot information in the material,
and with the Mellon Grant, we are looking at, hopefully,
bridging that information technology and the management
of the information and preservation, long-term preservation.
That's the best I can do right now.   >> Patrick I'll be there next week,
I'll do that [inaudible] contribution.
>> Good, good, thank you.
>> Looking forward to doing that and will be, as a paper conservator,
and working with Diane Van deren at the Smithsonian, [inaudible ]
I'm worried about that day as a natural outgrowth
of what I already learned at Buffalo, and I think there's room
for students who are interested in that
to develop and grow in that area.
But information, but I think you summed up, materials and strategies
for information technology are [inaudible]
>> And that, it's a big push, there's quite a bit
in the digital format, the electronic format that we need
to look at, otherwise it could be,
basically the dark ages, if we lose it all.
I think the Mellon Foundation is quite interested in that aspect
as well, and that's part of the reason
for them supporting the enhancement
in library archives and conservation.
[ Silence ]
>> And the library actually does have a program looking
at the material substrates whenever we're dealing
with machine dependent material, as opposed to just machine readable,
microfilm is machine readable, but tapes
and discs are all machine dependent, it is an extraordinary challenge,
because not only are you dealing with the primary source material,
the substrate, but you're also dealing with how to access it
through various types of machines and I think Patrick,
and what Sarah said, is absolutely accurate,
that it becomes a management strategy in terms of migration
and emulation and all of these other things,
which in the end are quite a unknown cost, so it is an interesting,
we're in a period of transition and it's exciting, and challenging,
and scary in a lot of ways.
If there are no other questions, nothing else,
then, oh yes, yes, please.   [ Inaudible ]
>> Okay, the question is the physical nature of library
and archives conservation.
Yes, we do have a program that brings in Jim Reid Cunningham,
whose a book conservator at the Athenaeum, he comes basically
on a Wednesday evening, three items a semester and he stays
through Saturday, so the kids, sorry our graduate students.
[Laughing]   >> [Laughing]
>> Get an intensive program in book structure, and I mean,
not only historical book structure, but also making models,
identifying different issues and different features,
in a sense modern structures like primary events and then you kind
of can dress them up to look like decorative events so they give kind
of the structures and the materials and one
of the things Judy has noticed is that, for crying out loud,
Jim's budget is more than I have, so she comes to me and says, look,
I need to buy parchment or I need to buy leather,
and you know how expensive those things are, but yes we deal
with the materials, modern, the historic, so students do get
that experience on campus.
Hopefully, many of them had already had experience in book binding
so it's not really bringing them up, you know the ground level up,
but if that needs to be done, it can be done.
We have the facilities and we have the support right now.
>> This has been a presentation of the Library of Congress.