Preservation Services at Dartmouth College: A Cavalcade of Cartoonists

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

A Cavalcade of Cartoonists

On Friday, March 4th, Preservation Services had quite a collection of visitors. Candidates from the Master's Program at The Center for Cartoon Studies (CCS) were invited to participate in a Book Arts Workshop created just for them to focus specifically on binding suggestions and techniques that could be applied to their Thesis Packaging that is due in May.

Since I am both a member of the Preservation Services staff and a Cartoonist at CCS, I wanted to bridge the gap between the two and give my classmates (and co-workers) a big treat. As community members we, the Cartoonists, have often attended the Letterpress and Bindery Studio workshops but because there is a limit to how many can participate at a given time, we have to stagger our visits and don't always make the cut, strictly due to space. But here in Preservation Services, we could happily fit all 10 of the participating Cartoonists and give one on one feedback more tailored to combining comics and book binding.

So with the aid of some creative carpooling, and collaborative curriculum planning, I met a group of excited Cartoonists at the Baker Information desk at 10am. After a brief tour and some introductions, there was no time to waste. Deborah Howe began to produce example after example to give just a small taste of the endless possibilities awaiting each Cartoonist's Thesis.

Then we jumped right in to a multi-signature pamphlet stitch.

Jon Chad, Faculty at CCS, uses a jig to puncture his signatures.

Two tables full of Cartoonists sewing their signatures!

Ben Horak (left) and Josh Kramer (right) giggle about starting a 'Book Binding for Men' club.

Betsey Swardlick completes her second kettle stitch, nice and tight!

Stephanie Wolff (right) helps Lawrence Derks line up his signatures.

Lena Chandok (right) starts folding her cover, while Andy Christensen (left) makes sure he's doing it right!

Cartoonists look on as Deborah Howe (far left) scores her cover lightning fast!

Gluing book cloth requires a LOT of concentration!

"I did good!"

Thanks Dartmouth College Library's Preservation Services!

Written by Beth Hetland

No comments:

Post a Comment

Contributors

Deborah Howe Is the Collections Conservator at Dartmouth College Library. She's been involved in the book community for over 20 years. She is a member of the Guild of Book Workers and teaches classes in the Book Arts program.

Ryland Ianelli Is a cartoonist and Project Specialist in the Dartmouth Preservation Services department. He graduated from Reed College with a BA in Art History in 2008 and, more recently, from the Center for Cartoon Studies with an MFA in Cartooning in 2010. In addition to his work in Preservation and the Digital Production Unit, he is currently drawing and writing for various independently published comics and anthologies.

Barb Sagraves has been head of Preservation Services since its creation in 1995. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan SLIS program, has an MA in Medieval History from Michigan State University, and a BA in History from the University of Oklahoma. In her role as department head, Barb has overall responsibility for the preservation program and policies at Dartmouth College Library and is in charge of the Book Arts Program.

Jenny Mullins has been the Digital Preservation Librarian for Dartmouth College Library since May of 2014. Prior to coming to Dartmouth, she preserved video and audio collections, helped build a digital repository and worked in book and paper conservation labs. Jenny is a member of ALA and co-chair of the Preservation Metadata Interest Group for 2015-17.