Preservation Services at Dartmouth College: Magic Box

Tuesday, January 30, 2018

Magic Box

A lot of what we do in Preservation Services, especially when it comes to treating the Special Collections at Rauner, is make custom housing. This can mean a box, a wrapper, or some combination thereof. As a conservator, I find engineering custom boxes particularly fun because I am always thinking about how the box can "explain" itself to the library patron. Is it clear how it opens? How to lift out the object? Is it easy enough to put back together? I've drawn diagrams and made labels in the past to make sure that the housing assembly is foolproof.

Recently in the lab, we had a very special "toy" that was a printed scroll depicting the coast of Rhode Island housed in a wooden box. The box had turning knobs which move the scroll across the glass window on two sides.

The way the wooden box was shaped, the knobs, and the glass sides made for an interesting box-making challenge! I ended up choosing to make a box with two sides that drop down (and snap back into place with the help of some strategically placed magnets) with the whole interior lined in volara- an archival foam we use a lot in conservation. I decided just to leave enough room for the wooden turning knobs and not do anything fancy for fear that it would be more harm than help.

The following photos show the box I constructed to house this item. Be sure to visit the object in real life at Rauner in their Realia collection!

Written by Lizzie Curran

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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.