Preservation Services at Dartmouth College: The Results Are In:

Tuesday, May 29, 2018

The Results Are In:

In January and February of 2018, we hosted Amelia Miller, from Bennington College, for her Field Work Term: http://www.bennington.edu/academics/field-work-term.

In such a short time Amelia learned the essentials of what we do here in the conservation lab as well as fold in some special projects. She was trained as other Dartmouth students are trained by learning pamphlet binding, reinforced covers, spine repair, wrappers and boxes.

Amelia's hand skills were proficient, her work neat and she learned quickly. Needless to say, she got a lot of work done. In addition to the general repairs, I also taught her the basics of a case binding, some non-adhesive structures and a variety of enclosures.


Amelia showing her set of completed book repairs.

We went on two field trips, one to Carolyn Frisa in Bellows Falls, VT, where she has a paper conservation studio: http://www.worksonpaperconservation.com/index.html and the other to Shelburne Museum conservation studio in Shelburne, VT https://shelburnemuseum.org/.


In the conservation studio at the Shelburne Museum

Having an intern provides an impetus to reach out and explore other areas of conservation both a learning experience for the full-time staff and as an informative venture for the intern.

Amelia's first corrugated clam shell box.


A large wrapper with padded insides.

Housing an artist book.

Amelia and her half style case bound book.

All in all it was a great experience to host a student for Bennington College's Field Work Term, and I would recommend it for anyone who is able to offer such an opportunity for interested students.

Written by Deborah Howe

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.