Lifelong Learning

Stephanie Wolff, Assistant Conservator, leaves Dartmouth as of July 31.  We will miss our colleague and friend but before she left she gifted us all with a final (and as always with Stephanie) educational blog post.

Farewell Stephanie! Don't be a stranger!

As I’ve worked in the fields of bookbinding and conservation colleagues have been generous in sharing knowledge and techniques. Not only in person, through conferences, workshops, and conversations, but by way of handouts, journal articles, blog posts, and videos. Over the years I have collected these kinds of resources (books included) to further my skills and knowledge. They range from websites to photocopies to simple drawn diagrams and sketches I’ve made while at an exhibition. These collected resources help expand my knowledge and allow me to try new techniques on my own.

While working here in the conservation lab at Dartmouth I gathered a notebook full of helpful techniques and other book and conservation resources. Here I’ve listed some of the ones that are available online in hopes they may prove useful to others as well. Included is a link to Peter Verheyen’s wonderful bookbinding bibliography for even more resources.

To all those who have shares their knowledge so generously, thank you.


The Guild of Book Workers - Go to Resources, then Handouts to find a variety of wonderful material, including the ones listed here.

Anderson, Jennifer. “Cloth Covered Book Cradles.” Abbey Newsletter. Volume 17, Number 7, December 1993.

Baird, Brian and Mick Letourneaux. “Treatment 305: A Collections Conservation Approach to Rebinding.” The Book and Paper Group Annual. AIC. Volume Thirteen, 1994.

Barrios, Pamela. “A Method for Reblocking Modern Books.” The Bonefolder. Volume 4, Number 1, Fall 2007. p. 35.

Cullhed, Per. “The 5-Minute Phase Box.” The Abbey Newsletter. Volume 24, Number 2, October 2000.

Eldridge, Betsy Palmer. Stitches and Sewings for Bookbinding Structures. GBW and CBBAG, 2008.

Espinosa, Robert and Pamela Barrios. “Joint Tacketing: A Method of Board Reattachment.” The Book and Paper Group Annual. AIC. Volume Ten, 1991.

Etherington, Don. “Japanese Paper Hinge Repair for Loose Boards on Leather Books.” Abbey Newsletter. Volume 19, Number 3, August 1995.

Kellar, Scott. “The Inserted Flange Case Binding Structure for Rebinding Heavy Folios Without Leather.” The Abbey Newsletter. Volume 7, Number 6, Dec 1983.

Kellar, Scott. “The Laced Limp Paper Binding.” The Abbey Newsletter. Volume 6, Number 1, Feb 1982.

Krupp, Andrea. “The Library Company’s Corrugated Clamshell Box.” The Abbey Newsletter. Volume 15, Number 6, October 1991.

Kyle, Hedi. Handout from the presentation: Wunderkabinette: Architectural Book Environments (includes Preservation Enclosures: Wrappers, Boxes, Slipcases, Folders, as well as other inventive structures), 2005.

Minter, William. “Spiral Bindings in Hardcover: An Alternative to Rebinding.” The Abbey Newsletter. Volume 21, Number 5, 1997.

Rebsamen, Werner. “Gebrochener Ruecken (Shaped Spine Case-Binding Techniques).” The Abbey Newsletter. Volume 11 Number 3, April 1987.

Smith, Wendy. “The Ferguson Slipcase.” The Abbey Newsletter. Volume 13, Number 5, September 1989.

Syracuse University Libraries: Department of Special Collections, Conservation Lab Treatment Manual Series. Information on Conservation Recase, Molded Paper Spine Binding, Paper Spine for Thin Volumes, Phase Boxes, Corrugated Board Clamshell Box 

Verheyen, Peter D. German Case (Bradel) Binding, Originally published 2002, re-written with new illustrations 2006. Published in Skin Deep, Volume 22 - Fall 2006.

Verheyen, Peter D. Bookbinding Bibliography.

Written by Stephanie Wolff

Merging Images in Photoshop, Part Two

While my first post in this series covered some basics of non-destructive image merging in Adobe Photoshop, this post aims to give you some tools to work with less ideal images.

A typical problem faced by many when attempting to merge images is how to deal with slight variations in your materials. These variations can be a result of the hardware you use (scanner or camera), lighting conditions, software, or a myriad other factors.

In this scenario I'll use an image from a scanned book that has a lighting problem. This is a very common difficulty when scanning books on a flatbed; the book's gutter will raise up from the scanner's surface, giving it a darker tone and distorting the content. Applying pressure to the book may work sometimes, but often we do not want to risk damaging our books (or, worst-case-scenario, our equipment) that way. Much safer to work digitally.

The first step is identifying the cutoff point where the gutter begins to negatively affect image quality. As you can see from this image. As always, make sure you've saved a master version before making any edits. 

Use the Rectangle Marquee tool to isolate the "safe zone" of the page, where the page's content is mostly unaffected by the gutter. Copy this selection and paste it into a new document with approximately the same dimensions as the original document. This is our new "base" document. I will usually put the word "EDIT" in its title somewhere so it won't be mistaken for the master.

In situations like this when we are dealing with an off-white paper, we'll want to make sure our background matches the paper's tone. Use the Eyedropper tool to select the page tone, and use the paint bucket to fill it in the background of the new base document.

What we are going to do next is create an amalgam of the image's two elements (page and background) to create a new version with improved legibility. To accomplish this we are going to use Photoshop's Layer Mask tool. Layer Mask is incredibly useful for photo editing, and best of all it is a non-destructive solution, meaning whatever you do with it can always be easily undone. The Layer Mask is very much what it sounds like: a layer placed on top of each image that can be "masked" or "unmasked," concealing or revealing the image's contents. Select the right side layer and click "Add Layer Mask" at the bottom of the Layer menu. You will now see a small white rectangle linked to that layer; that's your layer mask. The color white means "unmasked," so right now it's simply sitting on top of your original layer waiting for you to give it instructions.

Next, be sure you have the correct layer, AND your layer mask selected, or else you will alter the image itself. The Layer Mask functions in grayscale. Black is "masked," white is "unmasked," and grays are everything in between. Set your foreground color to black. Select the brush tool, and reduce the hardness to 0 (use whatever diameter you feel comfortable with). Check again to make sure you're still on your layer mask, and simply begin lightly touching up the problem spots along the gutter with your brush. Use single clicks rather than click-and-drag, that way you will make very minor adjustments while you get a feel for the technique.

As you can see, we've fixed the page to appear legible and flat. But be warned, this exact method won't work for every situation. If you have content that is deep in the book's gutters, you will likely have to accept a less-than-perfect image. However these techniques can still be used to improve the image quality in those situations, it is simply more difficult to get a "perfect" image. Vary your brush settings and color in the Layer Mask (experiment using a 50% grayscale) to find solutions that best suit your situation.

Written by Ryland Ianelli

Kress Conservation Fellowship

Dartmouth Iconography Collection:

Portrait of Daniel Webster needing the outside case

repaired and possible stabilization of photo.

I am pleased to announce, on behalf of Preservation Services, that we are a recipient of a Kress Conservation Fellowship.

As quoted from their web site: “The purpose of the Kress Conservation Fellowship program is to provide a wide range of post-graduate fellowship opportunities that will help develop the skills of emerging conservators. At the crossroads of science and art, the fields of conservation and technical art history demand a complex knowledge of chemistry and materials and an extraordinary sensitivity to artistic intent, as well as physical dexterity, patience, and powers of concentration. Initial training, typically at one of a handful of institutions in North America, provides basic qualifications that must be supplemented with an extended period of specialized concentration on paintings, objects, textiles, antiquities, ethnic materials, photographs, prints and drawings, books and manuscripts, furniture, etc. Within a supervised environment, the young conservator develops the specific skills, the hands-on experience, and the confidence on which to base a future career.”

“The Kress Conservation Fellowships provide competitive grants to museums and other conservation facilities which sponsor supervised internships in the conservation of specific objects and onsite training.” This Fellowship has been supported by a grant from the Foundation of the American Institute for Conservation, funded by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation.

For more information: http://www.kressfoundation.org/fellowships/conservation/

Our application was submitted with a proposed fellow, Tessa Gadomski, who recently graduated with a Master of Science in Art Conservation from the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation, University of Delaware with a major in Library and Archives Materials. Along with this degree, she has also completed a Certificate of Advanced Study in Preservation from Simmons College, Graduate School of Library and Information Science. Tessa’s first day will be the 8^th of September, 2014.

Dartmouth Iconography Collection:

Acidic mat needing to be removed from water

color painting.

The primary focus for Tessa will be to address conservation needs of Rauner’s Iconography collection. This collection within Special Collections has over 1,300 cataloged items that include printed images, glass slides, original art on paper and other media, photographs, albums and digital files. There are documents that are part of the College Archives but it also includes several of the other collecting areas including the White Mountains, Daniel Webster and Robert Frost. A particularly significant subcategory of the collection is focused on the history of Polar exploration and the majority of its images relate to Dartmouth College and New Hampshire history. 

Dartmouth Iconography Collection:

Negatives of Dartmouth and New Hampshire needing rehousing 

and assessment.

Tessa will be at Dartmouth for a full year, concluding her Fellowship in August of 2015.

Written by Deborah Howe

Digital Preservation Reading List

One of the challenges of learning about digital preservation can be finding good information on the subject. When I was just starting to learn about the field, one of my research strategies was to find syllabi for graduate courses in digital curation and copy the course reading lists. I found a lot of great resources that way (and many thanks to the professors who made their syllabi publicly available online). In order to help make it easier for others to find good sources of information, here are some of my top resources on the topic of digital preservation:

Digital Preservation Management: Implementing Short-term Strategies for Long-term Problems
This tutorial created by the ICPSR is a fantastic, incredibly detailed breakdown of the issues involved in digital preservation. It covers major concerns, foundational documents, and explains how institutions can plan and build a sustainable long-term digital preservation program.

Digital Preservation Handbook
Published by the Digital Preservation Coalition, this handbook gives a broad overview of issues and strategies surrounding digital preservation. It has sections specifically intended for non-specialist target audiences (such as institutional administrators) with content that could easily be pulled and used to advocate for digital preservation initiatives.

DCC Curation Lifecycle Model
This model (in graphic, colorful format!) demonstrates how digital materials can and should be managed over the course of their lifecycles, from creation onward. It can help explain why digital preservation is always an ongoing management process, not just a one-time event. It also highlights the various levels of involvement, from identifying and describing the bits to community-based review and assessment of concerns and solutions.

The Digital Curation and Preservation Bibliography (2010)
This massive resource, available in an open-access PDF version, provides a comprehensive list of publications on digital preservation issues. The contents are arranged by categories such as formats, metadata, and policy. If you’re looking for a reading list that will keep you busy from now until the end of time, this is your one-stop shop for all things digital preservation.

While those resources are great comprehensive overviews, it's also nice to gather information about digital preservation in smaller, bite-sized pieces. To that end, here are some of my favorite recent blog posts relating to digital preservation:

• Video Preservation
• Domain Name Persistence
• Truth, Justice, and the "Authenticity" Way
• Supporting Open Source Tools for Digital Preservation and Access
• Hashing Out Digital Trust

Written by Helen Bailey.