Preservation Blog
Internship Report: Lyudmyla Bua
As a pre-program art conservation student, the prospect of traveling across the country to be under the tutelage of Kristen St. John at the UCLA Library Conservation Center [LCC] was thrilling. Before starting any projects, I was able to have a conversation with Kristen regarding what I was hoping to achieve from this internship. My objective was to further enhance my understanding of treatments of ephemeral materials, as well as to learn basic treatments for book conservation. Outside of treatments, I also wanted to learn how to make various enclosures for future storage of objects. Kristen made sure I fulfilled my goals and so much more. Before starting treatment, I read articles, wrote condition reports, and photo-documented to get to know the object.
During my first few weeks at the LCC, Kristen introduced me to the Minasian Collection of Persian and Arabic Manuscripts that included a large number of church, government, and legal documents dating from 16th to 19th centuries. Because of my strong interests in paper and book conservation, working on Persian and Arabic documents provided me with greater understanding of the treatment process, from initial observation and writing condition reports to going over treatment options and how to choose appropriate treatments for various documents from the collection.
I chose five documents that I felt will challenge me with a variety of paper supports and textures, as well as treatments, such as heavily sized and burnished papers to documents that were printed on machine made paper. One such object stood out in particular appeared to be a Persian decree from the 18th century. It had black ink letterpress type-set on very thin, heavily discolored, brown paper with heavy glue accretions on its verso – perhaps from being adhered to another backing of some sort in the past – as well as several large tears and losses. This object caught my attention due to its accretions. I wanted to learn how to remove them without harming the fragile document, which required a comprehension of washing and resizing treatments, followed by appropriate mending. After I completed reading articles on treatments, I proposed to Kristen my recommended treatment for the object. I was especially excited about this treatment because I was going to add sizing to the document after washing it, a procedure that I have not encountered from my previous internships.
Throughout the internship at the LCC, I encountered some differences and similarities between treatments conducted at a library archival conservation and museum fine art conservation labs. One treatment that stood out in particular at the LCC was the resizing of ephemeral materials. Once the subject came up I realized that I have not come across this procedure at the institutions and private practices I interned. When I spoke to Kristen about it, I came to a conclusion that since a library treats a lot of archival materials, adding size strengthens the paper for future handling of the object and puts back some of the sizing material that might have washed away. Kristen provided me with reading materials that familiarized me with the subject enough to pick the resizing technique I thought best suited the document before any treatment began.
This subject piqued my interest and propelled me to contact paper art conservators from my previous internships. I emailed them, questioning the procedure. Specifically asking, how often are paper objects resized after a wash, and since I did not come across this practice at my other internships, is it a common practice in museum conservation labs. I received answers from a private practice paper conservator, as well as conservators working at different museums. From this brief survey I was able to deduce that adding size to paper was seldom preformed at fine art institutions. Fine art paper objects are often put away and do not get handled as much as the archival library objects. Thus, usually there is no need to add size to paper. One art conservator from a private practice mentioned she considers sizing paper project specific. She takes into consideration quality of paper, age, and the type of object it is – document or fine art – usually very weak and brittle documents required resizing after washing and cleaning. Although these results are not conclusive, due to a small group of people who were questioned, in conclusion it made me question the conservation practices of different lab environments.
While interning at the LCC, I spent one week at the Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens Conservation Lab, where I completed three projects and visited its beautiful gardens. Although it was brief, it was exciting!
Under the supervision of a paper conservator Jessamy Gloor, the first project involved a treatment of an early 19th century Currier and Ives print, from which I gained my first experience in removing pressure sensitive tape. The second project involved making a model of a limp paper case binding under the tutelage of a bookbinder Anna Shepard, as it is sometimes used in conservation. The final project involved Pest Management, although apprehensive, it is a very important procedure. It was not my first time conducting a Pest Management. However this time, instead of just identifying the insects, I collected traps with a fellow paper conservator Annie Wilker, which we later identified and input the information into a database. All three projects involved learning something new and gave me a chance to see how another library conservation lab functions. Even though the Huntington Conservation Lab treatments include library collections, the institution as a whole has a lot of exhibition space that displays fine art works on paper in addition to other objects.
The following week at the LCC I worked on encapsulating music manuscript folios from the Rouse and Hathaway Collections for safe storage and handling. I was able to apply a template formerly designed by previous intern Oriana Calman on the group of manuscript leaves. Douglas Mac Lennan, intern in the Summer of 2010, provides a thorough overview of the procedure in his internship report.
The folios were enclosed in melinex, which were sealed using the Polyester Encapsulation System that utilizes ultrasonic frequency. The enclosures created easy access, as well as provide safe housing. Next, the encapsulated manuscript folios were bound using the post-binding technique in total of three volumes. Learning to make post-bindings taught me the importance of precision measurement and challenged me by working in large format.
My final assignment at the LCC was to learn how to complete a reback of three books with the help of Kristen and Wil Lin. Prior to treatment, Kristen made sure I read about the necessary steps before handling a book in need of a treatment. The experience was both challenging and rewarding. As I was learning the techniques and the steps I was also able to approach each book in a slightly different way. After refining my skills on two books from the general circulation, I felt ready to take on the challenge on working on a special collections book. This book was taken out of general circulation and deemed to be rare because it was the first printing in 1907 of the travels by Gertrude Lowthian Bell in Syria called “Syria The Desert and The Sown.” After concluding the treatments of all three books, I gained skills and confidence in completing a reback.
As my internship rolled to its end, I realized the past eight weeks have gone by very quickly. The experience I received at the UCLA Library Conservation Center and the Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens Conservation Lab has been very rewarding professionally and personally. I have made cherished new acquaintances and friendships that guided me through each project, which made the internship one of the best learning experiences I have ever had.