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Months before the Frosted Windows exhibition opened, all materials in the show were studied by the conservator to ensure that they were in appropriate condition for display. The conservator made sure that the bindings were sound and the pages to be displayed were not torn or soiled. Most items were in good condition; however, a few items needed treatment before they could be safely displayed.

The aim of conservation is to stabilize items in their present condition so that they may be safely used and enjoyed in the future. While a restorer hopes to recreate the appearance of an item when it was first made, a conservator does not try to hide evidence of repair. It should be readily apparently where new material has been added and what changes have been made. Most conservators are members of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic works (http://aic.stanford.edu/) and agree to abide by a strict code of ethics.

Conservators write a detailed report before treating an item. The report describes how the item looks at the present time and also notes the condition of the item. The report should be accompanied by slides or photographs that provide a visual picture of damage before treatment and the changes made to the item after treatment.

Here are two examples of items treated for the Frosted Windows exhibit:


before treatment one

after treatment one

before treatment two

after treatment two

 Magnitskii, Leontii Filippovich. Arifmetika. [Russia], 1713
This book had been previously mended in a manner that did not allow for the easy flexing of the pages. Heavy western paper had been applied in wide strips to cover damage and tears. These inappropriate mends were removed with moisture and replaced with less invasive repairs. Tears and areas of loss were mended individually with Japanese paper and wheat starch paste. Japanese paper is often used for conservation mending because it is strong and thin with long fibers. It can be toned with acrylics to blend in with the color of the paper. Wheat starch paste is a good adhesive choice because it may be reactivated in water; therefore, these repairs are usually reversible should they need to be removed in the future.


before treatment one

after treatment one

before treatment one

after treatment one

Chappe d'Auteroche, abbé. Voyage en Sibérie, vol. 1. Paris: Debure, pere, 1768.
The covers of this volume were detached. In order to provide support for the book during exhibition, the covers were reattached by a method called board tacketing. In this technique, loops of thread extend from the text of the book, exiting on the spine near the shoulders, and extend onto the boards in order to attach them to the textblock. The leather along the spine edge of the boards was lifted so the pieces of thread could be hidden under the leather. Strips of Japanese paper dyed to match were adhered in the gap between the boards and the spine to add strength to the tackets. Additional strips of Japanese paper were toned blue in order to blend in with the blue endpapers and were adhered along the inside joints of the book . The color was chosen to be sympathetic with the endpapers but was designed not to match exactly so the repair would be apparent to future users and conservators.

Whitney Baker
April 2003
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