1990-1991

An exhibition, “Slow Fires” in Harvard’s Libraries, was displayed in several Harvard libraries. Organized by Carolyn Morrow and Elaine Benfatto, its content was adapted into an appendix to Preserving Harvard’s Retrospective Collections.²³⁶

1990-1991

A Harvard task group assessed the viability of mass deacidification procedures. Harvard subsequently signed a contract with Akzo Chemicals to deacidify an initial 5,000 maps and 4,000 books. Akzo used the diethyl zinc (DEZ) gaseous deacidification process.²³⁷

1990-1991

Stephen L. Womack, while an employee in the Widener stacks, mutilated hundreds of books on the library shelves. He was arrested in 1994 and convicted in 1996, receiving the maximum sentence of seven to ten years. Sidney Verba, Director of the University Library, referred to him as “a library terrorist.”²³⁸

1991

Houghton hired a part-time in-house conservator. In 1992, Houghton began to use the services of the HUL/HCL Conservation Laboratory. As of 1993-1994, nine contract conservators did work for Houghton.²³⁹

1992

Harvard opened a Conservation Laboratory in the Massachusetts State Archives at Columbia Point. This laboratory was designed specifically for treating materials from Harvard’s special collections. The Columbia Point location was temporary, and the laboratory soon moved to Cambridge. A grant from Edwin A. Malloy supported the first years of the Conservation Laboratory.²⁴⁰

1992

The Woodberry Poetry Room regularly treated and remastered recordings on fragile media (glass-coated disks, acetate tapes) in its audio laboratory.²⁴¹

1992-1993

The HUL Preservation Office developed a methodology to conduct condition surveys on research collections.²⁴²

December 1993

In addition to book checkers situated at library exits, HCL installed electronic book tags and security gates. In 1995, a full-time security officer was hired to keep track of unusual patterns in the libraries of Harvard College. This meant that Harvard’s many libraries were now more likely to share information about suspicious behaviors or discoveries.²⁴³

1992-1994

Akzo Chemicals continued to oversee deacidification of 10,000 books and 16,000 maps from Harvard. The closing of Akzo’s deacidification facility in 1994 led the HUL Preservation Office to investigate other processes (Battelle and BookKeeper).²⁴⁴

1993-1994

Houghton renovated its HVAC system.²⁴⁵

July 1994

Carolyn Morrow resigned her position as Malloy-Rabinowitz Preservation Librarian.²⁴⁶

1994-1995

The HUL Preservation Center was consolidated so that administrative and conservation staff would work from a single facility at 59 Plympton Street.²⁴⁷

1994-1996

The Widener Judaica Division digitized thousands of Israeli posters for the joint purposes of access and preservation. Microfilm had been considered inadequate for the project, because many of the posters were large and colorful. An image database provided the solution. The original posters could be stored in improved conditions at the Harvard Depository. David Moore advised on this project.²⁴⁸

1994-1996

Jose Torres-Carbonnel stole rare books and razored plates from books in Widener and the Fine Arts Library. He had access to the libraries because he was married to a Harvard graduate student. Arrested in June 25, 1996, he confessed and was indicted. Most materials were recovered. Conservation and re-cataloging of the mutilated materials took four years—which was longer than Torres-Carbonnel’s prison sentence.²⁴⁹

1995

The National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) provided a grant to preserve and provide access to daguerreotypes from Harvard/Radcliffe collections. Building on a condition survey from the previous year, conservators treated and re-housed many daguerreotypes. More daguerreotypes were photographed in preparation for reformatting.²⁵⁰

April 1995

Jan Merrill-Oldham was appointed Malloy-Rabinowitz Preservation Librarian. In the following years, the HCL Preservation & Imaging Department and the HUL Preservation Center expanded library preservation services at Harvard.²⁵¹

January 1996

Following a flood, the HUL Preservation Center moved from 59 Plympton Street to the eighth floor of Holyoke Center. Its staff members provided conservation services for rare books, manuscripts, photographs, and other special collections.²⁵²

July 1996

An “early-intervention” program was added to the HCL conservation plan. A workstation was installed in Widener for the performance of minor repairs on items that were only slightly damaged. Circulation would hasten damage, and performing minor repairs early would save the time needed for major repairs in the future.²⁵³

1997

HCL Photographic Services was renamed Imaging Services to reflect its expansion into digital reformatting.²⁵⁴

1997

A book that was on loan from the Harvard library at the time of the 1764 fire was re-purchased for Harvard. It was the third volume of The Complete History of England with the Lives of All the Kings and Queens Thereof.²⁵⁵

March 1997

A Preservation Center website launched. By providing information about guidelines and services, it would be a key tool for librarians and curators at Harvard.²⁵⁶

1997-1998

A new, expanded Conservation Laboratory opened in Widener. HCL Conservation Services treated the College Library’s research collections—by repairing books and creating protective enclosures, for example. The organization of the new facility and the hiring of talented technicians led to an increase in productivity over the next years.²⁵⁷

1997-1998

A workshop about the handling of wet books was presented to staff from the HCL Preservation Services and the HUL Preservation Center.²⁵⁸

1998-1999

The HUL Preservation Center established the Library Collections Emergency Team, a group of preservation librarians and conservators that staffed a 24-hour hotline in order to respond quickly to emergencies in the library collections. In the following years, the team expanded and came to include staff from both the HUL Preservation Center and HCL Preservation Services.²⁵⁹

References

²³⁶ “Exhibitions,” Harvard University Library Annual Report 1990-1991 (1992): 27.

²³⁷ “Preserving Harvard’s Retrospective Collections,” 53; “Preservation,” Harvard University Library Annual Report 1991-1992 (1993): 16; Harvard University Library Preservation Center, Annual Report: FY 1992 (1992), 1; Harvard University Library Preservation Office, “Mass Deacidification in the Harvard University Library: A Report on the 1991/92 Pilot Operational Program”; available from http://cool.conservation-us.org/byorg//harvard/harvdeac.html; Internet; accessed 2 October 2009.

²³⁸ Marvin Hightower, “Destroyer of Books Gets Stiff Sentence,” Harvard University Gazette, 28 March 1996.

²³⁹ Roger E. Stoddard, “The Houghton Library, 1991-1993,” Harvard Library Bulletin New Series 4, no. 4 (1993-4): 5.

²⁴⁰ “Pickwoad and Morse are Harvard’s New Conservators,” Abbey Newsletter 16, no. 6 (1992); Sidney Verba, “Report of the Director,” Harvard University Library Annual Report 1992-1993 (1994): 14.

²⁴¹ Stratis Haviaras, “The Woodberry Poetry Room at Harvard University, 1931-1991,” Harvard Library Bulletin New Series 3, no. 3 (1992): 11.

²⁴² Harvard University Library Preservation Center, Annual Report: FY 1993 (1993), 2.

²⁴³ Hightower, “Destroyer of Books Gets Stiff Sentence.”

²⁴⁴ Harvard University Library Preservation Center, Annual Report: FY 1994 (1994), 2.

²⁴⁵ “The Houghton Library, 1991-1993,” Harvard Library Bulletin New Series 4, no. 4 (1993-4): 5.

²⁴⁶ Harvard University Library Preservation Center, Annual Report: FY 1995 (1995), 1.

²⁴⁷ Ibid.

²⁴⁸ “Among Harvard’s Libraries,” Harvard Library Bulletin New Series 5, no. 4 (1994-1995): 3-9.

²⁴⁹ Shawn Zeller, “Cambridge Man Arraigned on Charges of Stealing Rare Library Books,” Harvard University Gazette, 20 February 1997; Christopher Reed, “Biblioklepts,” Harvard Magazine 99, no. 4 (1997): 38-55; Harvard College Library Preservation & Imaging Department, Annual Report: FY 2000 (2000), 2.

²⁵⁰ Sidney Verba, “Report of the Director,” Harvard University Library Annual Report 1994-1995 (1996): 22; Harvard University Library Preservation Center, Annual Report: FY 1996 (1996), 1-2.

²⁵¹ Sidney Verba, “Report of the Director,” Harvard University Library Annual Report 1994-1995 (1996): 23.

²⁵² Harvard University Library Preservation Center, Annual Report: FY 1996 (1996), 4.

²⁵³ Harvard College Library Preservation & Imaging Department, Annual Report: FY 1997 (1997), 3.

²⁵⁴ Ibid., 1.

²⁵⁵ Jon Marcus, “Long loan allows free ranging,” Times Higher Education, 20 June 1997.

²⁵⁶ Harvard University Library Preservation Center, Annual Report: FY 1997 (1997), 1.

²⁵⁷ Harvard College Library Preservation & Imaging Department, Annual Report: FY 1998 (1998), 1.

²⁵⁸ Harvard College Library Preservation & Imaging Department, Annual Report: FY 1998 (1998), 3.

²⁵⁹ Harvard University Library Preservation Center, Annual Report: FY 1997 (1999), 2-3.