A Summer at the Weissman Preservation Center

Hello everyone! My name is Mia Bloss, and I am a second year student in the MA Conservation of Fine Arts (Works on Paper) program at Northumbria University in the United Kingdom. This summer, I spent ten exciting weeks working alongside Harvard Library Preservation Services’ team of conservators at the Weissman Preservation Center. 

One of the most invigorating aspects of my work this summer was having the opportunity to participate in ongoing projects and treat a vast variety of media, substrates, and formats of paper and paper-like objects. I’d like to share two of the projects I worked on: 

1) I completed treatment of six medieval and early modern parchment documents from the Harvard Law School Library’s English Deeds Collection. The entire collection of 1000+ deeds is being digitized and our goal was to stabilize vulnerable elements and reduce unintentional creases to make all writing visible. The treatment involved gentle localized humidification and flattening, mending tears and losses with conservation-grade materials, and stabilizing fractured and crumbling wax seals. In the end, following rehousing into protective folders and sleeves, the treated deeds are much less vulnerable to damage while handling and the information they provide is easier to read. 

2) Two 19th century fabric-backed zoological teaching charts from the Ernst Mayr Library of the Museum of Comparative Zoology were challenging to treat; they needed to be unrolled for treatment prior to imaging for digital access and then re-rolled for improved storage in new custom boxes. Before treatment, this rolling movement had worsened tenting and tearing in the paper. I created double-layered Asian paper strips that carefully coaxed the tented areas into a flatter, stronger condition. With the damage mitigated, the chart could then be safely handled by photographers for imaging. 

One of my favorite components of my time with Harvard Libraries was participating in conservation reviews at libraries across campus, during which I tested and improved my ability to formulate and communicate conservation recommendations to curators and librarians. I learned how to better advocate for a fragile book, poster, or manuscript’s needs. 

I am incredibly grateful for my time spent at the Weissman Preservation Center. Working in a library setting has reminded me how conservation both protects the object and provides a crucial service to students, scholars, and others interested in both the physical objects and the contents. Learning how to treat different materials and work at scale was a welcome challenge, and I have learned a lot in just ten short weeks. Thank you to Eliza Spaulding and the rest of Harvard Libraries for being incredibly welcoming and generous! I am delighted to take this experience with me into my future paper conservation career.