Conservation

by Kelli Piotrowski and Anne McLain Lately, we’ve all been charmed by this striking vernacular binding on a 1614 first edition of Bouquet Sacré (346 Boucher *) held by the Harvard Divinity School Library. Written by the Franciscan priest and theologian...

by Susi Barbarossa Susi Barbarossa is a Senior Conservation Technician for Special Collections. She builds and creates exhibit supports for many of the items on display in Houghton Library.   Our team not only performs conservation treatment on Harvard...

Amanda Maloney is a collections conservator working at the Weissman Preservation center. She specializes in paper and photographic materials. What led you to this job/the field?  In high school and college, I enjoyed processing my own gelatin silver and...

Anne McLain is a conservation technician working in the Collections Care lab at Widener Library. What led you to this job/the field?  A lifelong love of books and being made aware of the bookbinding program at the North Bennet Street School. I also had...

What led you to this job/the field? After majoring in art history, I wanted a career that was art-related in some way. I happened across the field of conservation and dipped my toe in with a few workshops and short internships. Then I completed the two...

Sent through the laundry. Torn by paper-clips. Eaten by insects. Bitten by a dog. Dog-eared to death. These are just some of the ways that books can be damaged, as seen on a recent afternoon at the Weissman Preservation Center. Students in “Texts in...

by Erin L. Murphy, James Needham Chief Conservator Weissman Preservation Center and Collections Care Twenty-five years ago, a visionary initiative was set in motion by the late Jan Merrill-Oldham, then Head of Preservation, and Harvard College alumni Paul...

Recently, a manuscript of Aristotle’s Politica, rhetorica et magna moralia (MS Lat 39) , was in the Weissman Preservation Center lab for treatment in preparation for exhibition at Houghton Library . This manuscript is on view as of Monday, January 27 th...

The attic classroom at the Museum of Comparative Zoology with some of the teaching charts in use, 1892. From the MCZ collection. Staff at the Weissman Preservation Center have been treating and rehousing a superb collection of teaching charts from the...

I feel massively privileged to have had the opportunity to intern with EDIBA and the library Conservation/Preservation teams at Harvard, especially with my lack of experience in that particular field. Before my time with EDIBA, I had a few years of...