Boxing Our Treasures

This video takes viewers inside the preservation lab at the National Archives where specialists construct custom boxes for items as varied as a Cold War-era pistol and a 1761 Indian treaty. The boxes can be simple, built to house a book — or extremely complex, holding multiple, related items in multi-chambered constructions.

Conservation technician Richard Hnat shows how items are digitally measured and conservation specialist Doug Mcrae shows how those measurements are translated into custom instructions for the Archives’ automated box-making machine. Gail Harriman explains that the materials used to construct housings meet rigid archival standards: acid free, lignin free, high cotton content, etc.

Happy May Day! 

For those of you thinking about romps around the maypole, and cute kids dressed up as May kings and queens, think again. 

MayDay is also a day when archives, libraries, museums, and other cultural organizations participate in a national effort to prepare for disasters. MayDay encourages us to take one simple step to protect the holdings under our care. 

This year, Preservation Programs has created signs to hang in the stacks that list the First Four things you need to do if you see that records are at risk. 

Although these signs are designed specifically for the National Archives, the concept holds true for any institution. The main things to remember are:

  • Safety First!
  • Report the incident (Exactly who to report it to will depend on your situation).
  • Do not move wet records. It’s safer for you and the records to wait until the situation has been stabilized.

If the event is large enough, call a reputable recovery vendor who has experience working with document recovery. 

Here at NARA, we take records emergencies seriously, and we all have a role to play in protecting the nation’s records against damage from emergencies. This is why all of our facilities have records emergency plans that are updated annually.

What are you doing for MayDay 2012?

From our friends in the Motion Picture Preservation Lab:

We realize that it’s been a bit quiet on our end, but the staff of the Motion Picture Preservation Lab has been BUSY! We’ve implemented our Film Digitization Program here and have just finished our first restoration and created our first Digital Theater Print! The premier screening will be held at the FIAF conference in Beijing next week. We hope to include it in a longer program in the near future at NARA, but for now you can get a sneak peek on You Tube! More to come about the details of the work it took to get this looking SO good!

When Records Get Dirty Over the past four years, Preservation Programs in St. Louis has been dealing with a few extremely nasty problems—namely, mold infestation and bird guano. Some of the mold was related to the 1973 fire, at the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC). Other areas had leaks that developed after the 6th floor was demolished (because it had burned), and the fire suppression and pipe systems had to be re-adjusted. But how did the bird guano get into the records? St. Louis is known for its extremely hot and humid summers, and in our old building many of the non-archival records storage areas weren’t climate controlled. The staff members frequently opened the windows (removing the screens, for some reason), and in flew the birds. You can guess the rest. We found nests. We found feathers. We even found eggs. We didn’t want to bring these contaminated records to our clean, new, archivally climate-controlled building. We received funding to have most of them—12,372 boxes’ worth—sent away to be gamma radiated, at a cost of nearly $1.5 million. But first we had to survey all of the boxes. We found 14,719 cubic feet of moldy records and 8,200 cubic feet of boxes with guano in them. The preservation technician in the above photo didn’t actually treat the records; the guano-infested boxes were hauled away for cleaning by movers in full hazmat suits. Techs weren’t even allowed to touch the guano boxes, so that we didn’t spread contaminated material during the survey. Thankfully, the project is nearly over. And while there is still more work to be done, we were able to make the records safe to handle for future use.
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When Records Get Dirty

Over the past four years, Preservation Programs in St. Louis has been dealing with a few extremely nasty problems—namely, mold infestation and bird guano.

Some of the mold was related to the 1973 fire, at the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC). Other areas had leaks that developed after the 6th floor was demolished (because it had burned), and the fire suppression and pipe systems had to be re-adjusted.

But how did the bird guano get into the records? St. Louis is known for its extremely hot and humid summers, and in our old building many of the non-archival records storage areas weren’t climate controlled. The staff members frequently opened the windows (removing the screens, for some reason), and in flew the birds. You can guess the rest. We found nests. We found feathers. We even found eggs.

We didn’t want to bring these contaminated records to our clean, new, archivally climate-controlled building. We received funding to have most of them—12,372 boxes’ worth—sent away to be gamma radiated, at a cost of nearly $1.5 million.

But first we had to survey all of the boxes. We found 14,719 cubic feet of moldy records and 8,200 cubic feet of boxes with guano in them. The preservation technician in the above photo didn’t actually treat the records; the guano-infested boxes were hauled away for cleaning by movers in full hazmat suits. Techs weren’t even allowed to touch the guano boxes, so that we didn’t spread contaminated material during the survey.

Thankfully, the project is nearly over. And while there is still more work to be done, we were able to make the records safe to handle for future use.

D.C. Emancipation Act Anniversary

April 16th is the 150th anniversary of President Lincoln’s signing the District of Columbia Emancipation Act. This act provided for compensation of former owners loyal to the Union who freed slaves. Its model of compensation was not followed in the Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863, but it signaled the coming end of slavery. For many years, it was celebrated in Washington with parades and other events. If your income tax return is not done, this anniversary is why you have an extra day to do it. 

D.C. Emancipation Act, Public Law 37-50, April 16, 1862 “An Act for the release of certain persons from service or labor in the District of Columbia” Record Group 11 is written on parchment in iron gall ink with some printed text. The first and signature pages are on view now at the Capitol Visitor Center to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. The parchment sheets were encapsulated in polyester and mounted in a double window mat of archival board. The document was then covered with acrylic that blocks harmful ultraviolet radiation.

Preserving a Nuremberg Trial Document This large chart from “United States Exhibits” (ARC ID: 6102180) was presented by the US prosecuting staff in the trial of major German war criminals under Count I (The Common Plan and Conspiracy) before the International Military Tribunal (IMT) at Nuremberg, Germany. The chart on heavy paper had previously been folded to fit in a document box. It was passively humidified and flattened under blotters and weights. The original adhesive on many of the labels was desiccated and most labels were detached. After the RG 238 chart was flattened, conservators reattached the labels in place with wheat starch paste. Now it will be stored flat.
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Preserving a Nuremberg Trial Document

This large chart from “United States Exhibits” (ARC ID: 6102180) was presented by the US prosecuting staff in the trial of major German war criminals under Count I (The Common Plan and Conspiracy) before the International Military Tribunal (IMT) at Nuremberg, Germany.

The chart on heavy paper had previously been folded to fit in a document box. It was passively humidified and flattened under blotters and weights. The original adhesive on many of the labels was desiccated and most labels were detached. After the RG 238 chart was flattened, conservators reattached the labels in place with wheat starch paste. Now it will be stored flat.

For those of you in the DC area, save the date to come see our very own Jana Dambrogio, Senior Paper Conservator here at the National Archives. 
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For those of you in the DC area, save the date to come see our very own Jana Dambrogio, Senior Paper Conservator here at the National Archives. 

Interesting post about video games on display at the Smithsonian. They have most likely used a strategy called “emulation,” in which a program enables a modern computer to emulate the original game console. This is one way to preserve digital programs.  

usagov:

Image Description: Curators prep and test displays from the Art of Video Games exhibit, which opened at the Smithsonian American Art Museum on Friday, March 16. For videos, a list of the featured games, interviews with curators, and a schedule where the show will be travelling in the future, visit the official exhibit site.

Photos from the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Source: usagov

Pat Nixon’s Family Bible: From Conservation to Exhibition The family Bible that we featured yesterday was treated for exhibition by Conservator Jana Dambrogio. The leather spine was cracked and needed to be stabilized.  The Bible is on display at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda, California at an exhibit celebrating the 100th anniversary of Pat Nixon’s birth. A  clear polymer sheet was made into a “cradle”  to hold the fragile volume open to the inscribed page. The page is secured with narrow plastic straps. Monitoring the interior environment is a small data-logger at the back and in front are security monitors.   Getting this Bible treated and on display took teamwork on the part of Preservation Programs and the curatorial staff at the Nixon Library. In addition to Dambrogio’s treatment of the Bible, the inscribed title page after-treatment was scanned by Jennifer Seitz in the digital preservation lab. Box team leader conservator Gail Harriman made a custom box for permanent storage when the Bible comes off exhibit. 
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Pat Nixon’s Family Bible: From Conservation to Exhibition

The family Bible that we featured yesterday was treated for exhibition by Conservator Jana Dambrogio. The leather spine was cracked and needed to be stabilized. 

The Bible is on display at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda, California at an exhibit celebrating the 100th anniversary of Pat Nixon’s birth. A  clear polymer sheet was made into a “cradle”  to hold the fragile volume open to the inscribed page. The page is secured with narrow plastic straps. Monitoring the interior environment is a small data-logger at the back and in front are security monitors.  

Getting this Bible treated and on display took teamwork on the part of Preservation Programs and the curatorial staff at the Nixon Library. In addition to Dambrogio’s treatment of the Bible, the inscribed title page after-treatment was scanned by Jennifer Seitz in the digital preservation lab. Box team leader conservator Gail Harriman made a custom box for permanent storage when the Bible comes off exhibit. 

Happy (late) Birthday, Mrs. Nixon! 
March 16th would have been First Lady Pat Nixon’s 100th birthday, and the Nixon Presidential Library celebrated by opening the Pat Nixon Centennial Exhibition. One of the items on display is a German Bible, dated 1893, which belonged to Mrs. Nixon’s mother, Kate Halberstadt Ryan. This before treatment image shows the condition of the inscribed leaf at the front of the Bible which had been taped to hold it into the binding. The German inscription was written to Mrs. Nixon’s mother Katie Halberstadt by her pastor  on the occasion of her confirmation. The German language Bible was published in New York.