Wallace Conservation Lab

This poor vellum book was severely warped.  Before humidification and flattening, it measured a hefty 113 mm thick - afterwards, a mere 67 mm.

That’s almost 2 inches!

My ongoing conservation work on the MSU Libraries’ copy of the Nuremberg Chronicle was featured in the October 2015 issue of Insight (the library newsletter).  You can see the full issue here.

- Bexx

Vellum is a hygroscopic material, which means that it has the ability to attract and hold water molecules from the surrounding environment. 

Vellum will expand in humid conditions, and contract in dry conditions.  Even normal fluctuations in temperature a humidity can cause vellum bindings to warp.  Over time, this book became badly warped.  At it’s thickest, it was a whopping 70 mm (2.75 in) thick.

I gently humidified the front and back covers to help them relax  - you need be careful when exposing vellum to water - too much, and it can turn back into rawhide!

Once the covers had relaxed, I put the book under weight to flatten it out.  I left it that way for about a week - plenty of time to dry and become accustomed to being flat.  After treatment, the book was a mere 46 mm (1.8 in) thick - that’s a reduction of 24 mm (.94 in)!

To help keep the book flat, it has been housed in a custom made box that keeps it under light pressure.

Find this book in our Special Collections here.

~ Bexx

Nine months ago, we posted about these jars of water (http://msulconservationlab.tumblr.com/post/108193028342/this-row-of-jars-shows-how-much-discoloration) which hold samples from each subsequent washing of a book printed in the 1600s (http://catalog.lib.msu.edu/record=b2150582~S23a).

I was making my merry way through the lab the other day when I noticed something growing in Jar 1. GROWING, you guys. 

I fear we have awakened an ancient evil. Wait, I mean bacteria. An ancient bacteria. Either way, gross. I’m so glad we washed the beginnings of this mysterious gunk out of that book!

~Autumn

After a long and lonely summer, we are happy to welcome our student workers back to the conservation lab! Yay for a new school year. (Although Rachelle seems less enthused about classes starting than we are.)

~ Autumn

Freshly washed pages drying on a screen before being put in between blotters to dry.