Conservation
Posts related to the Conservation Department
October 7, 2020
Sometimes a project arrives in the conservation lab as a mystery. It might be damaged, so in order for the cataloguers and librarians to safely...
August 26, 2020
Joseph Priestley, a chemist who isolated oxygen and several other gases, was also a teacher. His focus on pedagogy led him to create some of...
April 3, 2020
Willman Spawn Conservation Intern Joanna Hurd spent only two weeks at the American Philosophical Society before the novel coronavirus sent everyone home, but in that...
January 24, 2020
I met one of my favorite collection items at the APS on the day I interviewed for my job as assistant conservator. Patrick Spero, the...
August 29, 2019
I recently opened a folder to find a photograph mounted onto a paper board and broken into eight pieces. This photograph is from the Victor...
August 13, 2019
Tapes that stick with the touch of a finger—masking tapes, packing tapes, clear Scotch-type tapes, duct tapes—are one of the conveniences of modern life. Conservators...
May 9, 2019
In January 2019, the American Philosophical Society acquired a rare, pre-Revolutionary newspaper featuring Benjamin Franklin’s iconic “Unite or Die” political cartoon. The framed newspaper, from...
April 9, 2019
My series on the conservation treatment of Ben Franklin’s 1760 Book of Common Prayer closes with the restoration of the book’s damaged leather binding. Why...