Conservation
Posts related to the Conservation Department
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...
February 21, 2019
Preserved between the pages of a pamphlet in the APS Library is a small yellow butterfly, which may have been placed there over 200 years...
January 29, 2019
Paper conservation treatment can range from cleaning soot off an old map to mending tears in a letter to putting a print in a water...
December 6, 2018
One of the pleasures of re-arranging the oversize collection has been the discovery of drawings given to the APS in the 18th century. One of...
November 1, 2018
When interviewing for the position of Assistant Conservator for Archival Materials, Anisha struck me with her quiet, sure-footed demeanor. I thought at the time, “Wow...