Collection Management

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Historical Background of Book Conservation

The Past Forty Years

Don Etherington

To cite this article: Don Etherington (2007) Historical Background of Book Conservation,
Collection Management, 31:1-2, 21-29, DOI: 10.1300/J105v31n01_02

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 Historical Background of Book Conservation:
The Past Forty Years
Don Etherington

SUMMARY: Book conservation is still a relatively new field inter-

twined with library preservation. The recent history of American book
conservation is examined through events of the past forty years, from the
1966 Florence flood to the development of professional organizations,
training programs, and preservation in institutional collections. doi:10.1300/
J105v31n01_02 [Article copies available for a fee from The Haworth Document
Delivery Service: 1-800-HAWORTH. E-mail address: <docdelivery@haworth-
press.com> Website: <http://www. HaworthPress.com> © 2006 by The Haworth
Press, Inc. All rights reserved.]

KEYWORDS. History of book conservation, library preservation

INTRODUCTION

This paper will outline the milestones of the last forty years within the
field of book conservation and its related field of library preservation. I
would like to dedicate this paper to the late Peter Waters and Paul Banks,

Don Etherington is President of the Etherington Conservation Center, 7609 Busi-

ness Park Drive, Greensboro, NC 27409 (E-mail: [email protected]). Mr.
Etherington was educated and trained in England and came to America in 1970 where
he worked for the Library of Congress as the Assistant Restoration Officer and later at
the University of Texas at Austin as Chief Conservation Officer.
[Haworth co-indexing entry note]: “Historical Background of Book Conservation: The Past Forty
Years.” Etherington, Don. Co-published simultaneously in Collection Management (The Haworth Press,
Inc.) Vol. 31, No. 1/2, 2006, pp. 21-29; and: The Changing Book: Transitions in Design, Production, and
Preservation (ed: Nancy E. Kraft, and Holly Martin Huffman) The Haworth Press, Inc., 2006, pp. 21-29. Sin-
gle or multiple copies of this article are available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service
[1-800-HAWORTH, 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. (EST). E-mail address: [email protected]].

Available online at http://col.haworthpress.com

© 2006 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1300/J105v31n01_02 21
22 The Changing Book: Transitions In Design, Production, And Preservation

two men who had a tremendous influence in the development of the

fields of book conservation and library preservation these last forty
years. For many of us, Peter and Paul were our teachers and mentors.
Though they are no longer with us in body, we know they stand by us in
spirit as we carry this legacy forward.
The inter-mingling of the roles played by the book conservator and
the library preservationist is near impossible to unravel so I will not try.
The term “book conservator” was not really in common usage until the
early seventies as we were all called “restorers” prior to that time.
The professions of book conservation and library preservation got a
jump start in the early seventies, following the November 1966 flood in
Florence, Italy. The Biblioteca Nazionale suffered tremendous damage
with over 300,000 books water-logged. The ensuing international re-
covery effort of those materials proved to be of vital importance to the
development of the field. The recovery effort of library and archival
materials was directed by the team from England led by Peter Waters
from the British Museum. Roger Powell, Sandy Cockerell, Tony Cains,
Christopher Clarkson, myself and others were part of this team, sup-
ported by funds from the American Committee for the Restoration of
Italian Art. I feel fairly confident that the damage done to books from
the reference and special collections during this flood was the impetus
for the Library of Congress to establish a completely new program aimed
at preserving their massive collections. A new Preservation Directorate,
under the leadership of Frazer Poole was established, absorbing the
Government Printing Office Restoration Office.
Poole invited Peter Waters to head up the new Restoration Office. I
was appointed Training Officer and was followed a year later by Chris-
topher Clarkson. Immediately after becoming established, we started
hiring a number of young people from a very large pool of interested
and talented applicants, to be trained as book conservators. Most of them
have gone on to very successful careers in book and archival conservation.
Tom Albro, Linda Ogden, Linda Blazer, Glen Ruzicka, and Norvell Jones
were just a few of these trainees.
Outside of the Library of Congress were a number of people working
to establish programs and develop standards in preservation. At the
Newberry Library in Chicago, Paul Banks was head of conservation
during the late 1960s. John Dean, who took over the Newberry’s bind-
ery, and Gary Frost, both joined Banks in 1969. Later on Sherelyn
Ogden, Norvell Jones, Barclay Ogden, and Merrily Smith would also
work at the Newberry. Bill Anthony was also at work in Chicago, acting as
a major force in teaching and producing high quality work. Interestingly, in
 Don Etherington 23

the early seventies, I think Paul Banks, Gary Frost, Carolyn Horton and
I were the only book conservators who were members of the Interna-
tional Institute for Conservation’s (IIC) American Group, the forerun-
ner of the American Institute for Conservation.
In the late sixties and seventies, a number of important research
libraries like the Newberry, Yale, and the New York Public Library began
to develop formal preservation programs. The Newberry established a
policy where a percentage of its book purchasing budget was allocated
for preservation activities, which was very forward-thinking. It is sad
that few other libraries have followed suit.
The New York Public Library established its conservation division
in1972. This was followed by Johns Hopkins University in 1975 through
the efforts of John Dean who established an apprenticeship program in
preservation practices. In 1985 Dean established a new preservation
program at Cornell University. Since that time, Dean has raised over
$15 million in grant funds for its programs–a major success story if
ever there was one. Dean’s work in helping under-developed countries
in their preservation programs is legendary.
The Folger Shakespeare Library has had a book repair program since
1932 but expanded it into a conservation laboratory under Johannes
Hytoft in 1970. Since 1977, Frank Mowery has been the head of the lab,
now considered one of the foremost in the nation with a very active edu-
cational program that attracts interns and conservators from all over the
world.
The New England Document Conservation Center (later renamed the
Northeast Document Conservation Center) opened its doors in 1973 under
the directorship of George Cunha. It would be the first major regional
and cooperative conservation center for books and archives. Cunha had
previously been the Conservator of the Boston Athenaeum Library,
where he wrote the two-volume work entitled Conservation of Library
Materials in 1971. He was a tireless proponent for library preservation
and gave many speeches around the country in an effort to spark interest
in this subject. In that same–albeit more restrained–vein, Peter Waters
and I gave many library and archival preservation workshops in various
parts of the country. It seems to me that the ones held at the University
of California at Santa Cruz were perhaps more influential as many par-
ticipants took the preservation bit at Santa Cruz and ran with it, estab-
lishing successful preservation programs at major libraries through out
the country.
Towards the end of the seventies book and paper conservators were
separating themselves a little more from the preservation librarians by
24 The Changing Book: Transitions In Design, Production, And Preservation

organizing conferences specifically directed at the growing number of

book and paper conservation professionals. There was a seminar in No-
vember of 1979 entitled “Fine Binding in the 20th Century” and spon-
sored by the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation Library. One
hundred and fifty bookbinders, conservators and curators attended this
meeting. In September of 1980 the “Cambridge International Confer-
ence of Library and Archives Materials” was sponsored by the Society
of American Archivists (SAA) and IIC. It was attended by over 460
book, manuscript, and paper conservators from all over the world. In ad-
dition, publications started to appear around this time that were directed at
both the conservation and preservation communities: the Abbey News-
letter in 1975 and Conservation Administration News in 1979, for ex-
ample. The Book and Paper Group of AIC issued their Postprints,
volume 1, in 1982 and thereafter became the Book and Paper Group An-
nual. The Annual highlights research and conservation treatments spe-
cific to books and paper based artifacts. In 1987 under the leadership of
Walter Henry we see the beginnings of the Conservation DistList and the
development of Conservation Online–resources that are used world-wide.
During the late eighties, the relationship between book conservation
and library preservation again strengthened due to a number of trained
book conservators serving as preservation administrators. These book
conservators, along with the growing number of preservation librarians,
were developing and running preservation programs at major research
libraries. These preservation administrators in turn needed qualified book
conservators to be part of their programs, though they were in short
supply. Specific examples include:

• Craig Jensen, an early Library of Congress book conservation

trainee, went on to establish the Brigham Young University’s
program.
• Previously mentioned, John Dean, of the Newberry Library, de-
veloped and directed major preservation programs at both Johns
Hopkins and Cornell.
• I established and directed the preservation program at the Harry
Ransom Humanities Research Center (HRHRC) in Austin, Texas.
As an aside, one of my early trainee book conservators at HRHRC,
Connie Brooks, served seventeen years as the head of preservation
at Stanford University.

Occurring hand-in-hand with these combined efforts were a series of

library preservation conferences sponsored by the American Library
 Don Etherington 25

Association and the Library of Congress. The first, held in Washington,

D.C. in 1983, was called “Preservation: The Administrative Challenge.”
This was followed by “Preservation: Implementing Programs” at St.
Louis in March, 1984 and “Library Preservation: Fundamental Tech-
niques” at Stanford University in August 1985. “Fundamental Tech-
niques” was attended by 125 participants from all over the country and
many of the presentations were video taped by a professional crew of
film makers and are still available through the Library of Congress.
Carolyn Clark Morrow, Jan Merrill-Oldham, Robert J. Milevski, Judith
Fortson-Jones, Robert J. Espinosa, Lynn Jones, myself and others served
as instructors.
It is hard to believe but we had to repeat our workshop nine times in
five days in order to accommodate all the participants. It was exhausting
to say the least. I remember a funny moment that happened during my
session on “Cloth Recasing” when the film crew said they needed to re-
take my session which, as it so happened, was after I had completed the
ninth session. So, I repeated the workshop in front of an empty class-
room and at one point I commented on the fact that there were very few
questions being asked. The film crew thought I was a real pro! This
meeting was a wonderful example of conservators and preservation li-
brarians working together.
During this forty year period, a number of disasters occurred that
challenged the library and archives communities. In 1972 a flood at the
Corning Museum in New York resulted in thousands of books being
damaged. That same year the Temple University Law Library survived a
fire, followed by a massive fire broke out at the St. Louis Records
Center in 1973, capped by the arson-set fire at the Los Angeles Public
Library in 1986. Also one cannot forget the earthquake that did untold
damage to the Green Library at Stanford University in 1989. Then, of
course, the largest library disaster of all time occurred at the Library of
the USSR Academy of Science in Leningrad, Russia (now St. Petersburg)
in 1988, with 3.6 million volumes either destroyed or severely damaged.
The American press reported that hundreds of books were being thrown
out of the Library’s windows. As a result of this reporting, industrialist
Armand Hammer, influential in the affairs of the Soviet Union, arranged
for Peter Waters, Sally Buchanan and me to go and investigate the situa-
tion and report our findings to him. We saw no evidence that this had
ever happened, though we saw the open window and the courtyard
below where it was purported to have happened. One interesting event
that did occur involved a unique approach to drying the many wet
books: the citizens of Leningrad were recruited to adopt the sodden
26 The Changing Book: Transitions In Design, Production, And Preservation

books, given instructions on how to dry them and sent home with an
armful of books. Interestingly, after being dried, all the books were
returned to the Library.
A conference, entitled “Conservation and Disaster Recovery: Interna-
tional Cooperation at the Library of the USSR Academy of Sciences,” was
organized in September of 1990 in Leningrad, inviting conservators,
chemists and librarians to give papers on various aspects of the disaster
and their subsequent research results. One useful product that was
developed specifically for this disaster was the “pizza box.” Developed
by Peter Waters and his son Michael using computer-driven box mak-
ing machinery, custom clamshell boxes were made from corrugated ar-
chival board. The idea being these boxes would add less thickness to the
enclosed book thus minimizing the growth of the overall collection on
the shelf. This was part of the Phased Conservation program within the
overall disaster recovery effort.
During this time, the need for more formal academic training in con-
servation and preservation was recognized by the late Carolyn Harris
and Paul Banks. Over the course of many months, these two organized
and planned what was to become the conservation and preservation pro-
gram at Columbia University. Beginning in 1981, the program was of-
fered under the auspices of Columbia’s School of Library Sciences with
the science segment being taught through New York University’s Insti-
tute of Fine Arts and with Gary Frost conducting the book conservation
training component. The conservation portion of the program took three
years to complete and was intended to train workbench conservators.
The end result of this program would be a Master of Science in Library
Sciences along with an advanced certificate in Library Conservation.
The preservation portion of the program took two years to complete cul-
minating with a Master of Science in Library Sciences as well as an ad-
vanced certificate in Library Preservation Administration. In 1991, The
Columbia University conservation and preservation program relocated
to the University of Texas at Austin.
Simultaneously, one of the more important achievements in book and
paper conservation happened within the newly titled American Institute
for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (AIC): the development
of both the Book and Paper Conservation Catalogs and, in particular,
the paper treatment catalog. The Paper Conservation Catalog first came
to being during the 1982 meeting of the Book and Paper Group of the
AIC, held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The book treatment and structure
segment is currently being worked on, though slowly.
 Don Etherington 27

Around 1980, the Guild of Bookworkers established its Standards

of Excellence meetings, allowing demonstrations by experienced book-
binders and conservators to be carried out before groups of 25-30
people. These practical demonstrations proved to be very popular and have
been a major influence in the raising of standards in both the bookbinding
and book conservation fields during the last 20 years. These sessions
brought bookbinders into a forum where experienced book conserva-
tors could explain the need for high quality materials and emphasize
the important structural needs of a functioning book. I feel particularly
proud of my involvement in developing and promoting the Standards of
Excellence.
The preservation program at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research
Center (HRHRC) in Austin conducted yearly courses from 1981-1985 in
the “Conservation of Archival Materials.” These courses were comple-
mented by a detailed set of papers that covered many subjects ranging
from housing of manuscript collections to different boxing configura-
tions to paper mending and treatments to a detailed paper on inks used
in documents and manuscripts. These sessions became a wonderful mi-
lieu for conservators, preservation librarians, administrators, and cura-
tors. A later development in Texas at the HRHRC was the establishment
of the “Institute for Fine Binding and Book Conservation” which many
of the leading practitioners of today attended and I am sure they will tell
you it was the highlight of their careers. Tony Cains and Jim Brockman
were two of the instructors. And finally, one cannot forget the wonder-
ful conference “Bookbinding 2000” at the Rochester Institute of Tech-
nology celebrating the installation of the Bernard Middleton collection
of books on bookbinding in the Wallace Library. Over 400 attendees
came from many parts of the world for this event. This conference
established a level of excellence in presenting lectures and demonstra-
tions that will be hard to exceed.
In addition to the growth of the book conservation field in major re-
search libraries, there was the development of non-profit regional centers
like the already-mentioned NEDCC and the Center for the Conserva-
tion of Art and Historic Artifacts (CCAHA), established in 1977 in Phil-
adelphia. These regional centers offer high quality conservation work in
art on paper, books, and photographs for institutions with little or no
in-house capability.
The membership of the Book and Paper Group of AIC has steadily
grown over the years. Of the almost 3,000 members of AIC, over 800
belong to the Book and Paper Group, making it the largest specialty
group in AIC.
28 The Changing Book: Transitions In Design, Production, And Preservation

Programs of mass deacidification, microfilming, scanning, off-site

storage, phased preservation and disaster recovery workshops are now
part of our common lexicon. Dick Smith was, of course, a major pioneer
throughout the seventies and eighties in developing systems for mass
deacidification of bound books, using methyl magnesium carbonate
marketed as Wei T’o. Now Bookkeeper is the recognized system used
throughout the States and Canada using magnesium oxide. Exhibition
standards for rare books have been raised to new levels, especially with
regard to how long an exhibition is to last, the control of light levels and
the construction of cradles to safeguard the openability of books. Fac-
simile reproduction of more fragile items in exhibition settings is now
an accepted option. Scanning and digitizing of bound and unbound books
is now common. Minimal intervention is practiced by conservators
whenever possible. Overall, these last forty years have seen a re-
markable growth in the conservation of books within the United States.
However, formal training programs in book conservation are still much
less common than those in other areas of conservation dealing with our
cultural heritage.
In keeping with my dedication of this talk to Paul Banks, I would like
to close with a quote from him, one that explains the goal we all work
towards particularly well. “In making day to day decisions about the
conservation treatment of research library collections, the interests of
future scholarship can best be served by extrinsic protection, conserva-
tive treatment, broad education for conservators, and discussion of con-
servation policy among conservators, curators, and users.” Let us make
this conference another step on the path to fulfilling that goal.

REFERENCE
Throughout the seventies and eighties a number of major books were published on the
subject of conservation of library materials. Notable amongst these were:
Clapp, Anne F. “Curatorial Care of Works of Art on Paper”; Oberlin, Ohio. Intermuseum
Conservation Association, rev ed. 1973 (New York: Nick Lyons Books, 1987).
Horton, Carolyn, “Cleaning and Preserving Bindings and Related Materials” Chicago:
Library Technology Program, American Library Association, 1967. (2nd edition
revised 1978).
Middleton, Bernard, A History of English Craft Bookbinding Technique Holland Press,
London, 2nd supplemented edition (Originally published: Hafner, 1963; 4th edition
revised, 2000, Oak Knoll Press).
Morrow, Carolyn Clark and Gay Walker “The Preservation Challenge” in “Library
Conservation: Preservation in Perspective,” edited by John P. Baker & Marguerite
C. Soroka, Stroudsburg, PA: Dowden, Hutchinson & Ross (1978).
 Don Etherington 29

Ritzenthaler, Mary Lynn, “Archives & Manuscript–Conservation: a manual on physi-

cal care and management,” Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 1983.
Roberts, Matt and Don Etherington “Bookbinding and the Conservation of Books: A
Dictionary of Descriptive Terminology,” Washington: Library of Congress, 1982.
(New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Press, 2003).
Swartzburg, Susan. “Preserving Library Materials: A Manual,” Scarecrow Press,
Metuchen, NJ, c1980. (2nd edition, 1995).
Waters, Peter “Procedures for Salvage of Water-Damaged Library Materials”; Wash-
ington: Library of Congress, 1975 (http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/bytopic/disasters/
primer/waters.html extracts from unpublished revised text/July 1993).
Resources mentioned in the narrative, in order mentioned.
Conservation of library materials; a manual and bibliography on the care, repair, and
restoration of library materials, by George Martin Cunha and Dorothy Grant
Cunha Metuchen, N.J., Scarecrow Press, 1971-72.
“The Abbey Newsletter,” Ann Arbor, Mich.Academy Book Bindery, 1975-2004. (Pub-
lished: New York, N.Y.: Ellen McCrady, <1984->; Provo, UT : Abbey Publica-
tions, <1987->; Austin, TX : Abbey Publications, Inc., -2004).
“Conservation Administration News,” Laramie :University of Wyoming Libraries,
1979-1995.
The Book & Paper Group Annual. American Institute for Conservation of Historic and
Artistic Works. Washington, D.C.: Book and Paper Group, American Institute for
Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works, 1983.
Conservation DistList, http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/cdl/ is
a moderated discussion group which deals with issues involving the conservation
of cultural materials.
CoOL, http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/ a project of the Preservation Department of
Stanford University Libraries, is a full text library of conservation information, cov-
ering a wide spectrum of topics of interest to those involved with the conservation
of library, archives and museum materials.
“Library preservation fundamental techniques,” National Preservation Program Office,
Library of Congress, 7 videocassettes + 1 guide, 1987. Series description:
American Library Association, Resources and Technical Services Division with the
Library of Congress sponsored a series of seminar in library preservation. The
first aimed at top management in libraries, the second at middle management,
and final one for the bench conservators and repairers.
“Library Preservation: The Administrative Challenge,” April 29 1983, Washing-
ton, DC.
“Library Preservation: Implementing Programs,” April 13-14, 1984, St. Louis, Mis-
souri.
“Library Preservation: Fundamental Techniques,” August 26-30, 1985, Stanford,
CA.
Paper Conservation Catalog. American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artis-
tic Works. [Washington, D.C.] 1984.
Stroud, James. “Inks on Manuscripts and Documents.” Conservation of Archival Ma-
terials Fourth Annual Seminar (1985), 40-72.

doi:10.1300/J105v31n01_02