A death

I regret to inform you that Paul N. Banks, pioneer in the field of
library and archives conservation, died on May 10, 2000.  Paul was a
founding member of AIC, Treasurer 1977-79, President 1979-81, and an
Honorary Member.

Paul began his career in the late 1950s as a book designer in New
York City.  He worked with Carolyn Horton, taught bookbinding in New
York, and in 1964 was invited to become Head of Conservation at the
Newberry Library in Chicago, one of the first designations of such a
position in the United States.  At the Newberry he developed a
library-wide conservation program and began his technical study of
library storage conditions and environmental control.  Paul was a
member of the team that responded after the Florence flood and this
experience helped to shape his ideas about the collections approach
to book conservation.

In the early 1970s, Paul began his long effort to establish a
training program for library conservators and preservation
librarians.  In 1981, with the help of the National Endowment for
the Humanities, he became the first Director of the Library and
Archives Conservation Education Programs at the School of Library
Service, Columbia University.  This program continues today at the
Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University
of Texas at Austin.  This is perhaps his greatest legacy to the
future and the achievement of which he was the most proud.  The
momentum of forces he set in motion has changed library culture and
his hundreds of students, active in the preservation fields, will
continue to construct his vision.

Until his death, Paul was active with assignments as consultant to
the Library of Congress and Advisor to the National Archives and
Records Administration, notably in the specification for storage and
display of the Declaration of Independence, the U. S. Constitution
and the Bill of Rights.  Paul was appointed the first National
Archives Fellow in Preservation in 1998.

Paul was a very persuasive teacher, adamant campaigner for the role
of preservation in culture and an irresistible companion.  At his
request, no funeral will be held, but there are many of us who will
hold small, local gatherings to honor him.  Those who wish to do so
may make donations to the Paul N. Banks Endowed Graduate Fellowship
at the University of Texas at Austin.


                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 13:58
                   Distributed: Friday, May 19, 2000
                       Message Id: cdl-13-58-001
                                  ***