BPG luncheon talk

"Paper and Book Conservation and Preservation from a Different
Perspective"
by Cathy Baker
BPG Luncheon Talk, Sunday
June 13, 2004

I hope that all members of the Book and Paper Group (and indeed
others from AIC) in attendance at Portland will take advantage of
the chance to hear from an originator of the paper conservation
field in the United States.

In 1993, following a career of over twenty years in paper
conservation, Cathleen Baker decided to take a break from teaching
to write the biography of paper historian, Dard Hunter. During her
research, she gained new perspectives about documents and bound
material as both "curator" and "user" of the Hunter family's
archive. After the book was finished, Cathy then gained the
"creator" perspective as she went through the University of
Alabama's MFA Book Arts Program, making paper, printing both
letterpress and intaglio, and binding books by hand. Currently, she
is augmenting her "historic" perspective for her dissertation about
the techniques and materials of 19th-century printed and bound
material. These new perspectives, added to the invaluable
conservator's "diagnostic" perspective, have given her a holistic
view of paper-borne artifacts, and these have reinforced her opinion
that paper is basically a very resilient material. She firmly
believes that for fine art, archival, and library collections,
preservation through protective, but accessible, housing, is
preferable to invasive treatments, in all but the most dire
circumstances when it absolutely certain that the material is in
imminent damage of loss.

Sarah Stauderman
Program Chair, Book and Paper Group
Preservation Manager
Smithsonian Institution Archives
MRC 414 Room 2135 A&I
202-357-1421 ext: 45
Fax: 202-357-2395


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 17:65
                  Distributed: Thursday, April 8, 2004
                       Message Id: cdl-17-65-009
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