The Abbey Newsletter

Volume 15, Number 8
Dec 1991


Literature

Professional Publications

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"Mellon Internships in Preservation Administration: An Underappreciated Resource?" by Regina Sinclair. CAN #48, Jan. 1992, p. 8-11. A good overview of the Mellon internship program. There have been 24 interns since 1983, at five libraries. They are listed, with their current job titles and other information, as well as their personal comments on their experiences. 1D3

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The Rare Book School 1991 Yearbook. Terry Belanger, ed. & compiler. Includes address list of attendees, course descriptions and evaluations, statistical breakdowns more than 100 photos, and a list of all RBS courses 1983-1991. 276 pp. $10. Available from The Book Arts Press, 516 Butler Library, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027. 1D4

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Special Libraries, Summer 1991, vol. 82 #3. Special issue: Public Relations in Special Libraries. Even more than preservation programs, perhaps, special libraries have to continually prove their value to the institution. P.R. is a life or death matter to them. Statistics, convincing arguments, P.R. and staff support are all necessary to protect them against the occasional outside pressure or internal shift in power that may close them down The experience and advice of special librarians in this issue is relevant for preservation librarians. Especially recommended is Kay Cloyes' article, "Corporate Value of Library Services," p. 206-213, which gives background on evaluation of information and describes a survey of users. The issue costs $9.00, write to SLA Circulation Department, 1700 Eighteenth St., NW, Washington, DC 20009-2508. 1M

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The American Archivist, Spring 1990, vol. 53 #2. Special Preservation Issue. 369 pp., 25 contributors. The contributions are generally broad in scope, making this issue almost a manual. They include:

Current Trends in Preservation Research and Development - George Cunha
Archival Preservation Practice in a Nationwide Context - Paul Conway
Preservation Microfilming for Archives and Manuscripts - Janet Gertz
Selection for Microfilming - Margaret Child
Planning an Effective Holdings Maintenance Program - Karen Garlick
Whispers in the Stacks: The Problem of Sound Recordings in Archives - Christopher Ann Paton
A Checklist of Standards Applicable to the Preservation of Archives and Manuscripts - Victoria Irons Walch, compiler
[A review of literature on preservation of nonpaper materials] - Mary Bowling
Audiovisual Resources on Preservation Topics - Cheryl Pence

There are also reviews of books on security, disaster planning, mass treatment, traditional restoration techniques, and so on, and descriptions of practices in Cambodia, the USSR, and Canada. This special issue is a valuable addition to the scant literature on archival preservation which Hilary Kaplan and Brenda Banks explain in their paper," Archival Preservation: The Teaming of the Crew," is different in certain important ways from library preservation. Single issues of the American Archivist cost $15. Write American Archivist, 600 S. Federal, Suite 504, Chicago, IL 60605. 2.3

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Ojo: Connoisseurship & Conservation of Photographs is a twice-yearly newsletter issued by the Jose Orraca Studio in Kent, Connecticut. ("Ojo" is Spanish for "eye," and is pronounced oho.) The first issue appeared in September 1991, and carried articles and short items in its six pages on the pros and cons of photo corners, Edward Steichen developing treatment criteria, rolling photographs for storage, wood bleaches, and George Seeley. There is a list of New York auctions on the back page. Apparently it is being distributed free for now. Write Jose Orraca Conservation Studio, 3 Maple St., Kent, CT 06757 (302/927-0178).

The item on wood bleaches warns that wood frames bleached with a hydrogen peroxide process emit harmful gases for weeks or months afterward that can fade and discolor not only the photographs within the frames but even photographs in adjacent rooms. Bleaching of wood has become more popular in the last few years, and is also done on wood floors. Reference is made to an article by Larry Feldman, "Discoloration of Black and White Photographic Prints," in Journal of Applied Photographic Engineering, v.7 #1, Feb. 1981. 3F1

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Newsletter for COPAR has come back to life. No. 1 of the Third Series has four pages, published by the Library of Congress "about the Cooperative Preservation of Architectural Records." Basically it concerns the archival aspects of historical preservation activities: finding the records, announcing where they are stored, cataloging various collections, and so on--nothing about preservation activities dealing with storage environment, treatment or use. Contributions to the newsletter and requests to be put on the mailing list can be sent to Sally Sims Stokes, National Trust for Historic Preservation Library, c/o Architecture Library, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 (301/405-6320). 2.6

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The Gazette du Livre Médiéval for Spring 1991 has a letter from Ludmila Kisseleva of the Library of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR in Leningrad, protesting the making and use of facsimiles. They are too expensive, she says, and are accessible only to a narrow circle of collectors. The money and time spent on them could better be spent on more useful projects.

Then on p. 43, there is announcement of the proceedings of a conference on the subject: Images des textes. Les Techniques de reproduction des documents médiévaux au service de la Recherche, published by "le Leopard d'or" in Paris, 1991. And 13 published facsimiles are announced on p. 45-46. Ms. Kisseleva may be fighting a losing battle. 3A5.1

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The Society of Bookbinders National Newsletter is published in small booklet format and reprints substantial parts of the Society's regional newsletters. On the cover it says "The Society of Bookbinders. Newsletter. Incorporating the National Newsletter and appropriate Regional Newsletter [sic]," which is different from the title page. The editor is Frank Hippman, Windrush, Wiston, Haverfordwest, Dyfed, SA62 4PS, Wales. Issue #1 was October 1990, and #2 was March 1991. The intention is to publish it three times a year. No price is given for subscriptions, but the newsletter probably goes to members. Each issue is 20-24 pages long and contains 8 or 10 articles on bookbinding topics (very little on conservation or designer binding), in addition to the usual newsletter departments.

The third issue, for June 1991, has a two-page narrative by Alan Parker about his visit to the quarry where lithographic stones have been dug since Alois Senefelder invented lithography in 1798. You can still get stones for paring if you can find the the tiny village of Solnhofen near the quarry, and are then able to communicate with the people at the quarry with sign language or German. (Solnhofen is in Bavaria, south of Nurnberg.) The author would be happy to answer queries, including questions about prices, from fellow bookbinders: Call him at Woking (0483) 763732. 3A1

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There have been many reports from librarians who were attending an IFLA meeting in Moscow at the time of the attempted coup in August. Two of them were:

"IFLA 1991," reported by Susan G. Swartzburg. CAN #48, Jan. 1992, p. 12-13.

"Your Man in Moscow: Twixt Conference and Coup," by Donald G. Davis, Jr. The Southwestern Archivist, Nov. 1991, p. 1, 3, 11-12. This is written like a diary. Since the conference center was only a few blocks down the street from the "White House" and the conferees' hotel was next door to the White House, many had ringside seats. 4B

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AICCM Conference Proceedings, Launceston, Tasmania, 1990 [on] Permanent Paper. Sponsored by Associated Pulp and Paper Mills. Published as the Association's Bulletin #4, 1990. The Australian Institute for Conservation of Cultural Material (Inc.) receives mail at GPO Box 1638, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia. The seven papers in this little volume of the proceedings represent about a fourth of the papers given at the AICCM's annual conference. 3A9

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Preservation of Library and Archival Materials, the proceedings of a seminar on environmental control (although the official topic of the seminar is not named in the title or headings in this monograph), conducted by the APPA in cooperation with the Commission on Preservation and Access. (APPA used to mean the Association of Physical Plant Administrators or something like that, but now it means the Association of Higher Education Facilities Officers.) Published by APPA in 1991. 66 pp. $27 +$8 postage and handling. Make out check to APPA publications, PO Box 753, Waldorf, MD 20604 (703/684-1446).

This represents a first formal attempt to bridge the communication gap between the people who know how to control environmental factors in campus library buildings, and the people who are taking care of collections in these same buildings. The eight papers were well received by the overflow audience at the seminar in February, 1991, but only one of them, the one by Nancy Gwinn and Michael League, addressed the communication problem directly. The three papers by speakers from the preservation world presented the basics of preservation and told how it related to environmental control. The four papers by facilities people covered architectural mechanical, and electrical system requirements (Lawrence D. Stuebing), facilities maintenance (Howard L. Wink Jr.), integrated pest management (Charles E. Dunn Sr.), and fire protection (J. Andrew Wilson). Whether the booklet is worth $35 may depend on whether the reader is working on environmental control problems that involve the facilities people on campus, but even then the 88-page Conservation Environment Guidelines for Libraries and Archives (May 1991 AN, p.56) makes a better manual. 2C

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Hilary Kaplan's 14-page summary of the papers given at the invitational IFLA/ICA seminar on Research in Conservation and Preservation last May is available for $3.00 from the Society of American Archivists. The seminar was briefly reported in the September issue of this Newsletter, and the organizers intend to publish the proceedings, but it may be a while before that happens. The emphasis was on environmental regulation and pest and mold control. 3.3

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The January 1991 CAN has five book reviews, the longest of which concerns the sulfiding report, which was briefly mentioned on p. 56 and 117 in this Newsletter. The full reference is:

James M. Reilly and Kaspars M. Cupriks. Sulfiding Protection for Silver Images. Final Report to the Office of Preservation, National Endowment for the Humanities, Grant #PS-20152-87. Rochester, NY: Image Permanence Institute Rochester Institute of Technology, March 28 1991. 1i6 pp., paper. $50 from IPI, RIT, Frank E. Gannett Memorial Bldg., PO Box 9887, Rochester, NY 14623-0887 (716/475-5199). The reviewer, Robert W. Stewart, says it is an operations manual and a cookbook, as well as a technical report, which should make it easy to get a sulfiding treatment up and running. A company called MicroD International has already announced its intention to make and market the toning solution. Now, Mr. Stewart says, we want to know whether the big preservation microfilming labs will begin using this protective treatment, and whether it will be useful for retrospective treatment of film already processed. 3F3

Daniel Traister reviews G. Thomas Tanselle's Libraries, Museums, and Reading, the 6th Sol M. Malkin Lecture in Bibliography. (New York: Columbia University, 1991. 32 pp.) Tanselle's position is that "all books should be regarded as rare books." Traister says Tanselle does not really hope that libraries will preserve everything, but it would be nice if he could acknowledge that some copies, editions and issues of a book are more valuable than others. After all, a choice has to be made of what to save, and it would be better to make it consciously than by default. 2D

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"Comparison of Four Paper Imaging Techniques: Beta Radiography, Electrography, Light Transmission, and Soft X-Radiography," by Hiroshi Tomimasu, Daijin Kim Minsoo Suk and Philip Luner. Tappi Journal, July 1991 p. 165-176. This is an expansion of a note by the first author in Japan Tappi Journal. The idea was to find out which technique was best for analyzing formation, monitoring wire marks, and so on in the mill, but these are also ways to record watermarks. The methods and equipment are described, and there are a good number of photographs, graphs, and mathematical formulas. No method was found to be superior on all eight variables measured. 1E

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At last, the champions of Ts'ai Lun as the real inventor of paper in 105 AD have offered evidence of the sort that can be evaluated by professionals. The IPH Yearbook, v. 8, 1990, carries an eight-page article by Wang Ju Hua, "The Inventor of Paper Technology--Ts'ai Lun." Irrelevant issues like nationalism, class prejudice and conservatism always seem to be mixed up in this continuing debate. Still, there are lots of facts and pictures for the four specimens of paper or paper-like material predating Ts'ai Lun. One can say that knowledge has been advanced by this publication, but before concluding that the first REAL paper was made in 105 AD, one would have to hear from other scholars with a different set of prejudices.... Has anyone heard from Jixing Pan, champion of the early-paper theory, lately? Could he have been jailed for not espousing the correct historical viewpoint?

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Pergament: Geschichte, Struktur, Restaurierung und Herstellung heute. Vol. 2 in the series "Historische Hilfswissenschafter," published by Peter Rück. 1991. About 544 pp., 250 illustrations. About DM 240. ISBN 3-7995-4202-7. Most of the contributions are in German. Contributors include Michael Gullick, Claire Chahine, Ronald Reed [who died March 1990, by the way], Wolfgang Wächter, Ludwig Ritterpusch, Robert Fuchs, Otto Wächter, Ursula Dreibholz, and Benjamin Vorst. Write Jan Thorbecke Verlag, Karlstr. 10, Postfach 546, D-7480 Sigmaringen, Germany. 3D1

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"Effet de la Désacidification sur l'Encre Ferro-gallique," by Anne Lienardy and Philippe Van Damme. Studies in Conservation 36 (August 1991) 155-160. Five deacidification solutions were applied to iron-gall ink to see the effect on surface pH and color of ink, before and after aging: calcium hydroxide, magnesium bicarbonate, borax, barium hydroxide and Wei T'o #11. Only the calcium hydroxide gave an acceptable pH for the ink after treatment and aging, but it turned the ink from black to brown. The magnesium compounds gave the lowest pH, near 4.8, but affected the ink color the least. Borax had little effect on the ink color, and only brought the pH down to about 5.3, so it is seen as the least dangerous; but the results apply only to rag paper. The authors' earlier work showed that treatment with borax destroyed the strength of paper containing mechanical pulp fibers.

Another lab seriously investigating ways of disarming iron-gall ink is that of the Dutch Royal Library. Nothing has been published yet. 3A9.3

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Amanda Clydesdale's Chemicals in Conservation: A Guide to Possible Hazards and Safe Use (2nd ed.) is reviewed in the August Studies in Conservation by Vincent Daniels, who found enough errors and omissions in it to recommend that it be used with caution. The user should have other reference books to check the facts in the Clydesdale book, in other words. 6F2

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Leather Conservation News has moved from South Carolina to Minnesota. Its new address is: LCN, Objects Conservation Lab, Minnesota Historical Society, Ft. Snelling History Center, St. Paul, MN 55111 (612/726-1171, Fax 297-1357). Paul Storch is the editor and publisher of this publication, whose purpose is to draw together professionals from all conservation specialties in an effort to facilitate the exchange of information concerning the preservation of skin products. The cost is $12/year, and checks should be made out to the Minnesota Historical Society. 3D

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Two books that are not published yet are:

The Compleat Binder: Studies in Book Making and Conservation in Honour of Roger Powell, edited by Guy Petherbridge. This has been announced as published by the Codicology Press in Austin, in 1991, but it wasn't. 3A3

Henry Wilhelm's book on color photographic materials. A rumor has been flying around that it had appeared at last, and one fellow believed so strongly in the rumor that he was even reluctant to accept the author's denial when he talked to him on the phone. 3F

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The Daguerreotype: Nineteenth-Century Technology and Modern Science, by M. Susan Barger and William B. White. Smithsonian Institution Press, 1991. 254 pp. ISBN 0-87474-348-6. Cloth. $60, + $2.25 postage & handling.

Order from Smithsonian Institution Press, Dept. 900, Blue Ridge Summit, PA 17294 (717/794-2148). 3F1

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The Book Arts & Conservation Workshop is both a newsletter and a new group of book arts enthusiasts, with the mailing address 816 Greeley, St. Louis, MO 63119 (314-961-5477). The group includes Curtis Finley, whose acid-free archival marbled papers in the classical Turkish style were described on the front page of the July 1984 issue of this Newsletter. Richard Baker addressed an audience of about 60 on the topic of conservation at the group's first meeting, March 23, 1991. 4B

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Amate is a Spanish-language newsletter published every two months, under the auspices of the OAS, by a group called Sistema Red Latinoamericano de Información en Materia de Conservación de Documentos. "Red" means "network." Volume 1, #3, for May/June, announces that very soon the organization will publish in Spanish a conservation manual by Ingrid Beck, director of conservation for the National Archives of Brazil; it reports a seminar on conservation to be taught in Quito Ecuador by Pablo Diaz of the University of Chicago; it lists RAMP publications, mostly in Spanish; and has short news items. Write the executive secretary, Licenciada Leonor Ortiz Monasterio, Archivo General de la Nación, Eduardo Molina y Albaniles, Col. Penitenciaria Ampliación, 15350-México, D.F., Mexico. ("Licenciada" is an honorific that means the person has the equivalent of a master's degree.) 2C2.6

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"A Preservation Action Agenda for Nebraska: Report and Recommendations to Preserve Nebraska's Documentary Collections." Nebraska Documents Advisory Council, April 1991. 39 pp. Lisa Fox of SOLINET was the project consultant for this NEH-funded planning project, which involved all types of repositories and all areas of Nebraska. In their two statewide planning conferences, delegates identified five priorities: 1) education and information, 2) access to supplies and services, 3) improvements in the physical environments of the collections, 4) bibliographical control and other aids to assigning priorities, and 5) legislative initiatives addressing these needs. The plan addresses these priorities both directly and indirectly, and is organized like an ARL Preservation Planning Program Report, listing strategies, key agencies and action dates. 4C4.4

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"Report on the Preservation Planning Project, University of Pennsylvania Libraries." September 1991; copies are available from the Commission while supplies last. 41 pp.

What was different about this project was its emphasis on contracted services. It explored the possibilities of a flexible management strategy to minimize in-house staffing, optimize capacity to use fluctuating library resources, concentrate costs on work products rather than internal overhead, and otherwise get more preservation work done with the limited funds available. For other institutions that may want to adopt the idea or carry it further, the report helpfully chronicles the way thinking developed as the project went on, and even reproduces some of the correspondence between the Penn Library and CCAHA, MAPS and Peter Sparks, who served as consultant. The conclusion is that the idea will work, though it needs a certain minimal level of library staff to be involved in the inescapable preservation decisions and processing that must be done inhouse; also, it takes two years, rather than one, to set up a strategy for a library that size. The project was funded by the Mellon Foundation, University of Pennsylvania Libraries, and the Commission on Preservation and Access. 1G

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"A Preservation Plan for the National Agricultural Library," is the result of an ARL Preservation Planning Program study. The preface by Sally Buchanan describes some of the needs uncovered by the task forces involved in this self-study: brittle paper (27%), acidic paper (25%), lack of a fire suppression system, and no disaster plan. The 41-page report makes specific recommendations (e.g. "designate agricultural materials published prior to 1900 as rare or of historical importance and relocate materials to a secure area"), but it also proposes that the Library assume a leadership role in preserving agricultural literature nationwide. This is important, because agricultural literature consists of more than pamphlets on how to grow soybeans. It includes all or part of many sciences and fields of study: biology, geography, nutrition, veterinary medicine, ecology, energy production, economics, sociology, toxicology, horticulture, and more. 1A1

(NAL's broader leadership goal is described on p. 2-5 of Technicalities for December 1991, in "Agricultural Literature: Planning the Preservation of a National Resource," by Peggy Johnson. The author gives sensible justifications for preserving agricultural literature and reports a preconference on preservation of agricultural literature last October, at a meeting of the United States Agricultural Information Network.) 2.6

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Review and Assessment Committee Final Report, September 26, 1991. [This is an external review of the first five years' work of the Commission on Preservation and Access.] Members were Arthur L. Norberg, William D. Schaefer, David H. Stam (chair) and L. Yvonne Wulff. The 37-page report is available from the Commission.

The committee's charge was fourfold: to assess the progress in preservation in the nation over the past five years; assess the continuing need for preservation activities and identify the most tractable and essential issues; review and assess the Commission's role, identifying the areas of preservation in which it can be most effective; and recommend directions for future Commission activities. It used the statement of purpose in the bylaws as a framework, and gathered opinions from dozens of individuals and groups in preservation and scholars in both scientific and humanistic studies.

On the matter of selection for preservation, the Committee unanimously favored giving preservation priority to the great collections rather than to the individual books that were most used. It identified as most important (tractable and essential) the following needs: 1) preservation of archival materials, and materials in nonprint formats; 2) a better way of storing masters and disseminating copies of reformatted (usually this means microfilmed) materials; 3) more solutions to technical problems; 4) more international cooperation on access to microfilms; 5) more efforts by libraries to get funds from nonfederal sources; and 6) more preservation education at all levels. It reports that critical comment among those interviewed focused on the priority given to brittle books over mass deacidification, nonprint formats and a national strategy for preservation, and on the Commission's failure to see preservation as a whole, involve experts from the field in its work, or seek legislative funds for anything but microfilming. At the same time, the Commission received high praise for raising the consciousness of the public about the need for alkaline paper, disseminating valuable information through its newsletter, developing ties with the international community, supporting appropriations for the NEH's brittle books program, and other accomplishments. The Committee makes 20 recommendations to the Commission, which are generally valuable and useful, but are too numerous to summarize here. Anyone who feels the need for a "national program" as a framework for their local efforts should get a copy of this report, because this report touches on all the major issues that would be involved in such a program and may one day be used as a foundation document for setting one up. 1A

Standards & Practical Guides

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Guide to Environmental Protection of Collections, by Barbara Appelbaum. AIC, 1400 16th St., NW, Suite 340, Washington, DC 20036. $39. 2C

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Pickett &c Lemcoe's Preservation and Storage of Sound Recordings is back in print again after many years, thanks to the initiative of the ARSC Associated Audio Archives Committee. The reference is: A. G. Pickett and M. M. Lemcoe, Preservation and Storage of Sound Recordings: A Study Supported by a Grant from the Rockefeller Foundation. Originally published in 1959 by the Library of Congress and never superseded. 74 pages. Available for $20 postpaid from ARSC Executive Director Publications Orders, PO Box 10162, Silver Spring, MD 20914. The SAA is also selling it. 3H

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ASTM E-1442, Standard Guide for Test Methods for Forensic Writing Ink Comparison, is a new publication that may be useful to paper conservators. It was produced by Subcommittee E30.02 on Questioned Documents, which is under ASTM Committee E-30 on Forensic Sciences. Its aim is to serve as a general guide for forensic ink examinations, both for the experienced document examiner and for those unfamiliar with previously reported procedures, and it includes those techniques which will provide the most information about an ink with the least damage to the document. It will not help in dating ink or telling who manufactured it, but it does help to tell whether the ink in question is the same or different from the ink on other parts of the same document or other documents. 3A9.3

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Libraries and Archives: Design and Renovation with a Preservation Perspective, by Susan Swartzburg with Holly Bussey and Swartzburg's architect brother Frank Garretson, was published in 1991 by Scarecrow Press. 235 pp. $27.50. 1N

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Perspectives on Natural Disaster Mitigation is a compilation of the papers presented at the grant-funded Natural Disaster Mitigation Workshop held at the 1991 AIC meeting. None of the speakers is from a library or archive but much of the material presented is relevant to any institution, for instance, the paper by a fellow from the U.S. Geological Survey on natural hazard risk; the mental health consultant's paper on people in emergencies; and the sociologist's paper on the events of an emergency. The compilation is available from the AIC while supplies last (call Sarah Z. Rosenberg, 202/232-6636), and it costs nothing not even to libraries--but there is a shipping and handling fee of $7 per copy. 2F1

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"Humidity Stabilized Displays: Practical Designs for Sealed Exhibit Cases" was a talk given at the October meeting of the Washington Conservation Guild by Toby Raphael of the National Park Service at the Harpers Ferry Center. It is reported in helpful detail by Suzanne Thomassen-Krauss on p. [4-5] of the Guild's Newsletter for November 1991. The Harpers Ferry lab has been working on practical exhibit case designs which can control or eliminate many agents of deterioration. Some sealant products recommended were Innerprotect 1000, a 100% solid epoxy coating, and Polyglaze, a water-soluble urethane; also certain solid laminates; and a particle board made with a phenolic resin (Resincore II). 2C2.2

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Preservation Program Models: A Study Project and Report, by Jan Merrill-Oldham, Carolyn Clark Morrow and Mark Roosa. ARL, Washington, DC, 1991. 54 pp. The price on the verso of the title page for nonmembers of ARL is $60, but this is wrong: it is $40, and well worth it. Members pay $20.

This grant-funded study was performed at the instigation of ARL's Committee on Preservation of Research Library Materials, and addresses the needs of library administrators who want to have effective preservation programs and want to assess their progress in developing them. It conceptualizes preservation in ways that even an administrator without a preservation background can handle, listing ten program components (preservation activities) and discussing each in terms of rationale, administrative issues and policy implications, human and material resources, and developmental phases. The ten program components are:

Organization and staffing models for mature programs (in other words, what to aim for) and benchmarks for selected activities are given for libraries of four different sizes. Case histories are given from four universities: The Universities of Delaware, Connecticut, and California at Berkeley, and Ohio State University. This should make interesting and instructive reading for preservation administrators, too. 1G

Bibliographies and Other Lists

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Art Hazards News Special Resource Issue, v.14 #3, 1991. On the 14th anniversary of the Center for Safety in the Arts, the center has published eight closely spaced pages listing occupational health and safety organizations, agencies and institutions in the U.S. and Canada which provide services to visual and performing artists: health clinics, poison control centers, safety supply sources, NIOSH and OSHA offices, and household hazardous waste contacts. It also includes a list of publications available from the Center for Safety in the Arts. Contact Art Hazards News, 5 Beekman St., Ste 1030, New York, NY 10038, for a subscription ($38/year) or information about obtaining this special issue. 6F2

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Bibliography, "Management of Electronic Records," compiled by Jeffery T. Hartley. ALIC Bibliography 5, June 1991. 276 items, with a 5-page author index. Contact the Archives Library Information Center, NARA, Washington, DC 20408 (202/501-5423). 3G

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Guide to Photographic Collections at the Smithsonian Institution: Vol. II. ISBN 1-56098-033-8. Published by the Smithsonian Institution Press, Oct. 1991. $40. For information contact Lisa Mincey, 2021287-3738 x343.

The first volume of this series was favorably reviewed in the October issue of this Newsletter. Volume II describes the photographic collections at four divisions or museums in the Smithsonian Institution, all of them scientific and most of them involving the life sciences:

National Museum of Natural History
National Zoological Park
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute 6A

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The Conservation Unit Conservation Sourcebook. 1991 ed. 122 pp. London: HMSO. (Originally published by the Crafts Advisory Committee, 1979) Available in North America from UNIPUB, 4611-F Assembly Drive, Lanham, MD 20706-4391 (30V459-7666 or 800/274-4888; Fax 301/459-0056). $35 + postage & handling. Ask for #HM9439.

This is not a sourcebook of supplies, but a listing of British organizations relevant to the preservation of artifacts and buildings. It is a lot of fun to browse through. Information is given about the interests and activities of such organizations as Friends of Friendless Churches, the Bead Society of Great Britain, the Thirties Society, and the Tool and Trades History Society, as well as almost 50 that deal with paper or books (e.g., the British Association of Paper Historians), archival records (e.g., the Centre for Archival Polymeric Materials), or conservation (e.g., the UKIC). 4B

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"Common Solvents and Their Hazards" is a four-page pull-out chart in v.14 #4 (1991) of Art Hazards News, giving for each solvent the threshold limit value, flash point, vapor pressure, organs affected, symptoms, and comments. The solvents are grouped by class: 7 alcohols, 8 aliphatic hydrocarbons, 5 aromatic hydrocarbons, 9 chlorinated hydrocarbons, 6 esters, 3 ethers, 4 glycols, 5 glycol ethers and their acetates, 7 ketones, and 5 others. The sources of the information cited are given in seven references. 6F2

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