Preservation Awareness Project
Disasters & Quiet Catastrophes: Prevention and Recovery

Recovery of Wet Materials

This workshop will include instruction and hands-on practice in techniques for salvaging wet library materials. Particular concerns of recovering wet books, paper documents, and photographic materials will be demonstrated and through hands-on exercises. Participants should wear casual, comfortable clothes appropriate for removing wet books from tubs of water and packing them in cartons. This workshop will take place in the Conservation Laboratory of Cornell University Library.

Links to Cornell Maps and Parking Info:

http://www.cornell.edu/maps/
http://www.transportation.cornell.edu/tms/cms/parking/campusparking/visitors/shortterm.cfm

Presenters:
Michele Brown is head of Book Conservation at Cornell University, and a graduate of Fordham University. She received a certificate in Hand Bookbinding and Restoration from the Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts, England in 1977. She has been involved in book conservation since 1977, and has been a contract conservator for Harvard University, Dartmouth College, the Boston Athenaeum, and the University of Vermont, as well as a book conservator at the Boston Public Library, before taking over the management of the book conservation operation at Cornell in 1995. She has taught numerous bookbinding classes and conducted many workshops on care and handling of library materials, disaster preparedness, and mold remediation. She is a member of the Guild of Book Workers, and the American Institute for Conservation (AIC).

Michele Hamill is the paper and photograph conservator at Cornell University Library and is involved principally with photograph collections care and treatment.  Ms Hamill is a 1991 graduate of the University of Delaware/Winterthur Museum program with a Master of Science degree in Art Conservation.  Following her internship at the Library of Congress in 1990, she worked at the Library of Congress from 1991 to 1996.  Before being appointed to her present position at Cornell in 1997, Ms Hamill worked at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. She is a Professional Associate of the American Institute for the Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works.

Related Sessions Disasters & Quiet Catastrophes Series: Prevention and Recovery