The Library of Congress has benefited from valuable contributions of five advanced interns in the field of book and paper conservation during the past year. The Conservation Division graduated these interns in November.
Conservation interns and volunteers (from left) Lauren Habenicht, Jean Baldwin, Fletcher Durant, Beatriz Haspo, Carol Ann Small, Monica Howell, Lisa Barro and Tamara Ohanyan with Director for Preservation Mark Roosa (second from right). - Marita Clance
Jean Baldwin, Beatriz Haspo, Lisa Barro, Carol Ann Small and Tamara Ohanyan were competitively selected by the Conservation Division from a pool of applicants wanting to be Book, Preventive, Photograph and Paper Conservation Advanced Interns for the 2001 academic year.
Jean Baldwin is a graduate student in the Conservation Studies program at the University of Texas in Austin and a specialist in letterpress printing, paper making and the conservation of rare books. She has been working with Yasmeen Khan, a senior conservator, on the conservation treatments of Islamic bound materials, including a copy of Nasri's Ethics and Layla we majnun. Ms. Baldwin has found these projects to be the most challenging and rewarding during her time with the Library, as Islamic manuscript, paper and binding traditions are very different from corresponding Western traditions in book making and require specialized training and research.
Lisa Barro came to the Library with a strong scientific background in the technical analysis of artists' materials as a graduate student in conservation at the Institute of Fine Arts of New York University. Her aim was to gain additional experience in the conservation treatment of photographs and paper materials with complex condition problems. She accomplished her goal by working on a variety of treatments, such as the research and reassembly of a William Morris Hunt lithograph print from the Prints and Photographs Division, the consolidation and repair of 40 cartes-de-visites from the Adolph Metzner Album of Civil War photographs, also from the Prints and Photographs Division, and the transparent tissue lining of a series of 19th century abolitionist newspapers from the Marian S. Carson collection in the Manuscript Division. Ms. Barro has worked closely with Andrew Robb, a senior photo conservator, and cited the cartes-de-visites project in particular as a good lesson in time management and organization, given that the project involved complicated treatments on many items within a proscribed period of time.
Beatriz Haspo, a graduate of the Technical Institute for Restoration and a practicing conservator from Sao Paolo, Brazil, is the first intern in Preventive Conservation at the Library. In this capacity she has worked with Ann Seibert, a senior conservator, in organizing and implementing Library-wide preservation services such as disaster preparedness and recovery for collection material, staff training in the care and handling of materials and environmental monitoring of collections using a variety of new technology tools and software. She also worked with Mr. Robb and Dan De Simone, Lessing Rosenwald Curator of Rare Books, in designing and executing a new condition survey for the Rosenwald Collection in the Rare Book Division. This project will result in a searchable database of the collected information for both the Rare Book and Conservation divisions. Ms. Haspo will be continuing in her position as the new Getty Institute Preventive Conservation Fellow at the Library during 2001-2002.
Tamara Ohanyan graduated from the Yerevan State Pedagogical University in Armenia and is a professional conservator with the Matenadaran Research Institute of Ancient Manuscripts. Her internship at the Library has given her a chance to learn more about American techniques in book conservation. Ms. Ohanyan has conserved a 19th century Russian atlas on blue paper from the Geography and Map Division under the direction of John Bertonaschi, a senior conservator of rare books. Maria Nugent, head of the Book and Paper Treatment Section, guided Ms. Ohanyan's conservation treatment of an 18th century National Gazette from the Serial Records Division, and Yasmeen Khan provided support for her treatment of a 17th century Armenian manuscript on parchment from the African and Middle Eastern Division. Ms. Ohanyan is also an accomplished miniature painter and has taken the opportunity to use the Conservation Division's technical facilities, with the assistance of this writer to identify pigments used in the ancient as well as modern Armenian painter's palette.
Carol Ann Small is a graduate student at the Winterthur-University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation, with an M.A. in art history from Syracuse University. Ms. Small has worked on a variety of projects from different special collections in the Library, including the treatment of an Andrew Jackson letter from the Manuscript Division, an album from the Prints and Photographs Division of etchings by Felix Buhot called Japonisme, which had suffered from mold damage and an Indian miniature requiring consolidation of flaking pigments from the African and Middle Eastern Division. Most recently, Ms. Small completed the conservation treatment of 35 Joseph Pennell charcoal drawings, watercolors and pastels under the direction of Linda Morenus, a senior conservator. Sixteen of the charcoal images were reproduced as illustrations in Henry James's book London Hours, from 1905. The drawings were in extremely fragile condition and required separation or removal from poor quality crumbling backings in order to allow them to be accessible to researchers.
Ms. Small, Ms. Haspo, Ms. Baldwin and Ms. Barro all received Pulitzer Fellowships from the Library of Congress during the past year in order to continue their work.
In addition to the excellent work contributed by the five advanced interns, the Conservation Division has also had the benefit of four volunteers this summer. Fletcher Durant of Wesleyan University has assisted in the survey and rehousing of the William Wirt and Marian Carson collections of the Manuscript Division. Lauren Habenicht assisted in the Ansel Adams Manzanar matting project. Monica Howell of the University of Maryland worked with Jesse Munn, a senior conservator, in the survey and rehousing of the Naxi manuscripts from western China in the Asian Division. Rachel Waldron, a graduate of George Washington University, has assisted Rikki Condon, a senior conservator, in the preparation of exhibit material and Kaare Chafee, a conservator, in the opera libretto rehousing project of the Music Division.
"The interns and fellows of today are the leaders of tomorrow who will conserve our national cultural heritage," said Mark Roosa, director for preservation. "Our aim is to educate and inspire each class to pursue new standards of excellence in this important work."
