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YUL Conservation and Exhibition Services

~ Preservation Department, Yale University Library

YUL Conservation and Exhibition Services

Monthly Archives: November 2014

Voynich on View: Not Your Typical Library Loan

21 Friday Nov 2014

Posted by cemccarthy in Technical examination, Uncategorized

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Folger Library, parchment, Pergamena, Voynich manuscript

Preparing the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library’s infamous Voynich Manuscript for a loan to the Folger Shakespeare Library involved much more than documenting condition and evaluating the facilities report.  Folger conservators and curators planned to make the Voynich the focus of a symposium to be held in conjunction with their exhibition, Decoding the Renaissance, curated by Bill Sherman.  Over the course of a year, YUL’s Assistant Chief Conservator, Paula Zyats, coordinated the gathering of as much information as possible about the manuscript and its material composition.  This involved creating new high resolution and multispectral imaging of the manuscript, Raman spectroscopy for the media, and protein sequencing for the parchment.  Zyats worked closely with scientists, Aniko Bezur and Jens Stengers, from Yale’s Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage to carry out much of this analysis.

Early this month, Zyats, the scientists, and Beinecke curators joined the Folger’s team and other invited experts to review the data from the recent testing and from previous testing (pigment/ink analysis and radiocarbon dating). Although the discussions were informative and the data helped to rule out some theories, no one was able to crack the Voynich’s code.

Symposium participants discuss the Voynich manuscript in the Folger's conservation laboratory.

Symposium participants discuss the Voynich manuscript in the Folger’s conservation laboratory.

Paula Zyats and Aniko Bezur discussing analytical testing results with symposium participants

Paula Zyats and Aniko Bezur discussing analytical testing results with symposium participants

Pergamena's Jesse Meyer talks with participants about parchment manufacture

Pergamena’s Jesse Meyer talks with participants about parchment manufacture

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Winchester Countdown: A Visit to the Construction Site

14 Friday Nov 2014

Posted by cemccarthy in Countdown to Winchester, Uncategorized

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Conservation & Exhibition Services laboratory, construction, lab design, Winchester

Tuesday we visited the construction job site to see the progress being made on the new Conservation & Exhibition Services laboratory spaces. The framing for many of the walls is in place, which makes it possible to picture the labs as they will be in 2015.

aqueous_paper

View of functional areas for wet treatment, solvent use, and technical study and examination (from the front door hallway

 

main treatment space

View of main treatment workspace where the book conservator and technician benches will be located.

 

IMG_3384

Inside the exhibits production and custom housing space. This corner show where the exhibits production coordinator’s office space will be located, along with her student assistants

 

Back door and hallway leading to exhibits/housing (doorway on right).

Back door and hallway leading to exhibits/housing (doorway on right). Exhibits will open into the main treatment space to allow for easy and frequent collaboration with conservators and technicians

IMG_3396

View through the lab’s back entrance, showing the locations of the supply storage room and the dirty room, where particularly messy tasks can be done without introducing debris or dust into the primary workspace.

 

 

 

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Winchester Countdown: 232 days till move in!

11 Tuesday Nov 2014

Posted by cemccarthy in Uncategorized

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wichester_blog232

A few of YUL’s conservators had lunch this Thursday with colleagues from the MET’s Watson Library conservation program.  The MET folks were visiting campus today to see the Odd Volumes exhibit at the Yale Art Gallery and related exhibits at the Haas Family Arts Library and New Haven’s ArtSpace.  The lunch talked turned to lab planning – the Watson underwent a major renovation not too long ago and we are anticipating moving into our new facility in July of 2015.

Discussing our plans and the ways in which our new laboratories will support the Yale Library’s conservation program got us excited all over again. Our new labs will offer new opportunities for collaborating with colleagues, hosting symposia and workshops, and becoming a site for 3rd-year conservation graduate school internships.  With our enthusiasm renewed after lunch at Mory’s (a Yale tradition since 1849!), we officially begin the conservation countdown to the opening of the Preservation Department space at Science Park!  Just 232 days to go!

 

 

 

 

 

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