Learning the Basics

Hi! I’m Nicole, and I’m the newest member of the Preservation Lab.

Portrait of Nicole Browning
Nicole Browning makes a corrugated clamshell enclosures

When I was interviewing for the position of Conservation Assistant, I did a deep dive into what preservation and conservation really mean. I read through blog posts and perused the Lab’s Instagram, trying to get a grasp on what exactly the lab did. Little did I know, these snapshots into lab life hardly even scratched the surface.

Materials and Tools

My first week as a Conservation Assistant was full of learning, from what types of boards and paper supplies are available, to how to create a pamphlet binder and sew music scores. I had no idea there were so many types of paper out there, and I was ignorant about how many tools there exist simply to cut these pieces of paper. My hand skills were immediately put to the test with learning the stitches used to attach pamphlets to protective premade binders, which create a hard cover for these otherwise soft materials. I was also instructed in which methods of cutting are best for which practices and types of paper, such as board shears for larger pieces of Bristol or corrugated board, scalpels and Olfas for small, precision cutting, and even a corner cutter to clean up the corners of your pamphlet binders!

A music score lays on a bench with a needle and thread used for conservation sewing.
Sewing parts of a music score with a needle and thread.

Enclosures

Over the next few weeks, I was thrust into a whole new world of enclosures after learning about pamphlet binders and music scores. Enclosures are typically boxes that are used to keep a book or object safe from light, dust, and other environmental factors that can harm the item over time.

Tuxedo boxes

Creating tuxedo boxes was an exciting and fun challenge, as getting all the measurements right and being precise is so important. These boxes take a lot of focus to make, and attaching the two pieces of board can be daunting, as you must make sure not to overlap the folds and ruin the whole box.

Front view of a tuxedo box
View of a tuxedo box opened next to the book it will house.

A finished tuxedo box on the left, and the two pieces of an unfinished tuxedo box opened to show the full spread of the box on the right.

Corrugated Clamshells

Corrugated clamshell boxes came next, with their in depth measuring and precision crimping and cutting. Like a tuxedo box, these boxes offer better storage from light and dust, and are a more structured enclosure. Where they differ, though, is they are made from corrugated board rather than Bristol board, and this offers more support to items that need a little boost of structural help. These boxes are made from one piece of board that is cut and folded into a clam-like box that opens on one end and is attached at the spine.

A flat corrugated blue board that has been cut and pre-folded, ready to form into a box.
A corrugated clamshell during the construction process. This clamshell still needs it’s ends glued in to create it’s box shape.

General Collections Treatment

My final big learning project was cloth tape removal, which was something completely different, making it very enjoyable to learn. Cloth tape removal is taking off old adhesive tape that has been applied to materials that is now falling apart. To remove cloth tape, a poultice of methyl cellulose is applied in thirds to the tape. Introducing moisture to the adhesive allows you to slowly and carefully use a Casselli microspatula to loosen and remove the tape, leaving behind only the original materials.

General collections treatment removing a cloth spine hinge with a methyl cellulose poultice.

An old pamphlet that’s been bound together with cloth tape in the middle of the removal process. Weights hold down pieces of Mylar to keep the pamphlet cover from absorbing any of the poultice. The cloth tape is the grey strip on the right of the pamphlet, and you can see where some of the tape has been removed and what still needs to be done.

Final Impressions

I’ve learned so much over my first month at the lab, but so far corrugated clamshells have been my favorite. It’s been so fun to grow my hand skills and to see how much of a difference one month can make, and I’m so excited to expand my horizons and learn more about the lab in the upcoming months!

Nicole Browning, Conservation Assistant [CHPL]

Position Announcement – Associate Dean for Collections

The University of Cincinnati Libraries seeks a strategic, outcomes-focused leader to fill the Associate Dean for Collections (AD) position.  The AD for Collections will lead the overall strategy and direction for units associated with collections, including acquisitions, metadata, digital projects and digitization, e-resource management, physical collections management, and preservation.  To review the full job description and apply, visit  https://jobs.uc.edu/job/Cincinnati-Associate-Dean-for-Collections-OH-45201/1161779000/

brick library building
University of Cincinnati, Langsam Library

Preservation Week Panel Discussion on Public Digital Collections of Conservation Treatment Documentation

For Preservation Week 2024, Duke University Libraries will host a virtual panel discussion about Public Digital Collections of Conservation Treatment Documentation on Thursday May 2 at 11 am EDT. Conservation representatives from four institutions (The British Museum, The Preservation Lab (Cincinnati, Ohio), Duke University Libraries, and Stanford Libraries) will share their experiences in building and sharing their institutions’ digital collections of conservation treatment documentation. Panelists will introduce their collections and discuss topics such as digital preservation of treatment records, metadata creation, linking to catalog records and finding aids, and potential privacy and copyright issues. 

The free webinar will take place at 11 am Eastern Daylight Time (8 am Pacific Daylight Time/ 4 pm British Summer Time) and will last 60-70 minutes. The panel will be recorded and the video will be shared with registered attendees upon request.

A recording of the webinar and available resources is now available in this shared folder.

Additional information

Host

Beth Doyle, Preservation Officer; Leona B. Carpenter Senior Conservator; and Head, Conservation Services Department (she/her)

Panelists

  • Louisa Burden, Head of Conservation, British Museum
  • Ashleigh Ferguson Schieszer, Book and Paper Conservator, Co-Lab Manager, (she/her)
  • Erin Hammeke, Senior Conservator for Special Collections, Duke University Libraries (she/they)
  • Ryan Lieu, Conservation Operations Coordinator, Stanford Libraries (he/him)

Collection Links

British Museum

Duke University Libraries

Preservation Lab

Stanford Libraries

Click the image above to see the Preservation Lab’s online documentation repository

Further Info

If you’re attending the American Institute for Conservation’s annual meeting, either virtually or in-person, be sure to attend the talk Demystifying our Metadata: Making Conservation Documentation Accessible in The Digital Library at the University of Illinois where I look forward to hearing about their solutions for similar challenges we faced when beginning our collection in 2015!

Ashleigh Ferguson Schieszer, Conservator [CHPL]

You’re invited to the PRESERVATION LAB OPEN HOUSE!

Driving & Parking Directions

We recommend parking in Woodside Garage
(2913 Woodside Drive) connected to Langsam Library – where the Preservation Lab is located.  The garage is located on the corner of MLK Drive W. and Woodside Dr.  When you turn onto Woodside Dr., it will be the 1st parking garage on your right.

Once you park in the garage, take the stairs or elevator to the entrance of Langsam Library.  Once you enter into the library, follow the signs down to the lab!

New Exhibit at DAAP Library – Women Artists, Patrons, and Rulers in Renaissance Europe (March 7 – April 8, 2024)

  • MS. no. 2 (ARB Library)
  • MS. no. 37 (ARB Library)
  • Catharina van Hemessen’s Scourging of Christ (1556)

Stop by DAAP to see a new exhibit and participate in the gallery talks:

March 18, 1:00-1:30pm, Exhibition Gallery Talk
“Women Artists, Patrons, and Rulers in Renaissance Europe: Introduction to the Exhibition,” DAAP Library (across from Circulation desk), Christopher Platts (University of Cincinnati Assistant Professor of Art History and exhibition co-curator)

March 28, 12:30-1:00pm, Exhibition Gallery Talk
“Catharina van Hemessen’s Scourging of Christ: Painting Materials and Techniques in Sixteenth-century Europe,” DAAP Library (across from Circulation desk), Michael Ruzga (Director and Head of Conservation, Fine Arts Conservation, Inc. and exhibition co-curator)

April 3, 12:30-1:00pm, Exhibition Gallery Talk
“Women Artists in Renaissance and Early Baroque Europe,” DAAP Library (large seminar room), Lauren Tate (University of Cincinnati Assistant Professor of Art History)

April 4, 4:00-5:30pm, Exhibition Reception and Gallery Talk
Reception: 4:00-5:00pm; Galllery Talk: “Women Artists, Patrons, and Rulers in Renaissance Europe: Introduction to the Exhibition”, 5:00-5:30pm, DAAP Library (across from Circulation desk), Christopher Platts (University of Cincinnati Assistant Professor of Art History and exhibition co-curator)

Learn more at this website.

Special shout out to the lab’s Jessica Ebert and Catarina Figueirinhas for assisting with the exhibition of the bound materials.

Nests and Eggs on Display at the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra

Illustrations of the Nests and Eggs of Birds of Ohio are on display at the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra March 1st and 2nd as part of a musical program honoring Oliver Messiaen who was both a major composer of the 20th century and an ornithologist.

Synesthesia

Oliver Messiaen is well known for studying bird songs and interpreting their notes into musical transcriptions. His works are also unique in that Messiaen experienced synesthesia which greatly influenced his creations. Synesthesia is when a person perceives more than one sense at a time, such as Messiaen who experienced colors when listening to music and was able to see sounds. 

Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Program

The program at the CSO honors Messiaen by incorporating both music, color, and bird visuals to invite the audience to experience a unique multi-sensory experience. Messiaen’s Des canyons aux étoiles (“From the Canyons to the Stars”) will be performed  by the conductor, Matthias Pintscher, and pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard.

Click the image for a link to the digital program for the CSO Proof: From the Canyons to the Stars

“Inspired by his visits to Utah’s Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park, Messiaen’s Des canyons aux étoiles (“From the Canyons to the Stars”) depicts the birdsong and red rock hues he experienced during his time in the desert… Accompanied by immersive video-art, Springer Auditorium will be transformed, allowing listeners to escape into the southwestern landscape and experience a synesthesia of their own.” – As described by the CSO website

Nests and Eggs

Complementing the musical performances, on display will be a page from Cincinnati and Hamilton County’s Illustrations of the nests and eggs.  The page showcases a local Ohio native, the Wood Thrush, who lays bright blue colored eggs within a nest made of old leaves, dried grasses and moss (rarely sticks).  The nest of the Wood Thrush also contains “rootlets” placed intentionally inside of the nest, resulting in a pinkish brown or black lining. The nest is “plastered” with a thin mud that is easily missed as it’s thoroughly worked in and covered.

Nests and Eggs, while lesser known than Audubon’s Birds of America, is quite extraordinary in how it highlights the uniqueness of the construction of nests made by different bird species. Take for instance, the Baltimore Oriole’s nest, which primarily consists of strings and flax fibers to create a soft and long pocket.  Compare that to the more traditional nest of the Wood Thrush whose home is bowl-shaped with a wide opening.

Baltimore Oriole – Plate 1
Wood Thrush – Plate II

It’s also extraordinary that the illustrations are detailed lithographic portraits created by Gabrielle Estelle Jones and her family, despite not having been formally trained.  Their work was intended to be used as a companion volume to John James Audubon’s Birds of America.  While not as large as the Birds of America double elephant folios, Eggs and Nests is still an impressively large-sized volume. 

Gabrielle “Gennie” Estelle Jones

The following excerpt was written by Sara Williams, Arts & Special Collections Reference Librarian:

Illustrations of the Nests and Eggs of Birds of Ohio was a project begun by Genevieve Estelle Jones, a native of Circleville, Ohio. Born May 13, 1847, Genevieve, or Gennie, spent much time as a young girl birdwatching in the woods and wetlands with her father, an amateur ornithologist. Just before the age of 30, Jones’ father forbade her from marrying the man she loved, and in 1876, she visited the Centennial World’s Fair in Philadelphia to take her mind off her broken heart. While there, she viewed hand-colored engravings from John James Audubon’s vibrant The Birds of America. Inspired by Audubon’s example, Jones set out to illustrate the nests and eggs of birds, an aspect often missing from his work. Jones completed only five illustrations for her book before she died of typhoid at the age of 32. The work was eventually completed by Genevieve Jones’ family. Only 90 copies of the book were published, of which only 34 are currently known to exist.  

Preservation

As part of the Preservation Lab’s role in displaying the object, a condition report book was created to accompany the item to ensure the object’s condition is preserved. This helps those who are installing anticipate any possible challenges in supporting fragile pages or bindings. In this case, the upper endsheets are extremely brittle and have been previously repaired, but could break again if not carefully draped and held with polyester strapping in a safe manner.

After determining a proper exhibit case to fit and secure the binding, a custom cradle was made. To protect weak points of the binding on display, a support was constructed out of 8 ply museum mat board to support the heavy and oversized pages from stress along the joint.  

Solutions were tested to fit within an 18 inch deep case, however, the book was just too large!
A custom 8 ply mat board cradle was created to fit within a more appropriate 4 ft case. Pages are strapped with polyester strapping

Before an object travels, it’s often reviewed to make sure it can handle transport and treated if necessary.  Luckily, in this case, the binding was treated in 2016 and is still in great condition for its age.  When it received treatment, at that time it received a lightweight yet strong enclosure that will also work well to safely protect the item for travel to the CSO.

Corrugated banker’s box with a drop spine houses the Nests and Eggs book. Binding and exhibit labels are ready for packing.
A 4-foot case was kindly loaned to the CSO from the Behringer-Crawford Museum and is ready for use! (Image credit: Amber Ostaszewski)
  • Entrance to the Founder’s Room
  • Bird sounds were played in the entryway
  • During staging of the exhibit
  • Nests and eggs on display in the Founder’s Room
  • The Founder’s Room
  • Night of the performance
  • Entering the theatre
  • Not visible are the camping chairs and fire pits in the orchestra pit

Additional Resources

Interested in seeing more Nests and Eggs?  The entire binding is conserved and digitized where it is made publicly available online. More information about Gennie’s fascinating and tragic history can be read at the Linda Hall website.

CSO Program Dates

There are two programs where you can view the item on display, Friday, March 1st and Saturday, March 2nd, both at 8pm at the Music Hall. Interested? Click here for the digital program.

We hope to see you there!

Ashleigh Ferguson Schieszer [CHPL] – Book and Paper Conservator, Co-Lab Manager

Unexpected History in a Photograph Collection

Catarina and I are working on rehousing a large series of College of Engineering class composites from the mid-1950s through the early 2000s. It is a fantastic visual timeline of 20th century photographic processes. It also perfectly charts cultural shifts through the decades (so many haircuts and mustaches!) There was even a gentleman that I sang in Chorus with during my years as a student here! But even beyond all of that, there were some unexpected tiny bits of Cincinnati history.  The University handles its own photography now, but that wasn’t always the case. The early class composites were done by local businesses. The bulk of them were done by three now-defunct studios: Pogue, Shillito’s, and Rob Paris Photography. If you are a Cincinnati native, you may have heard of them. If you are of a certain age, you may even have had your portraits done by one or all of them. (I personally had portraits taken at Shillito’s as a child.) What a fun little piece of history. Of all the things that I enjoy about working with the photographs in our collections, I think the unexpected finds may be my favorite!

  • The imprint of the H & S Pogue Department Store.
  • Close up of a composite photo with Rob Paris logo written in cursive script.
    Imprint of Rob Paris studio.
  • Photographer’s stamp found of the verso of several of the Rob Paris composites.
  • Close up of Shillito's logo, a capitol S and a capital P with close kerning, with a square around the letters.
    Imprint of the Shillito’s photo studio.

Hyacinth Tucker —- (UCL) Conservation Technician and Bindery Coordinator

What ſay you! A brief look at the “long s” and its usage

Introduction To The Long S

I was recently building an enclosure for a book dating back to 1681 entitled The Experienced Farrier. While examining this item I noticed something interesting about the spelling of certain words: often, rather than seeing what normally should be the letter “s” I would see what appeared to be the letter “f.”

Figure 1: An image from The Experienced Farrier, containing what appears to be “strange” spellings.

Since noticing this, I started seeing these seemingly bizarre spellings in other items dating to this period, as can be seen in the title page from a copy of Don Quixote from 1678.

Figure 2: An image of the text from Don Quixote, with further examples of these “strange” spellings.

Identifying The Long S

After some sleuthing, I discovered something interesting: these letters were not “f”s at all. They were a now defunct character known as the “long s.” Closer examination of these letters in the text showed that, although they closely resembled an “f,” the horizontal cross bar did not extend all the way across the letter; it starts on the left side and ends in the middle.

Figure 3: A close-up of the word “most” that uses the “long s.” Note that the horizontal cross bar stops at the center stem of the letter.
Figure 4: The “long s” (left) as compared to a lowercase “f” (right).

This solved some of the mystery, but what about the characters that looked like an “f” where the bottom of it curves to the left?

Figure 5: Another style of the “long s,” depicted as it would appear in cursive handwriting.

The answer is that this is also a “long s,” but depicted how it was written in cursive. If you feel like you’ve seen this character before, you’re probably correct: a notable example of this style of “long s” can be found in the first line of the Bill of Rights. Some may also recognize this character from calculus as the “integral” symbol.

Figure 6: The “long s” that occurs in the word “Congress” as it appears in the handwritten Bill of Rights.
Figure 7: The “integral” symbol used in calculus uses the same character used for the cursive-style “long s.”

When The Long S Was Used

You may have noticed in some of these examples that not every “s” is the long form. So, what exactly were the rules for when and where this character was used?

It’s difficult to say exactly, as the rules changed over time and writers/printers didn’t always adhere to the same rules. However, according to a blog from the National Archives, some simple guidelines for when and where the “long s” was used are as follows:

  • An “s” would use the long form if it appeared at the beginning or in the middle of a word, but only if it is a lowercase s. An uppercase S would not use the long form of the letter.
  • An “s” would not use the long form if it was the last letter in a word.
  • It was very common in the case of a “double s” or “ss”, as in the word “opossum”, for both “s”s to be the long form (opoſſum), unless the “ss” ended the word, as in the word “congress”, in which only the first “s” would be the long form (congreſs). *

*An observant reader may notice that this last rule is redundant given the first two rules; however, mentioning the “long s” in the case of an “ss” is significant in that as this character fell out of favor with writers/printers, one of the last remaining circumstances that utilized it was in the case of an “ss.”

Figure 8: Examples of when the “long s” was/was not used.

Final Observations

Gradually, the “long s” fell out of usage around the time of the late 1700’s-1820’s, although it persisted longer in handwriting. Serendipitously, while writing this blog post, the lab received a first edition copy of Goblin’s Market with a handwritten note inside from the author, Christina Rossetti dating to 1862 that features this use even in the late 19th century:

Figure 9: Although difficult to read, this is the word success (ſucceſs) from a handwritten note dating to 1862 that utilizes the “long s” several decades after it fell out of common usage in printed media.

If you still find words containing a “long s” difficult to read, you aren’t alone; it has been theorized that it was phased out in favor of exclusive “short s” usage as they weren’t as easily confused with other letters and were found to be more legible. The disappearance of the “long s” is a good reminder that language, both written and spoken is fluid with ever evolving rules and norms.

Resources

For further information about the long s and its history be sure to check out these excellent blog posts, that were very helpful in the gathering of information for this post:

Matt McCoy, Conservation Specialist [CHPL]

Preservation and Exhibition: DAAP Library’s Teaching Collection & Upcoming Gallery Talk (12/5)

For the past six months, Jessica and Catarina have been working with the DAAP Library on housing their Teaching art collection, including prior acquisition and newly acquired items.  This collection consists of different art prints on paper, print plates and manuscript parchment leaves in need of long-term housing. In addition to housing, this collection is used for teaching in a classroom setting and for exhibition.

Most of the collection only requires simple matting systems, but some require more intricate matting systems such as the copper plate along with its print, a project mentioned in a previous blog post entitled How many magnets is too many magnets!?.

As some of the items of this collection were being prepared to go on exhibit, we had the opportunity to create mounts for other items, such as two parchment scrolls that were included in the exhibit. This was a fun project to work on, as it required us to create a support that would secure both scrolls, while providing an elegant solution for display.

To start, Jessica created a very rough small model with mat board, polyethylene strapping, and paper (as we always do with anything new in the lab, we do love model making!!). The model provided us the visual example that we needed to create the mount for the two scrolls.

Scroll mock-up
Small rough model created by Jessica
Scroll mock-up
Small rough model created by Jessica

With the model in mind, we were able to engineer a good system that would provide support for the scrolls and could be used for display. The scrolls were supported with foam rolls on the inside for the rolled ends, and secured with polyethylene strapping that only touched the foam. The sections of the scrolls that were going to be displayed were also secured with polyethylene strapping that wrapped around the mat board support through slits in the board. At the bottom, the mat board extended outwards creating a small shelf to support the end of the scroll.

Two scrolls mounted to mat board with strapping
Scrolls mounted and ready for exhibition.
Two scrolls mounted to mat board with strapping
Scrolls mounted and ready for exhibition.

A small “shelf” of mat board supports the bottom of the scrolls.

  • Catarina adjusting the strapping on the mount.
  • A small “shelf” of mat board supports the bottom of the scrolls.
  • A small “shelf” of mat board supports the bottom of the scrolls.
  • The foam rolls support the inside of the scrolls and are secured with polyethylene strapping.
  • Jessica securing the foam roll that supports the scroll.

As a result of all the mounting and matting we did for the Teaching Art collection and for the scrolls, each item is currently on display at the DAAP Library entrance case:

Image of the exhibit
Current display at the DAAP Library featuring the Teaching Art Collection.
Close up of the scroll mounted on exhibit
A close-up of the scroll mounted on exhibition.

If you are interested in learning more about our preservation considerations for exhibition of this collection, Catarina and Jessica will be giving a short gallery talk on Tuesday, December 5th at 1pm, at the DAAP Library entrance on the 5th floor.

Image of the gallery talk flyer

Catarina Figueirinhas [UCL] – Assistant Conservator

Fish gelatin: Spreading the word about a book conservator’s new friend

Last year around this time, the lab was fortunate to bring in book conservator and toolmaker, Jeff Peachey for a week-long intensive workshop to learn leather rebacking. While I always expect to walk away with new anticipated skills as advertised by the workshop, I’m ALSO always pleasantly surprised by the tangential tips and tricks shared along the way.  In the case of Peachey’s workshop, there were many! One of my favorites was his use of a fish gelatin.

While adhering spine linings to our text blocks, Peachey pulled out a small baggie of fish gelatin he brought with him to the workshop.  He poured the dry flaky powder into a small jar, added room temperature cold water, and mixed it until a liquid-y consistency.  He then added strained wheat starch paste to the gelatin and mixed with water until he was happy with the consistency.  He estimated it was a 40:60 ratio of gelatin to paste. 

Jeff Peachey taught a workshop at the Preservation Lab in Oct. 2022 where he first introduced us to a low-bloom fish gelatin for book conservation that didn’t require heat for use

If you’ve ever used gelatin before, you might be wondering – how is it possible to mix the gelatin without heating?  That’s the beauty of this product – it has a high molecular weight with low bloom strength and is produced from cold water fish which gives it this ability.  It might not be the strongest of the films with a 0-bloom strength, but for a book conservator doing paper repairs that need to be reversible yet strong, this combo still had an amazing tack when dry!

Peachey explained he first heard about the gelatin on a lab tour at the Weissman Center. He recalled Alan Puglia might have been the one who originally investigated the adhesive for pigment consolidation of hundreds of manuscripts for a show. The mention of a high molecular weight Norland fish gelatin was shared during a talk given at the American Institute for Conservation’s 44th annual meeting.  The talk was titled, The Challenge of Scale: Treatment of 160 Illuminated Manuscripts for Exhibition,” by Debora D. Mayer and Alan Puglia.

Peachey also doesn’t take credit for mixing the gelatin with wheat starch paste. He notes that even in Rene Matin Dudin’s 18th century manual, it discusses the “union” of paste and glue in the last paragraph below.

Peachey shares an excerpt by Rene Matin Dudin descripting his 18th century historic use of gelatin mixed with paste.

By the end of the week-long workshop, I had fallen in love with the properties of how well it adhered.  By itself, the fish gelatin had a long working time and didn’t stick until it was nearly dry – but when mixed with wheat starch paste, it combined the best of both worlds.  There was both the initial tack from the paste and a strong adhesion from the gelatin after dry.  I wasted no time in ordering my own sample supply.

Over the past year, I’ve slowly incorporated the fish gelatin in treatments and testing more applications. 

  • I first successfully used it to hinge-in heavy encapsulated sleeves into an album containing lung cross sections. After ultrasonically welding a paper hinge into an encapsulated sleeve, I applied the mix of wheat starch paste and fish gelatin to adhere the hinge to the scrapbook stubbing and had wonderful success.  I was able to adhere with confidence that the encapsulation would stay in place and was able to avoid disbinding and resewing.  At one point during treatment, I found I needed to reposition a hinge.  I am happy to report the mixture was as easily reversible as wheat starch paste alone!

Ashleigh Ferguson Schieszer uses the 40:60 mixture of fish gelatin and wheat starch paste to hinge encapsulations into an album, ensuring the heavy encapsulations with paper hinges stay adhered.

  • Most recently, I played around with using it for photographic emulsion consolidation. I used it first as a barrier layer before inpainting, and then to add sheen to in-painted photograph regions that were originally matte in comparison to the surrounding gelatin coating. It seemed extremely easy to apply and clean up was less messy than other photographic gelatins I’ve used in the past.  The sheen was just the right amount of gloss I needed without being overly shiny.  And, best of all, no heat required.
Before in-painting emulsion losses
After in-painting emulsion

Examples of photographic condition issues where the fish gelatin was tested: flaking emulsion was consolidated and a barrier layer was applied before inpainting

  • We’ve also used the gelatin to stabilze breaks in a wooden box originally used to house a Richter’s architecture game from the early 20th century.
Before Treatment
Inserting fish gelatin with syringe
Clamping box during the curing process
  • Jeff Peachey’ main use is to line spines. He’s found it not only has better adhesion than straight paste, but makes the spine feel slightly more solid and resistant to torsional forces
Applying fish gelatin to adhere spine linings
  • In the future, I imagine this gelatin would have excellent potential in media consolidation.
  • Jeff Peachey’ main use is to line spines. He’s found it not only has better adhesion than straight paste, but makes the spine feel slightly more solid and resistant to torsional forces.
  • In the future, I imagine this gelatin would have excellent potential in media consolidation.

In all these uses, I couldn’t be more thrilled to not have to pull out my baby bottle warmer to set a beaker of gelatin on.  As a result, there was no fuss in worrying about how long the gelatin was heated and if it was losing its properties due to heat.

Example of using a baby bottle or coffee warmer to re-heat pre-made gelatin during typical use

In terms of shelf life, the dried granules can be kept indefinitely like unmixed wheat starch paste.  Once mixed, Jeff suggests that he’s found the adhesive properties hold up for about a week in the fridge; however, it does begin to smell fishy after just a day. So unlike wheat starch paste, if you’re adverse to the fishy odor, you’ll only want to make up as much as you’re planning to use for one day. 

Interested in getting your hands on some?

I found the product used at Weisman is no longer supplied by Norland – but I was able to track down what appears to be the same product through AJINOMOTO NORTH AMERICA, INC.  If you’re interested in trying a sample, message Henry Havey, the Business Development Manager of Collagen & Gelatin at haveyh@ajiusa.com to request a sample of High Molecular Weight (HMW) dried fish gelatin. 

They provided me with a 500- gram sample at no cost and confirmed it was a Type A fish gelatin with a 0-bloom strength. Henry Harvey can also provide a pricing quote should you be interested in ordering a full supply which comes in 25 kg packs. They also provided the following product data info sheets:

Fish gelatin sample acquired by the lab in a 500 gram sample bag

While I still covet my isinglass cast films I created from boiling dried fish bladders, as well as our mammalian photographic grade type B gelatin, this HMW fish gelatin is a welcome addition I’ve added to my tool kit.

Ashleigh Ferguson Schieszer [CHPL[] – Special Collections Conservator, Co-Lab Manager

Bibliography: