CCAHA

This spring, Art-i-facts looks at the preservation of personal papers that shed light on both family history and broader historical events—including journals from early explorers and the letters of Rabbi Mordecai M. Kaplan from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College Archives.

The grant is one of 788 Art Works grants and part of $24.81 million in funding awarded nationwide. CCAHA's 2012-2013 Advanced Fellow will work with trained conservators to gain hands-on experience in treating a wide range of materials.

This week, ALA-ALCTS celebrates Preservation Week with nationwide events and activities that highlight what we can do to preserve our personal and shared collections. And on May 1, Heritage Preservation sponsors MayDay to encourage disaster preparedness.

With science backing them up, conservators rarely encounter an unknown variable during treatment—but one CCAHA conservator recently uncovered a surprise when she removed the lining paper from a print brought in by a private client.

Photograph Conservator Rachel Wetzel was pleasantly surprised when a fragile American ivorytype, a rare photographic process first produced in the mid-1850s, recently arrived in the lab. Treatment would have had a limited success rate, but digital imaging provided a solution.

CCAHA is currently seeking applicants for our Risk Assessment and Preservation Needs Assessment programs. Through funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, CCAHA is able to offer a limited number of subsidized assessments for $350.

The document has quite a history, having passed through many hands (and traveled across many states) in its 250 years. Read about it on The Press's website, or tune in to NJTV's NJ Today program for a related story.

A Save America's Treasures grant has brought a collection of Pennsylvania German manuscripts from the Free Library of Philadelphia's Rare Book Department to CCAHA. Conservators will address iron-gall ink corrosion, deteriorated covers, and flaking leather bindings.

Less commonplace today, the colorful sugar dots known as Candy Buttons were once a childhood staple.  "Candy Bottoms," a work reminiscent of the candy (but with a slight twist), recently arrived at CCAHA for conservation treatment.

CCAHA is now accepting applications for Tracks I, II, and III of its Philadelphia Stewardship Program.  These grant-funded tracks are designed to aid nonprofit institutions in caring for their collections and offer preservation planning assistance.