Beanie Box: The ISU Freshman Beanie, ca. 1918

Click on image to enlarge.

Here in the Conservation Lab, I am currently treating the original of the photo shown above, a silver gelatin print of a football game at ISU on August 21, 1930.  Thanks to my oh-so-discreet arrows and captioning, you’ll notice two young men in the crowd wearing beanies.  These beanies, with alternating triangles in cardinal and  gold, are ISU freshman beanies (also called “prep caps”).  The beanies were worn by ISU freshman (emphasis on the men only) from 1916 until 1934.

The Library Special Collections and Archives holds a rare example of such a beanie from 1918.  Since campus tradition dictated burning the freshman beanies in a bonfire at an end-of-the-schoolyear “moving up” ceremony, surviving examples are few and far between.  This past spring, our undergraduate intern Alex Menard designed a special box for the beanie which would allow this artifact to be viewed by Library visitors — and even removed from its box for exhibit — without the beanie itself being handled.

First Mock-up.

Second Mock-up.

First, Alex built a few miniature mock-ups to test her design.  The first design was simple and elegant, but was not as structurally sturdy as she wanted it to be.  The second design added some reinforcements that worked beautifully, but also added a complicated drop-down front that Alex ultimately decided was unnecessary.

Museum-quality hat stand for the beanie.

Next, Alex ordered a museum-quality hat stand to support the beanie, and measured off the stand to get the exact measurements to use for the final box.  The sturdy final box functions easily, and allows a dramatic presentation of one of our treasured artifacts of ISU history.  Great work, Alex!

 

Preservation: Student Perspectives V (Final Installment)

This is the final post in our series from the students in Honors Seminar 321V, Smelling Old Books: The Art & Science of Preserving Our Past.  The students were asked to consider ways in which learning about heritage preservation has changed their attitude about any aspect of their relationship to the objects around them in their daily lives and habits.

Katie Gerst

I have been toying with the idea of becoming an art conservator for a few years, but I’m not entirely convinced that it is the correct path for me. The best I can do right now is prepare for the graduate school application process, and see what I decide when the time comes. It doesn’t hurt anything to take a few extra classes. Regardless of my choice to be a conservator or not, my material choices as an artist will forever be affected. I could purposely choose a medium that does not stand strong through the test of time, or I could pick a more stable material depending on the project.

Click on this image to visit AIC's "Become a Conservator" guide to conservation education and training.

When looking at my family’s photographs, I now see the adhesive backing of the photo albums as more than a producer of an annoying sound.  You know the sound: kind of like Velcro, but stickier. It’s not pleasant. Today, with a fresh set of preservation goggles, I now know that that adhesive backing could be a photograph killer! What would we do if our photos of the 1973 family reunion were destroyed? How would we remember the good times and the bad hair? Luckily, I am now equipped with the knowledge that I need to get those photos into a more stable photo environment. Also, it’s probably time to digitally back-up those images.

Claire Wandro

As a child, my weekends were spent following my mother around auctions and flea markets.  We would scavenge and barter for treasures others threw away.  My mother’s favorite finds were old black and white portraits from the early twentieth-century in which children sit rigidly on their parent’s knees and ghostlike brides stand in their long lace dresses next to their ancient husbands, both staring mysteriously into the camera.

Instead of storing these prized possessions in an album or frame, my mother pasted the portraits to the walls in the back hallway of our home.  Layer by leayer, she glued.  And in between strangers, my mother added images of her parents, our cousins our brothers and sisters.  Portrait by portrait our back hallway became a collage of familiar faces, sending us off in the mornings and welcoming us as we arrive home.  Photos yellow, they rip, and from time-to-time, they fall.  Then, my mother adds another and it too becomes part of our home and of our family.

These photos are not preserved or conserved.  They are not protected safely between the pages of an album or in the archivesof a library storage room.  But, the images and stories the strange and familiar faces represent are important to and valued, as part of our home and our every day lives.

 

Preservation: Student Perspectives IV

Today’s post is part of our continuing series of blog posts from the students in Honors Seminar 321V, Smelling Old Books: The Art & Science of Preserving Our Past.  The students were asked to consider ways in which learning about heritage preservation has changed their attitude about any aspect of their relationship to the objects around them in their daily lives and habits.

Sydney McKechnie

One thing that I’ve learned in this class is that clothing needs to be refolded about every six months. In my family we have a white, Chinese silk dress that all the girls in my family have worn for their First Eucharist. It’s kept in a box in a closet. It probably hasn’t been touched in 9 years. So, I’ve learned that we need to take it out once in a while, air it out, and refold it, so that it will still be in its original form by the time our various children can wear it. If we don’t refold it, the creasing can damage the fabric and leave permanent creases.

Kaylee Becker

I love sticky notes! In fact, I cover everything with them. I never thought sticky notes could be potentially damaging. That is until in class one day when Melissa mentioned an experience with her old college textbooks. She had put sticky notes in her textbooks years ago and had never removed them from the pages. Once she tried to take them out, the sticky notes left a residue mark on the pages. It makes sense because the sticky part of the note has glue in it. Now I am going to be more careful about where I put sticky notes and when I use them. I suppose I’ll have to start using sticky notes in moderation!

Amanda Bernemann

Before taking this class, I did not realize how eating in the library could affect the collections. I just assumed that as long as I was careful and didn’t spill anything directly on the books, it would be just fine. After we talked about pest control though, I saw things a little bit differently. Even if the food itself does not directly affect the collection, what it attracts does. Now I realize that spilling or leaving crumbs anywhere in the library can attract pests. These bugs can eat away at the paper or the bindings of the books. They can get smashed between the pages or leave other traces. They can even attract bigger pests who come to feed on them. While before this class, I probably wouldn’t have gone as far as to have pizza delivered to the library, I did still consume food and coffee in the library and not give a thought to it. Now I know that limiting where food and beverage is consumed has a purpose other than to just annoy me. Now that I know the damage I could have potentially caused, I will know how to prevent it in the future.

 

Preservation: Student Perspectives III

Today’s post is part of our continuing series of blog posts from the students in Honors Seminar 321V, Smelling Old Books: The Art & Science of Preserving Our Past.  The students were asked to consider ways in which learning about heritage preservation has changed their attitude about any aspect of their relationship to the objects around them in their daily lives and habits.

From Quinn Tipping:

Last fall I took over as choir director at Memorial Lutheran Church, just south of campus.  As choir director, I spend a large part of my time dealing with paper.  Music needs to be sorted, counted, filed, repaired, etc.  Fortunately, the church where I work has a designated music library, complete with several large file cabinets and shelves; however, though the music is, for the most part, neatly catalogued and stored, the manner in which it is kept is not ideal for preserving its integrity and ensuring its longevity.

Modern Schirmer edition of Ippolitov-Ivanov's "Bless the Lord, O My Soul"

Due to the lack of climate control in the church, the library experiences seasonal extremes in temperature and humidity, which is stressful and ultimately damaging to the documents.  Each musical selection is kept in simple cardstock folders placed inside metal file cabinets.  It is likely the folders are not acid free, and they provide no support to the documents they contain.  To make matters worse, I have found bugs of varying varieties within the folders.

Prior to taking this Honors seminar, I had never thought of the physical music as a historical document.  Now, I take pause.  A week ago I went to the music library to pull a piece for the choir to sing this November, “Bless the Lord, O My Soul” by Ivanov, a Russian composer of the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries.  I pulled the cardstock folder out of the file cabinet, opened it, and was struck by the intricate and beautiful red and black design on the cover of the now yellowed G. Schirmer edition.  Very Russian.  I opened the music to look for the edition printing year, and discovered that the copies were printed in 1913, nearly a century ago.  These pieces of music, held and used by choir members for almost 100 years, provide a unique link to our musical heritage.  They have a history.  And, I believe, a history worth preserving.

From Maria Arendt:

A few weeks ago I took a book off the library shelf and all I thought about was the information it contained and making sure that I checked it out before walking out of the library doors so that the annoying and embarrassing alarms didn’t go off.

Now, when I take a book from the shelf I think about how it may have been changed since its original printing.  If it was rebound, and if I think it has been rebound, I look at how good the craftsmanship is. I also think about what materials it’s made of and how they may react to each other in the future.  I wonder how the book will look in 20 or 30 years, and what damage may happen even if the book is never touched.  What chemical changes will this book undergo?  The honors seminar 321V has changed my understanding and outlook of the book as an object, not just a way to get information.

 

Our Expanded Insect Collection

Insects in the ISU Library Preservation Department's collection

It may seem a bit strange to keep jars of dead insects among our lab’s reference materials, but having real specimens on hand as identification and teaching aids provides an invaluable supplement to handbooks, websites, and photographs of environmental pests.  We’ve got carpet beetles, cockroaches, and even a praying mantis.

Our honors seminar students supplemented our collection by bringing in insects which they had captured and identified (a class assignment borrowed from Karen Pavelka at the University of Texas at Austin’s School of Information).  The students reported on the habits and life cycles of their insects, with particular emphasis on whether or not the insects represented a threat to collection materials.

Among the new additions to our “files” are field crickets, a cockroach, a silverfish, and a picnic beetle.