Today Martha and I are working on exhibit preparation for the recently-donated Robert R. Harvey collection at ISU Library Special Collections — constructing foam and plexiglass supports, printing and mounting labels. Robert Harvey is an ISU Professor Emeritus of Landscape Architecture who has spent a lifetime collecting rare and unusual books related to his field. He has donated ninety-two of these volumes to ISU Special Collections, and sixteen jewels of the collection will be on display at an open house in the Special Collections Reading Room this coming Tuesday. The remainder of Professor Harvey’s collection — approximately two thousand volumes — has been donated to the Masonic Library in Cedar Rapids.
Our 2010 Lennox Foundation summer interns, Henry Hebert and Kristi Westberg, performed several of the conservation treatments on this collection during their time at ISU. In addition to conservation treatment, several of the more fragile books were housed in custom-built clamshell or chemise & girdle boxes.
If you’re in the Ames area, you’re welcome to attend the Robert R. Harvey Rare Book Collection Open House in the Special Collections Reading Room on Tuesday, October 12, from 4-5:30. Professor Harvey, the Special Collections staff, and I will be on hand to answer questions about the collection.
If you’re too far away to visit, we’ll be blogging about the event soon.
Library and Archives Preservation 
How exciting! Make sure to post pictures once it’s up!