A one-of-a-kind 17th-century map housed at the Ransom Center for decades, currently too fragile to display, is now the subject of an intensive research and conservation project that will utilize scientific analysis to reveal the hidden story behind the map’s production and significance. [Read more…] about The science behind the Blaeu World Map
Conservation
Preserving one of the Center’s most celebrated objects
In partnership with imaging specialists and conservation scientists across the country, in summer 2019, the Harry Ransom Center undertook a project to ensure the longterm preservation of The Niépce Heliograph, the earliest known surviving photograph made with the aid of the camera obscura. [Read more…] about Preserving one of the Center’s most celebrated objects
Introducing ‘The Niépce Heliograph’
One of the most celebrated objects in the history of photography is featured in a permanent exhibition just inside the main entrance to the Harry Ransom Center. The untitled photograph—the earliest known surviving photograph made with the aid of the camera obscura—was produced in 1827 by the French scientist and inventor Joseph Nicéphore Niépce using a process he called héliographie. Permanent exhibitions are never really “permanent,” however; objects may remain in place, but their meanings are always evolving, and exhibitions are periodically revised to reflect those advances. [Read more…] about Introducing ‘The Niépce Heliograph’
Preserving a Texas villain: Leatherface
I have yet to encounter someone who doesn’t know of the 1974 horror classic The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. While you may not have seen it, you’ve almost assuredly heard of it. The film follows five teenagers on their way to visit a desecrated grave when they pick up a hitchhiker. They find themselves at the hitchhiker’s family home where they are thrust into a world of terror. The hitchhiker is the brother of a chainsaw wielding, cannibalistic serial killer called Leatherface, a name born from his grisly habit of creating and wearing flesh masks from his victims. [Read more…] about Preserving a Texas villain: Leatherface
Tools of the trade
Conservators Olivia Primanis and Kimberly Kwan of the book and paper lab and Diana Diaz of the photography lab talk about the tools that make their work possible, from the esoteric and vintage to the commonplace and modern.
A day in my life as a preservation and conservation intern
As an English student at Florida A&M University, I was attracted to this internship because it granted me an opportunity to really explore an archival library. [Read more…] about A day in my life as a preservation and conservation intern