Let’s Make Some Paper!

Posted on September 2, 2022 by Sarah Norris

This week, students in my course INF 393C Preservation Science and Practice tried their hand at making paper. Paper is made from a vat of macerated cellulose fibers in water.

Our papermaking set-up: the white tubs hold macerated paper fibers in water.

When a thin slurry of fibers is deposited on a screen, the fibers begin to undergo hydrogen bonding. This bonding, along with physical entanglement, is what creates a sheet of paper.

Cellulose molecules are combined to create a sheet of paper. The dotted lines represent hydrogen bonds.

As we learn in class, a great deal of activity can occur over time at these hydrogen bonding sites. Hydrogen bonds are weak bonds, and they’re prone to break in the presence of pollutants, atmospheric moisture, light, and other agents. When they break, the cellulose strands shorten, and the paper gradually becomes fragile and brittle. Through the preservation measures studied in class, we aim to slow down this process and prolong the lifetime of cultural materials.

Students’ handmade paper undergoes hydrogen bonding on the drying rack.

Welcome Back, Students!

Posted on August 16, 2022 by Sarah Norris

We’re so pleased to welcome students back for the Fall Term 2022 here at the School of Information! In the labs, I’ll be teaching Preservation Science and Practice, Disaster Planning and Response, and Planning and Understanding Exhibits. We’ll also be supporting Preservation Management with Rebecca Elder. We’ve got lots of great projects planned, from practicing mold remediation on collections materials from Huston-Tillotson University; to completing an onsite risk assessment at the Textiles and Apparel Collection from the School of Human Ecology here at UT; to exhibiting celebrity paper dolls from the 1950s! We’re also starting work on a collaboration with UT’s Historic Preservation Program in Architecture to investigate climate-ready storage for library and archives collections.

Welcome back, students: let’s get started!

Photographic Slides from a Texas Architect

Posted on May 12, 2022 by Sarah Norris

This spring, I was pleased to work with a folder of materials from UT’s Alexander Architectural Archives. These materials came from the Boone Powell collection. Powell was a 20^th-century Texas architect with notable work in Austin and San Antonio. He was project architect for the Tower of the Americas; in 1968, this was the tallest observation tower in the Western Hemisphere. This folder details his 1981-83 designs for the Texas Republic Bank and associated office buildings in San Antonio.

The most delicate part of this treatment was four sheets of photographic slides that had been stored in non-archival plastic protectors. The protector sheets had discolored and warped, and had stuck to the photos’ image areas. Working with magnification, and alternating between transmitted and raking light, I used a microspatula to mechanically release the slides from the plastic sheets. I then used gentle brushes and a soot sponge to remove adhered grime, and stored the slides in new protector sheets made of archival PET plastic.

Cleaning a photographic slide removed from non-archival housing.

We were fortunate that this treatment didn’t require heat, cold, or humidification, which might have required consultation with a photo conservator! When storing photographic slides at home, similar damage can often be avoided by using archival-quality sleeves or PET, Mylar, of Melinex plastic; and storing materials in conditions controlled for human comfort (no attics, basements, or storage buildings.)

On My Desk Stat! Paper Copying in a Changing Workplace

Posted on April 18, 2022 by Sarah Norris

On Friday, April 15, students in my course INF 386E Planning and Understanding Exhibits celebrated the opening of their class exhibit. On My Desk Stat! Paper Copying in a Changing Workplace documents copying processes from the 19th – 21st centuries and considers their impact on human health and safety, on waste in the environment, and on gender in the workplace.

Promotional flyer for *On My Desk Stat!*

The opening event was a fun way to re-connect with colleagues as we took in the exhibit, enjoyed snacks, played a beat-the-typist game featuring a real typewriter, and tested our knowledge in copying trivia to win iSchool mugs, water bottles, and t-shirts. We were so pleased to host visitors from UT and beyond at this event.

Students, faculty, and visitors at our opening event. Photo: Abi Glasser.

Our students have worked hard on every part of this exhibit, from choosing items and crafting narrative to writing text, building web presence, promoting the event, building display elements, and much more. The exhibit is on display on the first floor of the UTA building through 4/28, and you can catch the exhibit online and see updates on Instagram. Congratulations, students!

Behind the scenes during exhibit installation. Photo: Abi Glasser.

Student Projects in Conservation

Posted on January 24, 2022 by Sarah Norris

This semester, students in my class INF 393C, Introduction to Paper Conservation, are excited to conduct conservation treatment on a group of architectural drawings from the Alexander Architectural Archives here at UT. The drawings come from the Roy Thomas collection. Thomas was an architect who practiced in Austin and Central Texas from the 1920s through the 1950s. He designed many building types, including homes, schools, churches, commercial buildings, apartments, and service stations. Among other notable projects, Thomas was a lead architect on the Stephen F. Austin Hotel at 701 Congress Ave., the first high-rise hotel in Austin.

Students in my class will conduct surface cleaning, humidification and flattening, and mending on rolled blueprints and drawings on tracing paper. They’ll also have plenty of opportunity to practice and refine their skills on lab teaching materials. By the end of the course, they’ll have one portfolio-ready conservation treatment, complete with written and photographic documentation.

We’re so pleased to be able to work with the Alexander Architectural Archives as our library and archives students develop their treatment skills!

Rolled drawings from the Roy Thomas collection. By the end of our course, students will improve handling and preservation issues for these materials by flattening, cleaning, and mending them. Photo courtesy Beth Dodd, Alexander Architectural Archives.

In Our Own Image: Representations of the Self Through Historical and Modern Photography

Posted on November 5, 2021 by Sarah Norris

It’s an exciting day as INF 386E, Planning and Understanding Exhibits, launches our class exhibit! In Our Own Image: Representations of the Self Through Historical and Modern Photography explores how we use photographs to portray our identity. The exhibit draws parallels between historical and modern photographs, featuring original 19th and 20th century images alongside digital images from iSchool students. The event will run from November 4-17, 2021 at UTA 1.506. Visit us online at In Our Own Image and on Instagram at ischoolexhibits.

INF 386E students have directed and executed every step of this exhibit: selecting items; crafting narrative focus; authoring text; designing panels and labels; digitizing exhibition materials; creating our exhibit website; building mats and cradles; item layout and installation; lighting design; promoting the event via Instagram and University outreach; and adding an in-person, interactive museum education table. Come visit at UTA or online to explore how today’s image-conscious culture connects with photos from the past.

Exhibit window with photographs. — By using props, like the bicycle, guitar, picture frame, and canoes shown here, people across three centuries have crafted their own photographic images.

Treatment Examination: Ellis County Courthouse Photo

Posted on February 3, 2021 by Sarah Norris

In Spring 2021, I’m pleased to perform conservation treatment on a late-19th century photograph of the Ellis County Courthouse, designed by James Riely Gordon. This item comes to us from the Alexander Architectural Archives here at UT Austin. The Ellis County Courthouse was a signature achievement in Gordon’s career designing Texas county courthouses. Construction required two million bricks, “160 car loads of Texas granite, 100 car loads of Pecos red sandstone, used in trimming the building, and 14 cars of iron”¹.

The Alexander Architectural Archives seeks stabilization for this photograph, which has high use for scholarship, historic preservation, and display. The first step in treatment is detailed examination that will inform decision-making. The item consists of a silver gelatin print mounted to backing board. While the photo is in good condition, the backing board is acidic, with cracks and losses typical of backing boards of this era.

Stay tuned for more on the rationale and techniques that go into this treatment.

Item examination using Optivisor magnifiers (on my head).

¹Meister, Chris (2011). James Riely Gordon: His Courthouses and Other Public Architecture. Lubbock, TX: Texas Tech University Press. p. 130.

Sarah Norris

Library and Archives Conservation

Tag Archives: School of Information