Preservation Week at the State Library: A Conserved Item on Display!

Happy Preservation Week! April 30 through May 6 has been designated by the American Library Association as time to raise awareness of the preservation measures that are taken in libraries, archives, and museums to ensure the long-term integrity of their collections. Here at the State Library, our preservation program covers book and paper repair, reformatting, environmental monitoring and disaster preparedness, and re-housing and cleaning our collection. The physical repair of items in our collection is called conservation, and while we undertake a fair amount of that work on-site in our preservation lab, we also occasionally send out items to be treated at the Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC). This month, we are celebrating Preservation Week by exhibiting an item in our display case that has undergone treatment at NEDCC, along with a facsimile of it in its “before” state. Displaying these items side-by-side really emphasizes the transformation that an item undergoes when it’s conserved!

The displayed broadside is An Act to Prevent Profane Cursing and Swearing, published by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1798. It was part of an NEDCC project in 2017/2018 to conserve some of the historically significant broadsides in our Special Collections holdings. When we work with NEDCC, they begin by sending us a condition assessment and proposed treatment plan. Once the item has been conserved, we receive before/after images, along with a detailed description of the item’s condition upon receipt and subsequent treatment. Having thorough documentation of condition and treatment allows us to maintain a comprehensive record of the items in our collection. In this instance, the broadside had tape and residual adhesive removed, it was humidified and cleaned, and tears were mended with toned Japanese paper. Then the back of the page was lined with Japanese paper and wheat starch paste, making it safer for handling. The result is a cleaner and sturdier broadside that looks almost as good as it would have back when it was first printed in the 18th century!

And now a note on the content of item that so much work went into to conserve! This broadside was issued in June 1798 after an act was passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives that states, “if any person, who has arrived at discretion, shall profanely curse or swear, and shall be therefore convicted, such person so offending, shall forfeit and pay a sum not exceeding two dollars, nor less than one dollar, according to the aggravation of the offense.” The act went on to state that if swearing occurred in the presence of any Sherriff, Deputy Sherriff, Coroner, Constable, Grand Juror, or Tythingman, then they should report the act to the Justice of the Peace so that the offender could be convicted and punished. Broadsides such as this were then sent to Town Clerks throughout the Commonwealth to be read aloud at town meetings, and they were also sent to public teachers of religion (or pastors) to be read to their congregations annually. So in sum, if you wanted to avoid paying a fee in the Commonwealth in the late 1700s, you better not swear in the presence of any public official!  And while seemingly not enforced, blasphemy is still on the books of Massachusetts law! 

If you have an item in your personal collection that needs professional conservation treatment, you can find a list of local conservators through the American Institute for Conservation directory. But much of the information shared by organizations during Preservation Week can be applied to your collection on your own. We will be posting preservation content on our social media channels every day this week, so we hope that you will follow along as we celebrate all things preservation! And if you are in the area, be sure to visit us through May 30 to see our conserved broadside on display in our reading room.

Elizabeth Roscio
Preservation Librarian

Audubon Prints on Display in the Library

We are excited to announce that our collection of prints from John James Audubon's Birds of America has recently been conserved! To share these beautiful prints with the public, we have also acquired a custom case that allows us to safely display them in the main reading room at the State Library.

John James Audubon (1785-1851) was an artist, naturalist, and ornithologist. His four-volume Birds of America was his attempt to illustrate every bird in America and its territories. While he was not successful in achieving that scope, he did complete 435 bird illustrations. Audubon drew each bird as life-size, resulting in some very large images that required a large page. As such, the original version of Birds of America, printed between 1827 and 1838, is often referred to as the Double Elephant Folio, on account of its large page-size.  No more than 200 copies of this version was produced at the time and only 120 are known to be in existence today – including the one in the collection at the State Library. 

In 1833, the Massachusetts General Court appropriated funding to acquire all four volumes for the State Library’s collection. The volumes were purchased by subscription directly from Audubon, the last of which was received in 1839, for a total cost $1,055.  The volumes have been part of the library’s collection ever since. However, over the years, the condition of the prints deteriorated due to handling and display. In 2020, all the volumes were sent to the Northeast Document Conservation Center so that the prints could undergo treatment. The talented conservators at NEDCC spent two years cleaning, mending, and digitizing all 435 oversized prints. We are thrilled to have them returned to stable condition!

We will be exhibiting the prints on a rotating basis, with each on display for a one-month period. Visit us now to see "Key-west Doves" – a pair of male and female birds that are surrounded by vibrant florals and vegetation. And be sure to follow us on social media and our blog to see which Audubon lands in the State Library next.

Elizabeth Roscio
Preservation Librarian