Preservation Work on the New Exhibit is Complete

The library is excited to bring our new exhibit, Ernest Dudley Chase: A Worldview in Maps, to the public. In this exhibit the library is expanding the number of original collections on display. Before any collections can be exhibited, they must be examined and any preservation issues must be addressed. All of the maps on exhibit were surface cleaned, repaired with Japanese tissue, and encapsulated for exhibit.

Since these maps are from the 1930s - 60s and still in very good condition, we decided to create an encapsulation for exhibit only, that will be removed once the exhibit is over. This exhibit encapsulation consists of a backing sheet of 10 point folder stock with an overlay of Mylar. The two pieces are adhered on the top and bottom edges with double-sided tape used for traditional encapsulation.



This type of encapsulation will provide support for the maps while on display and also is reusable. Once the maps have been removed from the encapsulations, the two pieces of double-sided tape will be cut away. This will leave two large pieces of materials that will be used in future preservation projects. This is one small way that the preservation lab is making the most of the materials we have to help both the Earth and the budget.

The map shown in this entry, Historic Massachusetts: a travel map to help you feel at home in the Bay State, was published in 1964. The library has two versions of this map: the one on exhibit was created to draw tourists from the World's Fair in New York to Massachusetts for vacation, while another version was created as a general tourism map. We hope that visitors to Boston this summer will spend some time at the State Library enjoying this exhibit of these wonderful maps by Ernest Dudley Chase.

Ernest Dudley Chase: A Worldview in Maps opens May 22 and runs through September 7, 2009 and is located in the exhibit cases outside of the main library, room 341 of the Massachusetts State House. The exhibit is open to the public from 8 am to 6 pm, Monday through Friday.

- Lacy Crews, Preservation Librarian

Municipal Relief

The Special Commission on Municipal Relief has released its report. The bi-partisan commission has been studying tax relief for cities and towns and recommends revenue opportunities for them.

The report is available in the State Library's institutional repository.

The committee has attached a bill to the report.

- Bette L. Siegel, Documents Librarian

Laws of the Jefferson Territory

The State Library has a sizeable collection of 19th-century law books from other states. Among them are some unusual titles, one being a compilation of laws governing the Jefferson Territory:

Provisional laws and joint resolutions passed at the first and called sessions of the General Assembly of Jefferson Territory, held at Denver City, J.T., November and December, 1859, and January, 1860 (Omaha, N.T.: Robertson & Clark, 1860).

The book contains the criminal code, civil code, general acts, and special acts. The two codes were approved on January 25, 1860 by the acting governor Lucian W. Bliss.

The General Acts (approved in January 1860) consisted of chapters, articles, and acts arranged by subject, resembling a constitution. Some of the topics were officers, courts, boundaries and roads, elections, revenue and taxation, licenses, etc.

The Special Acts (approved in December 1859) concerned chartering and consolidating Denver, Boulder, and some smaller towns, and incorporating several companies: Denver Mutual Insurance, Golden Gate Town, Cibolo Hydraulic, Fountain City Bridge, Clear Creek Lumbering, Arrappahoe Ditch, South Platte River Improvement and Lumbering, and Consolidated Ditch Companies.

In the back of the volume is a subject index, from ACTIONS to WARRANTS. Some noteworthy topics included counterfeiting, cheating, estates of deceased persons, forging, malicious mischief, marks of animals, writ of mandamus, offences against morality and chastity, and offences against the right of suffrage.

The Jefferson Territory included Colorado and parts of current-day Kansas, Nebraska, Utah, and New Mexico and was not recognized by the United States government. Thus it had a short life until June 6, 1861, when it became the Territory of Colorado. For a fuller description of the Territory of Jefferson and its short history, see the Wikipedia entry at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territory_of_Jefferson.

Eva Murphy
Reference Librarian

The Library Celebrates MayDay

Last Friday the State Library celebrated MayDay, a national initiative for staff in cultural heritage institutions do one thing for emergency preparedness. At the library we educated staff on the wet salvage of printed library collections. This training focused on air drying materials, but also touched on packing materials in the event of a large water accident where materials would need to be frozen.

At left is the set up for the workshop, while the books were soaking up water.

 

During the workshop staff asked great questions and made thoughtful comments about salvage priorities, as well as future activities that could further prepare staff for water disasters.

Items as they were set up for air drying.

 

 

As one final example, I placed two books into an inch of dirty water on Friday to show staff what even just a small amount of water can do to collections if left for a weekend.

Here is one of the books as it was placed in the water on Friday.

 

And here is the same book on Monday morning. The water has migrated up to the top of the pages and has brought dirt from the water along with it.

 

 

The back cover was totally soaked with water while only a portion of the front cover was wet.

 

While I hope that the library will never have to deal with a major water disaster, I know that if we do, our staff have the knowledge to salvage collections quickly and appropriately.

- Lacy Crews, Preservation Librarian

From the Preservation Intern

To prepare for the upcoming exhibit called Ernest Dudley Chase: A Worldview in Maps held in the State Library from May 22 - September 7, 2009, I have been helping the special collections department with its maps. The map on the left is an example of one of Mr. Chase's maps called The Story Map of Flying.

To prepare the maps, I cleaned the front and back of the maps with a dry cleaning sponge. This sponge is not a typical dish washing sponge. Instead, a dry cleaning sponge is rubbery, it is never wet, and a thin piece is cut off when the sponge becomes saturated with dirt. I also used a non-abrasive, non-smudging, vinyl eraser pencil to remove visible marks.

After the maps were cleaned, I repaired any paper tears the maps had with a Japanese mending paper called Kizukishi. I cooked paste to adhere the Japanese mending paper to the map. To cook paste, I mixed five tablespoons of water to one tablespoon of neutral pH pure wheat starch paste that is a powder form. To get the thick consistency, I placed the liquid paste in the microwave for one minute. Every six seconds, I paused the microwave to check on the paste. It was interesting to see the paste thicken slightly every six seconds. The paste may also be placed on a double boiler, but as the Special Collections Department has a microwave, the paste was microwaved. After the paste thickened, I brushed a layer of paste on the Japanese mending paper and used a microspatula to apply the Japanese mending paper to the paper tear on the back of the map. The mending paper was smoothed out to elongate paper fibers and create an even adhesion. A sandwich of blotter paper, non-woven polyester, repaired map, non-woven polyester, and blotter paper was created and weights were place on top. The weights are left overnight and in the morning any stray paper fibers were trimmed. The image below includes the tools used to repair the maps.


Clockwise from top: Water, brush container, wheat starch paste, pencil, water "pen" for tearing pieces of Japanese mending paper, microspatula, Mylar for applying paste to mending paper, Japanese mending paper.



Stay tuned for the next post, which will include encapsulating the maps for exhibit display!

- Tina Chan, Preservation Intern

Marijuana Misdemeanor Laws

The Massachusetts Trial Court Libraries has compiled a page summarizing the new law which decriminalizes the possession of one ounce or less of marijuana.

This law was passed last fall as a ballot question and became law as Chapter 387 of the Acts of 2008 was passed. It became effective January 1, 2009.

Naomi Allen, Reference Librarian

Library Closed for Patriots' Day, April 20th

The State Library will be closed Monday, April 20th for Patriots' Day.

Patriots' Day is a civic holiday commemorating the anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the first battles of the American Revolutionary War. It is observed in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and state of Maine and is a public school observance day in Wisconsin.