Winterthur Museum Internship: February 18 - March 28, 2025
For six weeks, I was an intern in the book conservation lab at the Winterthur Museum in Delaware, and was granted the wonderful opportunity to participate in a multitude of events such as guest lectures from experts in the conservation field, seminars on conservation techniques and treatments, conservation clinic to assist the public in understanding their treasures and how to best take care of them, along with working on three books from the library. Below are images of the items and their treatments.
Nouvelle Instruction pour les Confitures, les Liqueurs, et les Fruits, 1732
Treatment
Before
Left board detached
Leather split between right board and spine
Board corners delaminated
Loose leaves
Split endbands
Broken sewing
Frayed tail edge of foldouts
Paper tears
Consolidation and lifting of spine leather
Removal of spine linings and cleaning of spine
Localized sewing where original thread had broken
Loose leaf hinging
Paper repairs
Humidifying, flattening, mending, and refolding of large foldouts
Securing of tail endband
Making of new stuck on head endband
Cast hollow made from repair tissue
Toned tissue as spine covering and board reattachment for left board
Adhering of original spine leather
Consolidation and covering of board corners
After
Samuel Cooper Estate Records Book, 1798-1806
Before
Plastic adhesive bandages adhered to the suede covering of the book
Treatment
Removal of the plastic bandages
Removal of the remaining adhesive
Repair and resecuring of the torn binding
