In the same way that catalogers and archivists make collections accessible through improved arrangement and description, conservators work to make those same collections stable for researchers to use them. But the paper and book conservation lab at the New-York Historical Society didn’t open until the late 1980s. Instead, its predecessor was an in-house bindery that…

August 26th is National Dog Day! What better way to celebrate than by sharing a unique,  dog-centric artifact from our library.   This daguerreotype of an unidentified dog (PR-012-2-263)  has the formality of a portrait. The animal’s pose and eye contact with the camera (and us as viewers) personifies it. One of our ongoing preservation projects includes rehousing…

Preparation for the highly anticipated exhibit, Harry Potter: A History of Magic, has been underway in several of the museum’s departments, including conservation. Our role in an exhibit such as this is huge: we assess artifacts selected for display, make necessary repairs, and monitor the items during the exhibition for exposure to light as well…

Though not yet recognized nationally, today is American Eagle Day, the anniversary of the eagle’s inclusion on the Great Seal of the United States on June 20, 1782. Despite also becoming our national emblem in 1789, for decades at the end of the last century the eagle was in dire circumstances. The effects of DDT…

The American Historical Manuscript Collection (AHMC) cataloging project, supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, wrapped up on January 5, 2018. Since June 2014, when the project began, our catalogers have created searchable, electronic records for thousands of small manuscript collections and single items, racking up some impressive totals: Collections cataloged:…

As part of the Enhanced Conservation Work Experience (ECWE), the New-York Historical Society Library Conservation Lab is hosting Katarzyna Bator as a third-year conservation fellow funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Ms. Bator is completing her conservation studies at the Patricia H. and Richard E. Garman Art Conservation Department at Buffalo State College. Prior…

This post was written by Sara Belasco, Enhanced Conservation Work Experience conservation assistant. For the last six months, I have been working on rehousing a collection of cased images in the Library collection. Almost all of these photographs are ambrotypes, one of the earliest photographic processes on glass plates popular in the 1850s. The collection was previously…

On the afternoon of September 19, 1903,  49-year-old millionaire lawyer Orrando Perry Dexter met his end on the road leading from his estate to the town of Santa Clara, NY. As usual, he had been on his way to collect his mail when a man stepped into the road from behind “a clump of hemlock…

In 1931, the California State Park Commission presented this engrossed certificate in gratitude to Save the Redwoods League founders  Henry Fairfield Osborn, Madison Grant and John C. Merriam. From all appearances, it’s an attractive reminder of the achievements of the early conservation movement. What is less apparent is a darker link between the three founders…