{"id":7468,"date":"2014-01-16T01:00:50","date_gmt":"2014-01-16T06:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/?p=7468"},"modified":"2025-09-15T16:14:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T20:14:15","slug":"conservation-conversation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2014\/01\/16\/conservation-conversation\/","title":{"rendered":"Conservation Conversations \/\/ Lab Coat Daydreams, Part I"},"content":{"rendered":"

I feel that I should share a bit of my story and recent background in this first post, in hopes of providing some context for what may follow in the next few weeks.<\/p>\n

There was a running joke our instructor liked to chide us with, during our training at the North Bennet Street School<\/a>. He teased that, after finishing our program, we could expect to find ourselves in either a \u201clab\u201d or a \u201cstu<\/i>dio.\u201d Being of a more artsy bent, or at least gravitating more towards the image of the artistic bookbinder that I had visualized at the program\u2019s beginning, I never really considered what life in a book and paper conservation lab might actually be like.<\/p>\n

After many slow months of picking up work where I could find it and squeezing in some binding projects on the side, I left Boston and decided to give things a shot in Los Angeles county, where my boyfriend had found steady work as a concert piano tuner & technician. With great luck, after suffering a few more painfully slow (and hot) months, I was hired as a \u201cbook & paper conservation technician\u201d at The Huntington Library<\/a> in Pasadena. I was overjoyed to find work that would allow me to employ the skills I had so recently acquired and in such an incredible setting. While my egoistic inner artist may have wept a few tears at first, I began to see the ways in which I could exercise my artistic license within the context of conservation.<\/p>\n

\"anna-part1b\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As with almost any job, there are elements of my work that sometimes feel a little wrote or tedious. O the whole though, I feel lucky to say that I engage creative and critical thinking skills with the majority of the projects that come my way. The nature of the work we do in the lab demands true flexibility and a type of problem-solving akin to what I imagine certain engineers might use. For example, while I may not have the weight of producing complex infrastructures in high-density areas looming over me, as I begin any housing project, I am asked to construct something securely and uniquely designed for each rare book or manuscript\u2019s safe-keeping. I am asked to open my eyes to the unusual aspects of a book and give it the treatment it deserves or, as happens in triage situations, do whatever can be done for the time being.<\/p>\n

As conservation staff we are constantly taking into consideration how items have and will continue to age and how we can best aid the longevity of each item so that it may continue to be. Thinking in this way can lead to some pretty heavy pondering \u2013 however, if you are as submerged in the art and mechanics of creating something with your hands\u2014directly connecting mind with body, employing experience-based knowledge to your decision making about even the smallest element of a box or binding\u2014you find yourself at the source of budding craftsmanship. And that, after all, is what I fell in love with when this journey began.<\/p>\n

\"anna-part1a\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I feel that I should share a bit of my story and recent background in this first post, in hopes of providing some context for what may follow in the next few weeks. There was a running joke our instructor liked to chide us with, during our training at the North Bennet Street School. He […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[68,1353],"tags":[1354,1884,1355,949],"class_list":["post-7468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bookbinding","category-conservation","tag-anna-shepard","tag-conservation","tag-huntington-library","tag-north-bennet-street-school"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2Btis-1Ws","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11618,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2018\/05\/15\/upcoming-workshops-june-to-august-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":7468,"position":0},"title":"Upcoming Workshops \/\/ June to August","author":"Erin Fletcher","date":"May 15, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"JUNE: Embroidered Leather Workshop June 16 \u2013 17 (Saturday \u2013 Sunday) 9:00am \u2013 4:00pm Conservation Lab at Texas A&M College Station, TX This workshop is presented by the Lone Star Chapter of the Guild of Book Workers. During this workshop students will create a sampler of stitches suitable for leather.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "workshops"","block_context":{"text":"workshops","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/category\/workshops\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Event-Photography-Flyer.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7473,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2014\/01\/16\/introducing-a-new-column-conservation-conversations\/","url_meta":{"origin":7468,"position":1},"title":"Introducing a New Column: Conservation Conversations","author":"Erin Fletcher","date":"January 16, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Over the course of the year, you'll see a collection of posts written by other people. I've wrangled up a few of my friends and colleagues whose work is predominately centered around conservation. Under the title Conservation Conversations, each author will present three posts over two months on a topic\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "conservation"","block_context":{"text":"conservation","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/category\/conservation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"day2_meanna","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/day2_meanna-1024x438.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/day2_meanna-1024x438.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/day2_meanna-1024x438.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7915,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2014\/05\/01\/conservation-conversations-book-conserva-binder\/","url_meta":{"origin":7468,"position":2},"title":"Conservation Conversations \/\/ Book Conserva-Binder","author":"Athena Moore","date":"May 1, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been asked before whether I consider myself a book conservator or a bookbinder, or whether I consider myself to be one or the other first. While I don't think you need to be both to be either, I find that for me the two are inextricably linked.\u00a0When I started\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "conservation"","block_context":{"text":"conservation","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/category\/conservation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/c6d18df0acbb11e397651270abe28de5_8.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/c6d18df0acbb11e397651270abe28de5_8.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/c6d18df0acbb11e397651270abe28de5_8.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/c6d18df0acbb11e397651270abe28de5_8.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8478,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2014\/10\/02\/conservation-conversations-about-spaces\/","url_meta":{"origin":7468,"position":3},"title":"Conservation Conversations \/\/ About Spaces","author":"Jeanne Goodman","date":"October 2, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"In the first Conservation Conversations, way back in January, Anna brought up the idea of working in a \"studio\" or \"lab\". There is another running joke that is very true about conservators always ending up in the basement. It's not because the PTB* don't like us, but when designing conservation\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "conservation"","block_context":{"text":"conservation","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/category\/conservation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/uva-lab-copy.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/uva-lab-copy.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/uva-lab-copy.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8781,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2014\/11\/15\/conservation-conversations-another-look-at-su-su\/","url_meta":{"origin":7468,"position":4},"title":"Conservation Conversations \/\/ Another Look at Su-Su","author":"Erin Fletcher","date":"November 15, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Earlier this year, as part of the Conservation Conversations column, Lauren Schott wrote an article on su-su, which highlighted the steps to creating this alternative matter for toning materials as part of the conservation treatment. Also referred to as paper dirt or paper extract, I was first introduced to this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "conservation"","block_context":{"text":"conservation","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/category\/conservation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11287,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2017\/09\/30\/swell-things-no-45-jeanne-goodman\/","url_meta":{"origin":7468,"position":5},"title":"Swell Things No. 45 \/\/ Jeanne Goodman","author":"Erin Fletcher","date":"September 30, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Jeanne is a close friend and colleague. We overlapped at the North Bennet Street School before Jeanne made her way back to Texas to help renovate the conservation lab at Texas A&M. She has appeared on the blog before writing posts for Conservation Conversations. But this time around she's sharing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "swell things"","block_context":{"text":"swell things","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/category\/swell-things\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/stno45b.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/stno45b.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/stno45b.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7468"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7468\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7489,"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7468\/revisions\/7489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}