{"id":7915,"date":"2014-05-01T01:00:48","date_gmt":"2014-05-01T05:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/?p=7915"},"modified":"2025-09-15T16:10:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T20:10:10","slug":"conservation-conversations-book-conserva-binder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2014\/05\/01\/conservation-conversations-book-conserva-binder\/","title":{"rendered":"Conservation Conversations \/\/ Book Conserva-Binder"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"005\"<\/a><\/p>\n

When I started at North Bennet Street School<\/a> in 2008, I wanted nothing more than to learn everything I possibly could about making books. I was amazed and delighted by just how much we did at the bench during those two years and how far I’d come in my skills and knowledge in that time. I was also sort of overwhelmed by just how much I had felt I had left to learn upon graduation. Every facet of book history we discussed or structure we tackled gave me a view into what a complex world books inhabit.<\/p>\n

\"5168227844_9387a3e0a5_o\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The desire to better grasp the intent and progression of bindings over time is what steered me towards conservation. During my first internship at Haverford College\u2019s Magill Library, I started to understand how much this field can make one feel like a detective. The hand skills I had been learning at NBSS gave me the confidence to handle a range of objects \u2013 even those made with materials I might not have encountered yet. Learning to bind books from the very beginning stages had really aided in my ability to assess how a binding was constructed and, to a greater extent, why it was constructed that way.<\/p>\n

\"DSC03932\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"110144B\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Athena<\/a><\/p>\n

Upon my return to school for the second year, I used the hands-on collections knowledge I gained that summer to help direct myself. I was equally interested in learning fine and design binding (leather! gold! yes!) and conservation, so I did my best to focus on both. I took on opportunities to do small repair projects that came through the school and worked part time at the Hayden Library at MIT. I was filled to the gills with information, but felt more and more like the two paths of this craft I was learning truly informed one another.<\/p>\n

\"Copy<\/a><\/p>\n

\"120115B\"<\/a><\/p>\n

While the program at NBSS is not heavily conservation-based, the hand skills and binding history I was imbued with during my time there is invaluable to the work I do as a book conservator. After graduation, I interned at the Frances Loeb Library<\/a> at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and was a fellow at the Boston Athenaeum<\/a>. Through both of those experiences and in my current position at Northeast Document Conservation Center<\/a>, I\u2019ve contineed to be surprised by just how many structures I learned at NBSS that I\u2019ve either treated or re-bound.<\/p>\n

\"5285797761_01b75bbe5d_o\"<\/a><\/p>\n

More of the hand work that I do these days is conservation focused, but I still love bookbinding and take on custom work or projects of my own with a fair amount of regularity.<\/p>\n

\"004\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"c6d18df0acbb11e397651270abe28de5_8\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I find that the way my brain operates when I approach conservation really helps me in approaching my own outside work. I encounter so many seemingly similar bindings that turn out not<\/em> to be exactly what they appear that it gets easier and easier over time to approach the creative challenges of new structures.<\/p>\n

\"031<\/a><\/p>\n

\"bb0956968b3e11e2a19522000a9f126b_7\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The need to be efficient and deliberate in my day to day work really feeds into my ability to effectively plan my time and, in doing so, give fair and accurate estimates to friends and clients. Finding time to work outside of a full time job isn\u2019t the easiest thing to do, but being steeped in a form of work that uses so many of the same skills makes it all the more possible. For every part of my book work, I know I need input from binders and conservators alike and luckily, I\u2019m more or less surrounded by both.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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.\u00a0 When I started at North Bennet Street […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"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":[1353],"tags":[1424,1473,1884,949,1426],"class_list":["post-7915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-conservation","tag-athena-moore","tag-boston-athenaeum","tag-conservation","tag-north-bennet-street-school","tag-northeast-document-conservation-center"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2Btis-23F","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11618,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2018\/05\/15\/upcoming-workshops-june-to-august-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":7915,"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":7468,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2014\/01\/16\/conservation-conversation\/","url_meta":{"origin":7915,"position":1},"title":"Conservation Conversations \/\/ Lab Coat Daydreams, Part I","author":"Anna Shepard","date":"January 16, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "bookbinding"","block_context":{"text":"bookbinding","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/category\/bookbinding\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"anna-part1b","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/anna-part1b-1024x381.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/anna-part1b-1024x381.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/anna-part1b-1024x381.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":7915,"position":2},"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":7473,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2014\/01\/16\/introducing-a-new-column-conservation-conversations\/","url_meta":{"origin":7915,"position":3},"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":12087,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2019\/09\/10\/upcoming-workshop-september-to-november\/","url_meta":{"origin":7915,"position":4},"title":"Upcoming Workshop \/\/ September to November","author":"Erin Fletcher","date":"September 10, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Secret Belgian Binding September 14 - 15 (Saturday \u2013 Sunday) North Bennet Street School Boston, MA There are still a few spots left! This workshop explores the Secret Belgian structure and ways to modify it. On day one, students put together two variations of this non-adhesive structure: one with exposed\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\/2019\/03\/Secret-BelgianPromo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Secret-BelgianPromo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Secret-BelgianPromo.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":12205,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2020\/04\/01\/international-edible-book-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":7915,"position":5},"title":"International Edible Book Day!","author":"Erin Fletcher","date":"April 1, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"International Edible Book Day is celebrated on April 1st. April Fools may seem like the perfect day to create literary inspired desserts and dishes, but in fact Edible Book Day celebrates the birthday of French gastronome Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1755 - 1826). 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