Preservation and Collections

While you may not have a full preservation lab at your disposal, there are many things you can do to prolong the life of your treasured materials.

Environment

At the very least, materials should be kept in cool, dry places. A garage or attic are often some of the worst places to store your materials as they are very prone to drastic temperature and humidity changes which will accelerate any deterioration and make your materials a perfect breeding ground for mold growth.  

Enclosures and storage

Every item type (i.e. photographs, paper documents, artwork, artifacts, etc.) has ideal storage specifications. (If you’re interested in looking into proper storage for different material types, check out PSAP Collection ID Guide.) Item that are held in archives are placed into archival boxes (boxes that are acid free) to protect the items from light exposure, dirt and dust, acid migration, and physical damage. Archival materials can be fairly pricey, however, if you have a particular item that is very meaningful, valuable, or fragile, purchasing an archival enclosure could be a worthwhile investment. 

Here is a list of some archival suppliers: 

• Gaylord Archival 
• Talas 
• Hollinger
• University Products 

Special Collections recently acquired the long-lost UNT mascot, Eppy. There is much lore surrounding the story of Eppy, but here is our University Archivist, Jess Tucker’s experience tracking down Eppy: 

“I heard about the missing mascot not long after I started working at UNT. Early on, I went to a meeting with some UNT Facilities staff members to discuss campus art. After a lot of research in the wilds of Reddit, I reached out to those contacts, and they were able to tell me more about poor Eppy’s wanderings, but not his final destination. They did provide the name of Mike Flores, who is the Maintenance Director at the Union. I tried contacting him repeatedly with no luck. Fast forward to January 2024 when we were contacted by Molly Orr to help create a popup exhibit to celebrate the 75^th anniversary of the UNT Union. The Rock Bottom Lounge (which is also an interesting side quest) later became the focal point of that exhibit. I brought up Eppy again in the meetings with Molly since the Union stairwell was his last known location. She confirmed Mike knew Eppy’s current location, and I pleaded the case to get him (she? they?) to the University Archives. I continued trying to get in touch with Mike, moving from emails to phone calls. Eventually I did get in touch with him, and he agreed to let me see Eppy (although Mike reiterated that Eppy was not suitable for “public viewing”). I met Mike at the information desk, and he began to lead me into the backrooms of the Union. As we walked, other staff members joined, and I had an escort of four men by the time we finally reached Eppy in some sort of storage subbasement, filled with god only knows what other artifacts of UNT history. Eppy was a terrifying sight in his raised glass case, and I got the feeling even my escort was unnerved. Surprisingly, Eppy had his head and feet which had gone missing many years ago. Mike confirmed that Eppy had been moved from the stairwell after repeated vandalism. He also mentioned that Eppy had become the site of a sort of folk devotion in his previous location, where students often left notes asking for things like luck with assignments or thanks for passing test grades. Unfortunately, these notes were not saved when Eppy was moved. The head, shoes, and feet had anonymously returned to the Union after a police investigation was opened, most likely the victim of a fraternity prank. Eppy was in a sorry state, and Mike admitted they weren’t sure what to do with him or how to preserve him. I again made the case for Eppy to go the University Archives where he could be safely housed and preserved as an important part of UNT history. Eventually Mike agreed that, if we could provide transportation, Eppy could officially be transferred. And that’s where Justin picks up the story.”

Picking up where Jess left off, we received Eppy at the Research Collections Library (RCL) and decided they needed to come out of the display case. We removed Eppy and had to remove their armature which we now lovingly refer to as Eppy’s “shadow.” This process was more difficult that we anticipated as the duct tape attaching the armature to the body was desiccated and adhered to the structure and the armature did not want to bend far enough for us to remove it. 

After disassembling Eppy, we decided they needed to be cleaned. Eppy had lots of dirt and dust on them and their fur was a little melted in some areas from their many adventures (one of which involved them getting too close to a bonfire). So, we gave them a good dry cleaning. By dry cleaning, I do not mean we took Eppy to a laundry mat. In preservation, dry cleaning is done by utilizing a vacuum with variable suction or a dry brush to remove particles and clean the item without damaging it. Eppy now lives at the RCL in custom-built archival boxes constructed in the preservation lab.

Book cradles are important tools when viewing or displaying books. It supports a book, holding it open at a certain angle thereby reducing stress on the spine by not forcing the book to lay flat, creating a stable structure to view the book (especially if it is fragile and the covers are detaching), and minimizing potential damage by reducing the handling of the book. There are many types of book cradles ranging from ones make of acrylic to polyethylene (aka archival-quality foam) to board and cushions. Some cradles are adjustable while others are not. The type of cradle you choose is dependent on what you plan to use the cradle for (i.e. exhibitions, displays, general viewing or handling) and the cost.

When our Cataloging Librarian, Kelly Evans, approached me asking if we had any extra book cradles that she could use at her desk while cataloging, I realized we did not. After looking online to purchase one (and seeing that many of the options are pretty expensive), I took it upon myself to craft an adjustable one with materials we had in the preservation lab. There are multiple ways to create more budget friendly book cradles, but I decided to utilize our book cradle clamshell template, making some tweaks to create this customizable book cradle. Each set of Velcro tabs allows the cradle to be opened wider or narrower depending on Kelly’s needs and still be very stable no matter the angle. Here is the result! 

Board game expansions? No box to fit them in? No problem! When the Media Library asked if there was a way to house the board game, Everdell, and its multiple expansions, I said I would be happy to create some sort of custom box. The result? A heavy duty clamshell with a pull out drawer. With some tweaks to the template that we use to build normal clamshells, I crafted one that would fit all the pieces of the original board game and the expansions, separating both the larger pieces, and the smaller tokens. Normally, we cover our clamshells in book cloth, giving it a clean finish, but I decided to cover this clamshell in buckram (a stiffer fabric with greater durability and strength) so that it could survive the wear and tear of everyday use. 

When our Public Services Librarian, Megan May, came to me inquiring whether we could create custom enclosures that serve not only as storage for rare books and artist books but that function as a display for those items, I eagerly took on the challenge . Normally, we build clamshells for our most at risk and rare books, so the difficulty was to add something to allow for the display element. After much research and brainstorming, I decided to create a built-in book cradle that would live inside of a clamshell thereby housing it securely while also allowing it to be opened up for display in a safe manner. However, I could not find instructions on how to build such a structure. Thus, began prototype building (Image 1). Utilizing board scraps and some tape, I worked on creating a structure that would mimic a book cradle’s shape but also make it collapsible.  

The main trick was determining a way to decide the angle of the book cradle so the book spine would be protected by not allowing the book to open all the way. The solution was to create a mock cradle, propping the book between weights to determine the height of the side piece. The result can be seen in the below images. The process of creating this structure was very enjoyable and will be a staple for future clamshells that we build! 

This particular book is an artist book from Special Collections’ annual Artist Book Competition entitled “Case #xxxx”. (View the catalog record for this book)

This clamshell is different from our normal clamshells due to the sliding drawer in the bottom of the base. When we received this book, I noticed that it was difficult to remove the book from its wrapper and that the wrapper was fragile. I became concerned about the future damage that could occur to the book and sleeve if they continued to be housed together and handled. I decided to craft this clamshell in this manner so users can view both the wrapper and the book together without additional wear, while also allowing users to pick up the book and flip through it the way it was intended!

This book from 1840 entitled “The enchanted scrap book: exhibiting pictures, which appear and vanish at the word of command” is a conjurer’s blow-book, with 7 different hand-colored full-page engravings, each repeated 12 times. Each picture can be made to appear or vanish by flipping the pages in various ways. (View the catalog record for this book)