Contributed by Marla Taylor
Preserving old books on a budget can be tricky. What is an archaeology museum with dozens of historic books to do?
The solution is simple: Utilize archival boxes.
The Peabody recently purchased a small quantity of archival KASEBoxes from ECS Conservation to rehouse about a dozen historic books. Students helped me take detailed measurements of the books so that the boxes could be custom-made. Now, volumes such as Standard History of Essex County, Massachusetts and Warren Moorehead’s annotated copy of Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley are available on the Peabody’s library shelves for use by the Phillips Academy community. These boxes provide a low-cost method of ensuring that fragile, delicate, or rare books are stored properly. Some of these books may eventually be the subject of conservation treatments.
More books are in need of a little TLC, so keep your eyes peeled for new archival boxes on the shelves at the Peabody!
