waring gloves to preserve old manuscripts

Please see “Misperceptions about White Gloves” in International Preservations News for more information. And gloves often carry far more dirt than clean hands. Indeed, as conservators write in International Preservation News, the recommendation to use gloves is a dangerous and “pervasive myth” that may result in the tearing of pages. Aside from those specific situations, it is generally preferable to handle your books with clean hands, washed with soap and thoroughly dried, rather than with gloves.”

Clean gloves (nitrile, vinyl, or lint-free cotton) are also recommended when handling photograph albums/photographs or books with metal or ivory parts. Gloves (nitrile or vinyl) are always recommended if there is reason to suspect a health hazard (e.g., mold, arsenic). “Before handling any collection item, thoroughly wash and dry hands. Contrary to widespread belief, gloves are not necessarily recommended to handle rare or valuable books.

Specifically, the Library of Congress recommends the following: Portland State University Library Special Collections follows their advice to handle most rare and valuable books with clean, dry hands.” Indeed, as conservators write in International Preservation News, the recommendation to use gloves is a dangerous and pervasive myth that may result in the tearing of pages. “According to the Library of Congress, wearing gloves while handling antiquarian books may do more harm than good. Special Collections & University Archives.“ Caring for Your Treasures,” American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works. “ The Use of White Cotton Gloves for Handling Collection Items” by Jane Pimlott, Preservation Coordinator at the British Library. Baker and Randy Silverman in International Preservation News, No. “ Misperceptions About White Gloves” by Cathleen A. When CSNTM’s digitizers handle any manuscript-whether or not they are wearing gloves-they wash their hands and then periodically wash again as needed. Rather than wearing gloves, the American Institute for Conservation of Historical and Artistic Works instructs conservators to “handle books only with freshly washed hands.” Then they recognize that “wearing white cotton gloves for handling rare bindings is a good preventive measure, but turning fragile or brittle pages with gloves may cause damage and is not advised.” Thoroughly washing hands with lotion-free soap will remove most of the dirt, grease, and oils that may be left on pages. These include that gloves limit tactile perception, do not eliminate the chance of transferring dirt, ointment, and other chemicals to the pages, and make turning fragile or fragmentary pages more difficult. Many archival organizations have recognized that there are some disadvantages to wearing gloves while handling books. Baker and Randy Silverman concluded that using gloves to handle manuscripts and other books is a recent phenomenon-possibly developing in the last twenty years. In an article for International Preservation News, Cathleen A. Since the popular perception of a museum or library conservator is a person wearing white gloves, let us explain why some archivists prefer to handle them with bare hands. In some cases, that requires Center staff to wear white cotton gloves, and in other cases it does not. If the condition of the original volume permits reformatting, handling can be reduced by providing readers with a photocopy or microfilm. The best method for preventing damage from use is to limit use as much as possible. Some manuscripts date back almost 1,000 years, said Ahmed al-Alyawi, who heads the House of Manuscripts body. The reason to collect and preserve scrapbooks is to provide readers with access to their content. Thus, the staff at CSNTM follow the protocols established by the institution whose manuscripts we are digitizing. The main reasoning behind wearing gloves was to protect document surfaces from marks made by oily or sweaty hands. In an annex of Iraq’s national museum, a conservator pores over a 17th-century manuscript, carrying out delicate restoration work as part of efforts to preserve and digitise 47,000 precious texts. We share a commitment to preserve NT manuscripts with the organizations that own them. These are excellent questions because it is imperative to properly care for and handle valuable objects like manuscripts. To protect loose manuscript sheets during handling and storage there are some basic practices to follow: 1. As the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts shares images and videos of its digitization teams working with manuscripts, we consistently receive questions about the use of white gloves.

Waring gloves to preserve old manuscripts