Hi Kathy,
It seems to me that if the map is important to YOUR collection, how
rare it is may be of secondary importance. My guess is that it is
important to your collection - enough so that measures have already
been taken to preserve it.
I can't answer the question about how to best preserve it. That is
beyond my expertise. There is a group called the AIC: American
Institute for Conservation of Historic & Artistic Works. Their
website is: http://aic.stanford.edu/. If you look under "Specialty
Groups" there is one for books and paper. Under "Public Info" there
are links to information about selecting a conservator and how to care
for objects. It may be worth contacting them for relevant people in
your area that could do the work and give you a cost estimate.
Hope this helps,
Julie
Quoting Kathy Stroud <kpstroud@ucdavis.edu>:
> Hello all,
>
> I'm looking for advice on how much effort to spend on repairing a
> map we have in our collection. It's an 1874 map of Fresno County by
> George H. Goddard. (See below for more details.) It appears that
> the Bancroft has two copies, but I don't see any other copies in
> Melvyl and CSU Fresno is the only library in WorldCat listed as
> having it, so I assume it's somewhat rare.
>
> The problem is our copy is in poor condition. It was encapsulated,
> but we needed to remove the old encapsulation and redo it.
> Unfortunately many small flakes are coming off the backing and need
> to be pasted back down. Our preservation department does not have
> the time and resources to do the best possible conservation job. At
> best, they can paste the larger flakes, especially those with print,
> back down. (We would keep any small flakes that were not reattached
> in an envelope.) We would then re-encapsulate and store it in a
> special map drawer by itself so that it would not be jostled when we
> access other maps.
>
> I would like some advice on whether this is sufficient, or if this
> map is rare enough that further efforts should be taken. If further
> efforts are appropriate, do you know of any good professional map
> conservators in my area? How much does that cost? Relevant advice
> will be greatly appreciated.
>
> Thanks much!
>
> Kathy Stroud, Map/GIS Librarian
> Government Information and Maps, Shields Library
> 100 NW Quad Ave.
> Davis, CA 95616-5292
> 530-752-5248
>
> Author: Goddard, George H.(George Henry),1817-1906.
>
> Title: Map of Fresno County, California / comiled from the U.S.
> township maps, the geological surveys, and other authorities ; by
> Geo. H. Goddard.
>
> Published: Millerton, [Calif.] : Dixon & Faymonville, 1874
> Description: 1 map ; 77 x 102 cm.
>
> Call no.: Shields Gov Info and Maps Map Collection Old Maps MAP
> G4363.F7 1874 .G6
>
> Map scale: Scale [ca. 1:253,440] (W 120{33--W 118{21/N 37{47--N 35{54).
>
> Note: Relief shown by hachures and spot heights.
> Note: Shows drainage, settlements, roads, railroads,townships and
> sections, etc.
> Note: Covers also Madera County.
>
> Subject: Fresno County (Calif.) -- Maps.
> Subject: Madera County (Calif.) -- Maps.
>
> Add.Entry: Farquhar, Francis Peloubet, 1887-1974. CU-BANC
> Add.Entry: Britton & Rey.
> Add.Entry: Dixon & Faymonville.
>
>
***
Julie Sweetkind-Singer
Head Librarian, GIS & Map Librarian
Branner Earth Sciences Library & Map Collections
Stanford University
650-725-1102
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Jun 04 2007 - 11:26:03 PDT