These are some examples of treatments that have been performed in the conservation lab.
Catalog record: Codex MS 003183
The Brut Chronicle prior to conservation treatment.
The earliest prose chronicle in English, this copy starts with the legendary hero Brutus' conquest of Albion and continues, with the second continuation, to 1419 and Henry V's siege of Rouen.
This item was acquired in 2006 bound in a tacketed binding structure with weak and fragile sewing. Through discussions with the curator of Special Collections it was decided to disbind, clean, perform minor repairs, and resew the volume.
The Brut Chronicle, disbound, undergoing cleaning and minor repairs.
It was also decided that the volume should be digitized while disbound to minimize potential damage during the digitization process. Preservation services staff completed the digitization, and the digitized version is now available for scholars across the world to view online.
The Brut Chronicle resewn on vegetable-tanned leather tapes.
Photographs from the Archives prior to treatment.
One of the photographs after flattening and encapsulation.
This is an example of a custom housing created for a special collections volume that receives heavy use. The built-in cradle allows the book to be safely opened and displayed without removing it from the protective box. The cradle design was inspired by Katherine Beaty’s Cradle Box Instructions (2005).
The Woodward Room bookshelves.
Damaged books in the Woodward Room.
As part of the moving process, the books came through the Conservation unit to be cleaned and repaired prior to storage. In total, more than 500 volumes were treated over a period of several months.
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