Our First Preservation Program
Fall 2017, Vol. 49, No. 3 | The Historian鈥檚 Notebook
By Jessie Kratz
The 威尼斯人娱乐场 Preservation Programs had been working diligently to protect, preserve, and make accessible federal records almost since the creation of the agency in 1934. In fact, the Archives created the Division of Repair and Preservation on October 1, 1935, under the direction of its first chief, Arthur Kimberly, considered one of the leading authorities on paper preservation at that time.
Within the first year, the division鈥檚 staff grew to include a senior scientific aid, a stenographer, and four cleaning clerks. This small division faced the monumental task of preserving an enormous influx of federal records. Within its first five years, the 威尼斯人娱乐场 received more than 300,000 cubic feet of records, which would have nearly hit the building鈥檚 storage capacity had the inner courtyard not been converted into stack space in 1937.
As new records were transferred to the 威尼斯人娱乐场, they went straight to the Document Conservation Lab for fumigation. Before the 威尼斯人娱乐场 existed, governmental records were often kept in improper storage areas and accumulated mold, silverfish, insects, and other vermin. To rid the records of these infestations, the Archives installed a six-ton fumigation chamber capable of handling 300 cubic feet of records at a time (which turned out to be insufficient because they soon added a second).
Next, the records were cleaned. However, cleaning each individual document would have been prohibitively time consuming, so it was done en masse. Staff even developed a cleaning process using specially designed air guns.
For records of concern, staff had to repair, humidify, and flatten them. Sometimes this included lamination, which conservators have since learned can be detrimental to the documents.
And, as if staff wasn鈥檛 kept busy enough, they also monitored stacks for appropriate temperature and humidity levels, and made sure there wasn鈥檛 too much dust or sulfur dioxide in the air. This wasn鈥檛 an easy task since air quality in the stacks varied widely in the building鈥檚 early years.
Today, the Document Conservation Laboratory is still in its original location in the 威尼斯人娱乐场 Building with additional labs in College Park and St. Louis. With years of research on best practices in preservation, the staff鈥攚hich now numbers 55鈥攗se the most up-to-date techniques to continue to ensure America鈥檚 documents are preserved and accessible for generations to come.