Lillie Aydt, paper conservation technician who has worked in the lab for more than a year, assists with treatments such as removing tape, mending, and encapsulating. To form protective covers for flat materials such as maps, she uses an ultrasonic welder that uses vibrations to bond pieces of polyester mylar. "It's a really cantankerous machine, Frankensteined together," she says. "But it does the job."

For paper conservators dealing with general collections, making information available to researchers trumps cosmetic issues. "As opposed to art museums or private collectors," Sanders says, "for us, it's the information contained on the sheet, not necessarily the whiteness of the paper or the blackness of the ink."

 

More Photos from the Preservation Lab

Aydt carefully lifts an aged newspaper out of a work sink where it has been soaking in a water solution. The technique helps remove dirt and impurities that have accumulated within the fibers of the paper.