Rare Books as Museum Objects: Considerations for Safe Exhibition and Loan

Maria Fredericks, Drue Heinz Book Conservator at the Morgan Library & Museum, was featured as the speaker for the 2017 offering in the annual Brodsky Series for the Advancement of Library Conservation. During the public lecture “Rare Books as Museum Objects: Considerations for Safe Exhibition and Loan,” Fredericks discussed the basics of sealed packages and monitoring devices for maintaining a stable relative humidity around artifacts in transit or on display, and the use of pollutant scavengers to mitigate the effects of certain indoor pollutants inside a display case or storage container. The lecture was preceded by a hands-on workshop “Exploring Microclimates,” which introduced participants to a variety of materials and techniques for providing a safe and stable environment for the exhibition, travel, and storage of artifacts. Fredericks is the Drue Heinz Book Conservator in the Thaw Conservation Center of the Morgan Library & Museum. In addition to ongoing conservation treatment work and supervision of interns and post-graduate fellows, Fredericks devotes a substantial portion of her time to evaluating and preparing bound materials for display and travel in the Morgan’s exhibitions and loan program. She is also a visiting lecturer at New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts Conservation Center, and is a frequent speaker and teacher. Before joining the staff of the Morgan in 2005, she was head of conservation at Columbia University Libraries. She has also held positions at the Huntington Library, the Winterthur Library, the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts and the Library of Congress. See more on the Brodsky Series Page at: https://library.syr.edu/scrc/programs/brodsky.ph