Special Collections Preservation
Bookplate of the English Book Donation. Presented to the City of Chicago, toward the formation of a free library after the great fire of 1871, as a mark of English sympathy, by [inscribed] Her Majesty the Queen Victoria.
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The Preservation Unit is responsible for protecting and ensuring the longevity and useful life of the Division's collections. The Harold Washington Library Center houses a state of the art conservation lab which provides a range of conservation treatments including paper mending, leaf casting, washing, deacidifying, conservation binding, and protective housing of materials. In cases where printed original artifacts are beyond conservation, staff may utilize reformatting technologies, such as microfilming, digitization, and preservation photoduplication. The Division's collections are housed in stacks which are monitored for temperature and relative humidity.
Periodic programs arranged by Preservation staff feature the Book Arts. These educational offerings provide the public a "behind the scenes" look at the techniques involved in the making and mending of books.
