Things You Find in Books

     I’ve been busy cataloging a large donation of medical books for the museum.  Cataloging is an essential part of keeping proper records of the museum’s artifacts.  Cataloging can also be a rather tedious task!  However, I’ve been kept entertained by some of the things I’ve found in these books.  Today I thought I’d share a few of these finds with you.

     Even without the “surprise” finds, there are plenty of interesting features to old books.

Some old books have beautifully embossed leather covers. 

Even the book spines can be pretty.  Many times older books have very long titles such as this.

 

There are sometimes bookplates inside the books as well.  They often list the former owner’s name, and sometimes give clues about his or her interests.  I thought the design of this one was a bit strange, until I looked up the doctor’s name and discovered that he had been a pediatrician!

Of course, at my museum it’s always exciting to find a book which belonged to a Civil War Surgeon!

Many times in older books there is an illustration or photograph of the author or subject of the book, along with a reproduction of their signature.

This book photo highlights the uniform as well as the doctor.

Some images are more flattering than others!

 

 

You can occasionally find messages left by previous readers.

Little sketches on the end pages are common finds as well!

     Leafing further through the books you can find interesting things such as:

A battle map

Class notes in a medical textbook

A cartoon

A photo of a plane crash

A poem about a gas mask!

     With medical books, you also have to be prepared to find images such as:

Nude bodies

A surgical diagram

A diseased ileum

     Sometimes there are advertisements included as well.  The old ones can give a peek into the items and stereotypes from the past.

Once upon a time, this was a state-of-the-art vehicle.

For obvious reasons, this prosthetic leg ad caught my eye!

Some of the old ads simply make you shake your head.

And some ads are shameless self-promotions by the author of the book!

     Not all of my book discoveries are pleasant.

This is what happens when a piece of acidic newspaper is left inside a book.

This was not meant to be a sketch book!  At least these scribbles are in pencil though.

     I have also found some items which have been left inside of books.

I’ve found pressed flowers, leaves, and even this four-leaf clover.  They tend to discolor the pages and to attract insects, so I take them out of the books.

 

Letters and notes are fairly common finds.  A doctor left this list of itemized hospital admissions inside one of his books.

I even found this knotted lock of hair inside a book.  Unfortunately, there wasn’t any sort of identification with it.

     I will leave you with the most bizarre image I found inside a book:

I’m not sure if they were trying to promote their product, or to scare people with this image!

     
     Now I'd better get back to cataloging!

Photos courtesy of the National Museum of Civil War Medicine.

Processing the Barton artifacts

      This week, I’ve been working on cataloging and housing the Clara Barton artifacts on loan to us from the GSA.  I thought I’d show part of the process with two of the artifacts.

This is an oilcloth satchel which contained a paper booklet which recorded the laws passed by Congress in 1857. This satchel could have belonged to Clara Barton or to her neighbor, Edward Shaw, since some of his items were found stored in the attic as well. 

     First, I made sure that the contents of the boxes I received matched the list of artifacts!  Next I assigned each item a unique loan number.  Since the two artifacts pictured above were associated with each other when they were found, the GSA wished to keep them together.  One way to assure that these items remain “connected” is to assign them similar loan numbers.  Each artifact in this group starts with the designation “L6”.  The ‘L’ denotes that this is a loan.  The ‘6’ simply means that this is the sixth set of numbers assigned this year.  The next series of numbers designates the year, so each loan number for the artifacts in this group starts with L6.2012.  The next series of numbers and letters simply denotes the order in which they were processed.  When there are items which need to be grouped together (e.g. a cup and saucer, or a chess board and playing pieces) I can also add a letter to the end.  So in this case, the satchel is L6.2012.19a and the booklet is L6.2012.19b. 

Here is the booklet which was inside the satchel. You can see that the paper has yellowed. It is also very brittle. Continuing to store this inside the satchel is not a good idea, as the acid in the paper isn’t good for the cloth, and the friction of the (canvas) cloth on the booklet isn’t good for the paper.

     Next I need to enter the data for each item into the museum’s data base.  Each artifact in this group will be part of the “Clara Barton Collection” in the data base.  I record a written description of each artifact, its measurements, its condition, and its provenance or history.  I then make sure the proper index terms are associated with each artifact.  The satchel should show up in searches of “personal articles” and the book in searches of “laws” or “Congress”.

     At least one digital photograph is taken of each artifact as well.  Generally this is done against a plain background (my preference is black) and with a photographic reference scale, to get a feel for the item’s true size and color.  If you look back at the photo at the top of the page though, you will notice that I chose a gray background since the black satchel would not have shown up well against a black background!

A close-up of a rip in the flap of the satchel. I take more photos when I need to document areas of damage or deterioration.

     Next the artifacts need to be housed correctly.  They were already stored in archival boxes and covered in acid-free tissue, which was a very good start!  I crumpled up some more acid-free tissue and placed it inside the satchel, to prevent additional creases from forming in the cloth.  Then I put the booklet inside an acid-free folder to protect it.  They were put back into the box, padded with more acid-free tissue, and covered with ethafoam.  They will be placed in the collection room as soon as their quarantine period is over.

Notice that I could not close the satchel – the fabric is stiff and brittle, so I will store it with the lid open to prevent further damage. This will also get a layer of ethafoam on top before the lid is placed on the box.

And here is the booklet now safely housed in an acid-free folder.

Now the Clara Barton artifacts are cataloged and safely stored until we are able to display them!

 

Photos courtesy of the National Museum of Civil War Medicine.