3 + 25 Years and 7 Months - Retirement from Syracuse University Libraries

On July 1st, 1995, I began my career at Syracuse University Libraries. To me, it began as the ultimate work-study job because, 1) I was hired as a librarian while working on my degree at the university's School of Information Studies, and 2) I was able to establish the library's first conservation lab for special collections materials on a two-year grant. That worked out well, because it would take me 2 years to complete my degree. My long term goal was to become a preservation librarian/administrator somewhere, something that would allow me to combine my experiences with both circulating and special collections, as well the then still semi-nascent digitization. I became fascinated with the possibilities of digitization while working at Yale and Cornell. 

Conservation work was centered on the Library's Leopold von Ranke Collection. 400 unidentified books to conserve and 1000 enclosures to make. Coming from a background of item-level collection conservation treatment surveys and having nothing to go on, I got to work identifying treatment needs. the collection was an interesting one as was gathered by Leopold von Ranke, [the] father of modern history, included all subjects, and was brought to Syracuse as the University's first library. It only became a special collection later. So, much to do, to which were added heavily used items from class presentations, and other sources.

Although classed as a librarian, I was not eligible for the "promotion and tenure process" as I was grant funded. Not really an issue for two or three years, but long term I wanted more. The "labor" associated with that process – publication, presentation, service, ... – were things I enjoyed anyway.

1997 Preservation Staff

Two years became three when I was moved to year-to-year funding, but then there were questions about where the money would come from. This was not exactly what one wants to hear after purchasing a house and having a child ... So, time to think fast. Fortunately, I had developed contacts and relationships with people at Gaylord Brothers, a large library and archival supplier, based here in Syracuse. I was grateful that they hired me as the archival product manager in July of 1998. I had never worked in a corporate environment, but also rarely turned down a challenge. My experiences and contacts in the conservation and preservation fields that provided me with a certain credibility at Gaylord so I was able to develop several new products and modify others to better meet the needs of the field. I was also able to see where Gaylord's competitors aligned and diverged from "us" in terms of products. As a bonus, I was also the face and voice of the Gaylord Help Line, a service that anyone could call into to ask questions about caring for their artifacts ... That was eye-opening. Ultimately the corporate environment was not something I was interested in remaining in for a number of reasons, and when I saw my old job at Syracuse reposted I applied, successfully. Over time, however, I realized how much I learned in that year at Gaylord. On my first day back, I removed the thick layer of dust that was everywhere, turned on my computer, and logged in to find everything like I had never left a year earlier.

A box-making [and more] workshop shortly before my arrival.
The gentleman watching was the Director of the library, David Stam
who was a past director of the Newberry where he hired John Dean,
my first Mentor, then Director at Johns Hopkins where I met John Dean
who had followed him there. John was also my boss at Cornell. Marty Hanson
was Head of Preservation at Syracuse, and we met when she was a preservation intern
at Cornell.

Another view from the same workshop.

I was able to bring the Guild of Book Workers' New England Chapter
Created Space exhibition to Syracuse in 1995.
Here I am holding one of my 3 bindings from the exhibition.

When I came back in July 1999, Peter Graham was the new Director and my reporting line had changed from Preservation to Special Collections. I still loved working at the bench and continued my involvements, including in the wider field. Here some articles from the university's publications:

• Interviewed for the "Staff Matters" section of the Syracuse Record in an article entitled "PV keeps SU Library's Books in Good Shape." April 16, 2001.
• Interviewed for the "Staff Circle" section of the Syracuse University Alumni Magazine in an article entitled "Preserving Special Collections." Spring 2000.

My staff continued to consist of work-study students largely drawn from the 1st year art foundation courses I gave book arts instruction sessions too Even if not working in the lab, students would visit to consult on projects and make use of equipment and supplies. They loved the offcuts. Among the students working in the lab, standouts were Alex who helped me treat the Nuremberg Chronicle and didn't panic when I had to tend to a donor while she continued the washing process, Ken who loved making clamshell boxes and was incredibly fast, and good, Greg who was interested in the book as an object, was curious, experimental, and engaged in his printmaking community. There were many others as well. Ultimately, I needed experienced help. That person was Donia Conn, a U Texas trained conservator. Though I had to "fight" to be able to hire her, she was hands down the best person I ever worked with, something that was acknowledged by the Director when she moved on - we couldn't offer her the librarian rank (and promotion process eligibility she more than deserved.

During a discussion with the director who had become my manager, I was asked about frustrations ... I mentioned not being eligible for the promotion process as I was still on grant funds. The outcome of that meeting was: done, you are now a senior assistant librarian, you will stand for promotion in 3 years (the up or out kind), don't mess it up. Confident, I was not too concerned ... The biggest hurdle came when I asked for some guidance on the process and was told that "no one knows what you do around here ..." They were serious, and I was gob smacked I was sometimes chastised for "over sharing" the work done in the lab and via exhibits... Oh well, through the book at them, starting with when I entered the profession as a work study student. Keep clippings ... in folders, and updating one's CV made that easier. As seemed appropriate for a trained bookbinder, I bound it all as one volume not knowing how difficult that made it to review. However, it worked... Donia quickly "took over" the lab and I focused on complex treatments and the library's first digitization projects. This gradual shift in responsibilities allowed me to accommodate my increasing mobility issues in a proactive way.

In 2008, I was promoted to Head of Preservation and Conservation. This involved merging the circulating and special collections repair and conservation efforts (though still separated by 6 floors), managing the budget and state grant. I also expanded preservation efforts to expand audio reformatting. I was also promoted to full librarian, the highest rank, a nice honor. 

Sewing a book during a "promotional" photo shoot in 2001.

Demonstrating binding and showing decorated papers at an open house.
I really enjoyed sharing what we do.

Two times I even got to be a book in the Library's Human Library event.
A nice way to meet new people and talk the work I do.

Significant highlights were creating and managing the Brodsky Series for the Advancement of Library Conservation, a series that brought noted speakers and workshop presenters to the Syracuse University Library. I did this from 2005 to 2012, was very proud to have John Dean start and frame the scope of the series, and I am glad the series is still ongoing. Significant to the series were sharing the recordings of the lecture online before that was "a thing" and offering 2- and 1-day that attracted not only conservation and preservation professionals, but also students at the University. 

With John Dean at the inaugural Brodsky Series lecture.

The series, and later Gaylord Brothers (I maintained good relations with people there, and they provided us with a lot of preservation materials) also helped fund internships, independent studies, and work-study opportunities for students in all areas of its operations including reference services, bookbinding, conservation, book arts, and collection surveys. I was also able to fill in for a colleague in the College of Visual and Performing Arts by teaching her book arts class while she was on leave. Teaching, hosting, and mentoring interns was one of the most rewarding things I was able to do.

Occasionally, we'd even make it into the student paper. Here is an excerpt from "Beyond the bookshelves: Syracuse library staff works hard at Bird Library with and without books" posted in The Daily Orange in 2010:

Peter Verheyen does not fit the image of a stereotypical librarian. Besides the fact that he is not an old, bespectacled, gray-haired lady, Verheyen wears a full-length lab coat to work,

considers razor-sharp knives to be common tools of the trade and on some days does not even pick up a book.

 

As head of Bird Library's department of preservation and conservation at Syracuse University, Verheyen is to books what doctors are to wounded soldiers on the battlefield. He and his

team of preservationists are the frontline of care to library materials in need of an emergency repair and fixing.

 "Preservation is an essential part of making sure collections continue to be used," Verheyen said. "It's not just people sitting in front of a computer."

In February 2013 my responsibilities with preservation ended abruptly, and I became an analyst, the focus of my work becoming "data" in various forms. A shock to the system, I vowed that I would not allow that event to define who I was and my interests and involvements. I was grateful that because of the resources I had acquired over decades, that I had everything I needed to continue binding, conservation, and writing at home. A random email about a certain Ernst Collin "saved" me and led me to at times gut-wrenching, yet wonderfully sustaining project that continues. In December 2021, I received the library's Distinguished Service Award, a peer recognition. While very honored, it was also heavily based on work I did pre-2013, something that ended up putting me into a tailspin of burnout and depression of sorts, so that I did very little since. 

January 31st is my last day in "the Bird" as the library is named. Giving notice that I was retiring, seems to have lifted that dark cloud, so that I am finding my way back to enjoying my projects and rediscovering my creative side. Now to make it sustainable. I feel positive about this next phase, and look back on many incredibly rewarding experiences.

Last early morning Call-A-Bus pickup. If I was taking the big city buses,
I would have left the house an hour earlies, aka 5:45am. 

Dropoff at Bird Library. In a wonderful twist, I had the same
driver as the one who helped me navigate the big city buses
9 years earlier, after I gave up my driver's license.

Turning off the lights one last time ...

The official notice in the Libraries' Staff News

I would not have become involved in this beautiful profession and life without support, encouragement, and goading of many:

My parents who ignited the spark; John Dean, Martha Edgerton, Joanna Mankowski, and many others at Johns Hopkins; Georg Reinwald at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum; Dietmar and Regina Klein where I apprenticed; Julia Puissant at the Centro del bel Libro in Ascona; Frank Mowery at the Folger Shakespeare Library; Heinke Pensky Adam at Monastery Hill Bindery; William Minter and Robin Howell; Giesela Noack at Yale, John Dean, Mark Dimunation, Anne Kenney, Christian Boissonnas, Barber Eden Berger, Joan Brink, Pat Fox, and Samantha Couture at Cornell; David Stam. Marty Hanson, Mark Weimer, Peter Graham, Nicolette Dobrowolski, Donia Conn, Patrick Midtlyng, the Brodsky's, Christian Dupont, Sean Quimby, Marianne Hanley, Gail Hoffman, Holly Greenberg, and many others at Syracuse. Then there are the workstudy students and interns that stood out to me including Alexandra Penuela, Ken Cronk, Sarah Provoncha, Greg Santos, Terez Iacovino, Sarah Kim, Marieka Kaye, Suzy Morgan, Hannah Stevens, and many others. I wasn't always easy, but I would not have accomplished all I did without you. For that I am grateful.

More about me in my Selected Works and CV. I don't think I'm done yet ... Books to bind, things to write on my blog here and elsewhere, Fritz Otto, aka mini-me, trains, the garden ... Then, perhaps other things like getting involved.

Above the last spread of my "biography" by Greg Santos.
Completed "on-the-clock", of course. 😉

Fritz Otto [Almost] Ready for Binding

Been a rather busy and tense few months since "the Meister" decided to retire from his "day-job" at a large library effective 31 January 2025! In addition to working out the finances, thinking about how he is going to spend his time, and the holidays, it's been a bit bit anxious for me ... What will happen with me when he can [re]focus his energies on his books and related interests. I've seen him start organizing his bench, bring home what little "papers" he still had at work, and start going through what he has here. 

So, time to channel some of that nervous energy into various projects like building myself a "me-sized" workbench, some tools and presses I can use, and some accessories to make it feel like a place I want to work. Also made some sheaths for my paring knives. Those Peachey knives are the best and need to be treated with care. It's also been fun to see @bookbinderbarbie is back too! The more of "us",  the merrier.

My new bench with some of the presses I got and/or made
as well as some of my tools. Note all the flat storage underneath
that I will need to fill

Below, me assembling my casing-in press... Check out all the other posts on my @Insta.

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Below my bindery in one of its configurations. Everything rolls, so I can change as needed. Note that I have lots of storage, including 2 red library book carts. The boss says "you can take the librarian/conservator out of the library, but you can't take the library out of them". Great to have free wi-fi too so I can surf the Book Arts Web.

What kinds of projects would you like to see me share?

German-style Springback translated Into Spanish in Códice

So very glad to see the tutorial on the German-style springback, "Encuadernación de Libros (Contables) con Resorte (Springback)", appear in Códice 33, the journal of EARA - Encuadernadores Artesanales de la República Argentina. The article was written by me and Donia Conn in 2003, and published in Designer Bookbinders UK's The New Bookbinder.

 
Many, many thanks to María Ángela Silvetti for asking, the translation, and her team for making it happen. This was also a perfect excuse to update all the images. 21+ years is a long time in imaging technology ...

The original English version with the new images can be viewed at here.

German Springback Tutorial Images Upgraded

After over two decades, I finally upgraded the images and made some other tweaks to the German-style springback tutorial I wrote with Donia Conn. 

The tutorial was originally published in Designer Bookbinders' The New Bookbinder, vol. 23, 2003. It was, and still is shared online at The Book Arts Web.

The original images were shot on film, not terribly well lit, and printed in black and white. Those were the times.

The action of the spine from the 2003 article.

A cutaway model from the 2003 article.

While the action of the spine and some other functional aspects are identical to the English version, the aesthetic and steps, especially the construction of the spring are quite different. View the tutorial here. Below some of the images via Instagram.

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Colliniana 2023-24 - Ernst Collin Updates

It is past due time for another Ernst Collin related update, something I have tried to do on his birthday of 31 May. As with the last one, there have been few new findings. Much of that does back to my slower pace of life, yet I was still able to find some things.

Of most interest was making use of our Ancestry.com subscription to search for anything on the Collins. Successes were to be had, also in terms of the "other Ernst". These certificates are the only official confirmation of the other facts that led to the disambiguation of these two Ernsts previously described in the "Tale of Two Ernsts" from 2013. Ernst Heinrich and Else were "deported" to Auschwitz where they were murdered in December 1942. Heinrich Ernst and Margareta were able to emigrate.

The first is a birth certificate for Ernst Heinrich Collin (note the name), son of Georg and Regina Collin.

Ernst Heinrich Collin, born 31 May 1886 to Georg and Regina Collin.

Note the dated stamps at right. The top indicates that per the Namensänderungsgesetz,
Israel was added to all Jewish males, and Ernst on 18 March 1939.
The stamp below from 1952 rescinds that law and removes the Israel.

Below the marriage certificate for Ernst Collin and Else Cronheim dated 13 November 1913. Note again the stamps at right adding Israel and Sara to Ernst's and Else's names, as well as the stamp rescinding that law.

Marriage certificate for Ernst Heinrich Collin and Else Cronheim.

After finding these documents, it was not difficult to find the marriage certificate for the "other" Ernst. Heinrich Ernst Collin (note the name and compare to "our Ernst") was married to Margareta Weisgerber on 4 October 1923. There are no stamps with name changes, perhaps because they were able to emigrate before ... However, to provide continuing material for confusion, his collection at the Leo Baeck shows him as Ernst Heinrich, with a birthdate of February 10th (the marriage certificate says the 20th), however the address of residence on Hubertusalle matches that from the 1928 Addressbuch... 

Marriage certificate for Heinrich Ernst Collin and Margareta Weisgerber
dated 4 October 1923.

I was also able to find similar documentation for Georg and Regina Collin (Ernst Heinrich's parents) as well as Getrude Collin (Ernst's sister) who continued the firm of W. Collin, and who passed in London (UK) 28 September 1986.

In December of 2022 I received a copy of Meisterhafte Unikate, the catalog to, and history of the Meister der Einbandkunst's (MDE) 100th anniversary exhibition. Notable was the large number of Ernst Collin citations in the sections about the early history of the MDE.

In other news, in early 2023 I got the kind of email that made may day in a wonderful way. A colleague shared some images of a very large multi-volume set that had come into the conservation lab at Johns Hopkins University for some work before being returned to its rightful place in the collections. The set had come to attention because it had decorated a retiring library Dean's office... What made the set special to me was that the set had been bound by W. Collin, Court bookbinders in Berlin, and came with some important provenance.

Finally, Google Maps recently updated its Streetview images for Berlin, and the Stolpersteine can finally be seen, sort of. Read the story of how they were placed here.

Detail from Google Streetview of Cicerostr 61 in Berlin.

Werner Kiessig Bindings Being Digitized

I introduced Werner Kiessig in this post from 2020. Kiessig lived and worked in Berlin, Ost, but was also a member of the Meister der Einbandkunst (MDE), then a largely West German group that changed its name to "Meister der Einbandkunst – Internationale Vereinigung e.V." so that Kiessig could become a member.

The State Library of Berlin (Staatsbibliothek Zu Berlin, aka Stabi) has begun digitizing his bindings with multiple views. The collection can be viewed direct on the Stabi's website here.

Here is a binding from Handeinbände, his 1984 exhibit at the Deutsche Staatsbibliothek. He was best known for his "fine bindings." In some of the examples, one can see how he used simple and more available materials to create handsome bindings

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John Francis Dean - My First Mentor and Inspiration

Yesterday, I learned of the passing of John Francis Dean (2/11/1936  -  2/29/2024). Looking back, John probably had the greatest impact on me in the conservation and preservation field. I shared some of my experiences with him in a post here several years ago.

After emigrating from Great Britain to the United States in 1969, John F. Dean managed the preservation program at the Newberry Library before establishing the apprentice training and conservation program at the Johns Hopkins University in 1975. He went to Cornell University in 1985 to establish and develop the Department of Preservation and Conservation. He is widely recognized as one of the major proponents of preservation programs at academic libraries and was the 2003 recipient of the American Library Association’s prestigious Paul Banks and Carolyn Harris Preservation Award. A thread throughout his career arc is David Stam who as Director of the Newberry Library brought him to the U.S., then as Director of the Library at Johns Hopkins brought him there. They remained life-long friends until David's passing last February. David was University Librarian at Syracuse when I arrived there ...

John Dean (2nd from right) with Yoko Sampson demonstrating
during one of the frequent tours he gave of the program at
Johns Hopkins. The image is undated, but could have been during my time.
Image from the Johns Hopkins University graphic and pictorial collection. 

I was introduced to John at the start of my freshman year at Johns Hopkins in 1981. Like many students, I needed a work-study job, and being a faculty brat my parents knew the campus options well… So, “son, the library hires a lot of students… Shelving books is boring, but there’s this Englishman in the basement who has a book conservation program and manages preservation…” Sounded interesting, went down, talked to John Dean, and got the job. That experience, and all the people who worked there changed my ideas, interests, and goals. This was a fully developed program with circulating collections repair and rehousing (my job, largely), rare book, and paper conservation. They also managed the library binding program that was substantial in those pre e-journal days…

I was put to work learning how to repair the heavily used books from the circulating collections, make basic enclosures for brittle items, clean stacks, … Because of the nature of the program John created at Johns Hopkins, I was exposed to all levels of work, something that deeply intrigued me so that when I wasn’t training for bike racing or studying, I also volunteered with the paper conservator, and just observed the goings on. John encouraged this interest by inviting me to observe presenters brought in like Tini Miura, exposing me to other aspects of the field. Knowing that I was a semester ahead, he encouraged me to take an internship in Germany to see what impact that experience might have - That experience led me to apprentice there after graduation and then experience my own sort of journeyman years.

John F. Dean striking a pose while at Cornell.

In 1993, I began work as a rare book conservator at Cornell where I was reunited with John. He had left Johns Hopkins in 1985 to start the conservation and preservation program there. While Cornell did not have the apprenticeship program, it was a very broad and comprehensive program that included commercial binding, circulating book repair, box making, special collections conservation in books and paper, and reformatting that included the then nascent digitization. Thanks to that exposure, I developed a far greater understanding of the complexities of the field and how they all interconnected. This was quite different from single item treatment in a private practice, where those interconnected parts were not always obvious. Like at Johns Hopkins, the program he created was very active in the training of other professionals through internships and workshops. It was one of those interns, Marty Hanson who was the Preservation Administrator at Syracuse, and who later lured me away from Cornell to establish "my own" conservation lab while earning my MLS. The ultimate work-study job. John was also very involved internationally, especially in Southeast and East Asia so that interns from there were not uncommon either. He was also very successful in sponsoring and supporting consortial preservation efforts. John "retired" from Cornell in 2005.

John Dean and I getting ready at the inaugural
Brodsky Lecture in 2005.
Photo: Steve Sartori, SU Photo and Imaging Center.

In 2005 I was fortunate to be able to help create and then lead the Brodsky Series for Advancement of Library Conservation at Syracuse University Library. It was only natural that John was invited to be the first speaker on the topic of Conservation and Preservation in the Digital Age. From my introduction at the inaugural lecture:

John Dean our speaker for this afternoon’s inaugural event will speak on “Conservation and Preservation in the Digital Age,” a topic he is uniquely qualified to speak on as a result of his leadership in such activities at Cornell. John Dean is Cornell University's Preservation and Conservation Librarian.  He received his City and Guilds of London Institute medal in bookbinding in 1956, a Master of Arts degree in Library Science from the University of Chicago in 1975, and a Master of Liberal Arts degree in the History of Science from the Johns Hopkins University in 1981.  Following his six years apprenticeship, Dean established and lead four major preservation programs beginning in 1960, at the Manchester Central Research Library (England), the Newberry Library (Chicago), the Johns Hopkins University Library (Baltimore), and, since 1985, Cornell University Library.  He is author of several works on conservation and preservation management, has taught conservation and preservation management at the University of Maryland, Syracuse University, the University of Alabama, and the State University of New York at Albany, and is a member of several national and international preservation committees.

It was John Dean who introduced me to the field when I was a work-study student in the conservation lab at Johns Hopkins, urged me to go to Germany to apprentice as a bookbinder, and has been a true mentor and friend. I can think of no one more appropriate to inaugurate this series.

John's lecture can be viewed and downloaded here. He speaks about his own training starting on page 7 of the transcript.

With John at the memorial gathering for David Stam at the end of April 2023.
Despite the best intentions, it was the last time I was able to see John. 

John, thank you for everything over these decades. You and your program saved me while in college, and you were the best mentor and role model I could have hoped for as an academic library conservation and preservation professional.

Rest in Peace

See the obituary here.

Addendum: May 4, 2024

Display from the memorial celebration for John held at
The Kendall in Ithaca, NY. It was good to be able to say goodbye
with his family, friends, and colleagues from Johns Hopkins 
and Cornell. Many fond memories were shared that showed the 
the profound and meaningful impact he had on the people around him
whether personal or professional.
There was often no separation between the two.