Preservation Assessment to Preserve the Library's Engelberg Collection

FAIN: PA-51708-06

Conception Seminary College (Conception, MO 64433)
Thomas Sullivan (Project Director: May 2005 to October 2006)

A preservation assessment of the policies, practices, and conditions affecting the Engelberg Collection, a collection of 2000 theological works dating from the 15th to the 18th century, which was developed by a Swiss abbey (established 1120) and acquired by the seminary in the 1870s.

Conception Abbey & Seminary Library is seeking a Preservation Assistance Grant to engage a consultant for a General Preservation Assessment for its Engelberg Collection. We have a culturally significant collection of 2000 volumes from monastery of Engelberg in Switzerland largely printed in the 15th-18th centuries including fifty incunables. This collection is currently housed on wooden shelves in conditions that are not optimal for the long-term preservation of the books. The consultant would visit our library to assess its policies, practices, and the conditions affecting the care and preservation of our collection, and prepare a report that would summarize findings and contain prioritized recommendations for future preservation action