Preservation Boxes for Rare Books Collection

FAIN: PG-287814-22

New England Historic Genealogical Society (Boston, MA 02116-3007)
Todd Pattison (Project Director: January 2022 to present)

The purchase of 650 boxes to protect oversized and fragile rare books during building renovations at the New England Historic Genealogical Society.

This grant would support the purchase of 650 boxes to provide protection to oversize rare books with compromised bindings and text block issues during the site work for the headquarters expansion of NEHGS. These boxes will prevent further damage to the volumes during transfer to an offsite storage area and will add additional protection to the volumes after completion of the building renovation when the volumes are returned to the current shelving area at the American Ancestors Research Library. The NEHGS conservator conducted a condition survey in 2021 to assess the rare book collection for preservation priorities during the move to offsite storage. The oversize volumes with condition issues were identified as the most at-risk; of the approximately 1,800 oversize volumes in the rare book collection a survey found that 689, or roughly 38 percent of these volumes are currently tied with cotton tape, which indicates that the volume has a binding issue (lorently tied with cotton tape.