General Preservation Assessment of the Rare Book Collection of the Library of the Leo Baeck Institute

FAIN: PG-50756-10

Leo Baeck Institute, Inc. (New York, NY 10021-3502)
Renate Evers (Project Director: May 2009 to March 2011)

A preservation assessment of a collection of approximately 5,000 rare books, primarily in the field of German Judaica, and the purchase of protective boxes for 21 16th-century books in the collection.

The grant would support two activities. The first activity would be the overall preservation assessment of the rare book collection of the Leo Baeck Institute. This assessment would be used to prepare short term and long term recommendations and guidance for preservation, housing, and environmental conditions. This assessment will be conducted by the Book Conservator Nelly Balloffet of Paper Star Associates, Inc., Ossining, NY, a company for book and paper conservation and library services. The second activity that the grant would support is the purchase of protective boxes for the rarest books in the collection, which were published between 1501 and 1597, in many cases the only copies in the United States.