Conservation Assessment of Rare Botanical Books

FAIN: PG-50891-10

Chicago Botanic Garden (Glencoe, IL 60022-1168)
Leora Siegel (Project Director: May 2009 to November 2011)

Funding supports a general survey of the rare book collection, which documents research in botany, botanical art, horticultural gardening, and landscape design; and a detailed examination of specific volumes identified for conservation treatment.

The Chicago Botanic Garden requests $5,665 to fund a professional conservator's survey of rare books acquired in 2002 from the Massachusetts Horticultural Society (MHS) and now housed in a rare book room within the Lenhardt Library. The survey will include a general examination of 2,500 rare books as well as specific item-level examination of selected volumes. Given the Lenhardt Library's limited resources and the immediate threat of further deterioration of the rare books from damage sustained prior to acquisition, previous partial assessments and conservation treatments have of necessity focused on the most valuable, unique, and at-risk volumes in the collection. The survey proposed here will inform a comprehensive plan to stabilize all of the Library's rare books, and it will play a key role in securing funding for the important conservation work that still lies ahead in making this rare and valuable collection available to researchers and the public.