Preservation Assessment and Workshop for Archives and Special Collections, Colgate University Library

FAIN: PG-51932-13

Colgate University (Hamilton, NY 13346-1338)
Sarah Keen (Project Director: May 2012 to October 2014)

A preservation assessment of the university's institutional records and special collections comprising about 8,600 volumes and 1,500 linear feet of archives and manuscript collections. Among them are the records of the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York that document the university's involvement with abolitionist activities and national politics leading up to the Civil War; the papers of the Colgate family that created the present-day Colgate-Palmolive Company; materials on William Shakespeare, T.S. Eliot, Joseph Conrad, George Bernard Shaw, and John Cowper Powys; assorted local history materials; and the papers of university faculty, alumni, and community members.

Colgate University's Case Library seeks a Preservation Assistance grant to engage a consultant for (1) a general preservation assessment for the Special Collections and University Archives department and (2) a workshop on mold. The materials in the archives and special collections include rare books, manuscript collections, University archives, and local history materials. The preservation assessment will focus on broad collections management, staffing, and environmental and storage concerns, and a written report will propose and prioritize plans for improvements. At a later date, the consultant will present a half-day workshop for the staff on mold, preventing mold, and responding to mold outbreaks. Both the assessment survey and the workshop will be carried out by consultant Karen E.K. Brown, Preservation Librarian at the University at Albany, NY.