When Paperwork Is The Point: How Experts At The Huntington Preserve Historic Documents

It’s hard for the eye to settle on any one item on a visit to the Huntington Library, so vast are its treasures. In one display case, you have the Ellesmere Chaucer, which dates from the 15th century, one of the most important copies of The Canterbury Tales in existence. In another, you have the Gutenberg Bible, which started a printing revolution and changed the world.

With much discussion these days about national documents and their whereabouts generally, we wanted to find out what it takes to preserve these pieces of history.

Thomas Gainsborough's The Blue Boy (ca. 1770) installation view in the Thornton Portrait Gallery at The Huntington; Kehinde Wiley's A Portrait of a Young Gentleman (2021) installation view in the Thornton Portrait Gallery at The Huntington

(

Joshua White/The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

)

Kristi Westberg is the senior book and paper conservator at The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens. For the past eight years, she and a team of experts have been in charge of handling the library's oldest and most precious documents.

Huntington also houses modern treasures, like the papers of science-fiction pioneer Octavia Butler. It also has ancient work.

"We have the oldest printed book on exhibition at the Huntington and that was printed in 1085," Westberg told LAist's news program AirTalk, which airs on 89.3 FM. The book about 40 feet long.

What goes into taking care of them? How do you display them responsibly? And, crucially, when handling, gloves or no gloves?

First, it's important to distinguish the material you're working with.

Parchment or paper?

Yemenis attend a historical Quranic manuscripts fair at Al-Kabir Mosque on March 20, 2023 in Sanaa'a, Yemen. The five-day fair showcases 39 handwritten copies of the Quran manuscripts written on paper and 26 manuscripts written on parchment, all date back to different periods in Islamic history.

(

Mohammed Hamoud

/

Getty Images

)

"Parchment is actually made from animal skin," says Westberg. It's removed from the animal, along the flesh and hair, then stretched like a drum and pulled very thin. Paper, on the other hand, can be made from a variety of materials. Really nice paper, Westberg said, is made from cotton rag. This used to be the main form of paper produced. But that changed with the advent of the Industrial Revolution, when people started to make shortcuts.

That's when paper started being made with wood pulp, which is very acidic and less durable but significantly cheaper to produce. There's a misconception, Westberg says, around paper. A lot of people think older books present the biggest challenges when it comes to conservation, but it's actually newer books. Have you ever left your newspaper out in the sun and seen the paper turn yellow?

"That happens with more modern papers," Westberg said. Believe it or not, 14th- and 15th-century books are usually in much better shape.

Proper storage is key

"Books and library materials kind of like the same environment that humans like," says Westberg. If you're like most people, that means an indoor space that is not too hot, not too cold, and not too humid. Westberg and her team at The Huntington Library keep the documents stored at a temperature no higher than 72 degrees and maintain 30-50% humidity.

You may also notice the dim lighting when you visit their exhibition. Light damage, says Westberg, is cumulative and irreversible. "We can repair a lot of things but we can't bring the ink back." To prevent light damage, items are rotated every 3-6 months, pages are turned frequently and of course, the mood is set to dim.

One of the most common questions Westberg fields is about gloves — Should you wear them to protect documents from the oil on your hands? It depends, she says. For most instances, gloves aren't necessary and can actually lead to more damage. When handling an extra-fragile document, Westberg says it's important to be able to feel it. "You might not realize how fragile it is."

A photo of the Ellesmere Chaucer, a famous early 15th century manuscript of Geoffrey Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" on display at The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, CA.

(

Courtesy of The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

)

With gloves on, one would love that sensation to know what you're handling. What she generally recommends is clean, dry hands. "No lotion, no sanitizer," she adds. Photographs can be an exception as they can be more reactive to the oils on our hands. In those instances, wearing gloves is best.

Why is preservation so important?

Preservation of culture, protection of rights, to promote learning and knowledge — there are a lot of reasons to preserve historical documents. We have repositories all around the world, each with their own special records and slice of history. They also have their own special challenges when it comes to preservation. Westberg says it takes "informed and measured decisions" to keep these materials alive, and we may be better off for it. Every day, Westberg and her team watch scholars and historians come and go from the library, which is actively trying to digitize certain documents so more scholars around the world can access them.

Westberg was planning to go into graphic design, but while working a job at a special collections library, it was the conservators who caught her eye. She asked them what they were up to, they explained their job, and that was it. "I was hooked. I was sold."

Listen to the conversation