Queries and Answers: Caring for Fragile Books
Joyce asked, "I have a very old genealogy book that is falling apart. How can I preserve it? Someone suggested laminating the pages." Gosh...lamination is one of the deadliest sins of preserving items. It literally destroys materials. The combination of poor quality plastic, heat and adhesive speed deterioration. As for caring for a crumbling book, library suppliers sell an acid and lignin free enclosures like these sold by Hollinger Corp. Your local library will have product catalogs that contain other types of protective enclosures. Just make sure you bu

Missing Pictures: Rebecca Mayo, Revolutionary War Widow
Sometimes the hunt for a photograph is so frustrating! One of the more than 6,000 Revolutionary War widows collecting a pension was Rebecca Mayo of Newbern, Pulaski County, Virginia. She married Stephen Mayo in 1834 when she was just a young woman and Mayo was 77. The Boston Daily Globe ran a story about her on July 6, 1904 (page 6), "Mrs. Mayo of Virginia is a Revolutionary Widow." There were only two widows left at that point, Rebecca Mayo and Esther Damon. Damon's photo and story appear in my book, The Last Muster (Kent State University Press, June 2010). In the Globe article were two pictures. On of Rebecca and the other of her house. Both of these pictures have proved elusive. I c

1835 Photograph on Display
I've repeatedly written that photography begins in 1839 with Louis Mande Daguerre's shiny metal photograph called the daguerreotype and William Fox Talbot's paper images. However, that isn't one hundred percent true. These two men produced commercially successful processes, but before that there were men who experimented with chemicals, light and materials to produce images. The Hans P. Kraus Jr. Fine Photographs Gallery at 962 Park Ave., in New York has a new show. Silver Anniversary: 25 Photographs, 1835-1914 features one of the earliest paper photographs, "Tripod in the Cloisters of Lacock Abbey" by Talbot. It's a very delicate image and usual

Weekend at the Museum: Halloween Fun
Here's a double-treat for Halloween weekend. First have you viewed the Halloween Costume Clues in my new video on Vimeo. It'll make you relive your own trick or treat memories. One year I went as a Crayola crayon in a handmade costume. It was a big hit at the neighborhood party, but it had one small problem. I couldn't sit down in it! For our museum visit this week, check out the Castle Halloween Museum. It's run by none other than the Halloween Queen. Located in Benwood, West Virginia this museum features 250 years o

Queries and Answers: Ambrotypes
Here's another question from an attendee at one of my workshops. "If a daguerreotype is named for Louis Daguerre, then what's the origin of the term ambrotype?" Good question. I have to admit it caught me off-guard. An ambrotype is an image on glass backed with a dark material or varnish. It's named for J. Ambrose Cutting who promoted the process.