Libraries is new home for Appalachian Trail Conservancy archives

FAIRFAX, VA – May 23, 2022: The George Mason University Libraries’ Special Collections Research Center (SCRC) is pleased to announce the donation of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC) collection — a significant addition to SCRC’s archival collections of national importance.

The largest donation of materials received by SCRC to date, the core of the collection contains a broad array of items, including maps, letters, trail shelter logs, legal documents, publications, internal corporate documents, and images as well as Trail ephemera, such as patches, signs, and more. Dating from prior to the ATC’s beginnings in 1925 through the present, the collection encompasses more than 850 linear feet of unprocessed materials related to the famous Appalachian Trail (A.T.) spanning the East Coast from Maine to Georgia. The materials correspondingly document the growth of the ATC from a small confederation to a volunteer-centered but fully staffed nonprofit with a unique mission and international support.

Dean of Libraries and University Librarian John Zenelis comments, “The Libraries is pleased to enter this partnership with the ATC and become the home of this remarkable collection – a significant cultural heritage collection, with great promise for research and scholarship. We are committed to ensuring that best curatorial and archival practices are applied in managing both the physical materials (and eventually digital aspects) of the collection.”

About the collection, ATC President and CEO Sandra Marra shares, “The Appalachian Trail Conservancy is proud to partner with George Mason University to ensure these important artifacts of Appalachian Trail history are preserved. Each of these items helps tell the story of the vision that set the construction of the Trail in motion, the thousands of volunteers and advocates who helped make the Trail a reality, and the continued efforts to help ensure the Trail continues to benefit us all for generations to come.”

The history of the A.T. is not only one of outdoor exploration but also of many important facets of twentieth century U.S. history. A close examination of this history quickly leads one to considerations of the conservation movement, economic developments, indigenous peoples, race relations, gender ideology, technological advances, and more.

Lynn Eaton, director of SCRC, remarks, “This is an amazing collection, reflecting a strong area of research for scholars to explore for years to come. Once we have processed, arranged, and described the materials, we look forward to welcoming students and researchers to examine them. One of SCRC’s main tenets is supporting the research and teaching mission of the university, and this collection will be no exception.” While in the ATC’s care, more than two dozen books and dissertations were derived from these archives.

As the centennial of the ATC approaches, the Libraries is investigating opportunities to support the organization and preservation of these unique and historically important items. We look forward to recognizing this vital national heritage in the future with a fully processed and accessible collection.

Full press release

Exhibition + reception celebrating university’s 50th anniversary

All are invited to join the Libraries on Wednesday, May 25, from 4 to 6 p.m. for a program celebrating our latest exhibition and the university’s 50th anniversary. The event will take place in Fenwick Library, Room 2001, and will feature a presentation, reception, and time to tour the exhibition. RSVPs are welcome.

“We are Mason: A Student History” is curated by the Special Collections Research Center. The exhibition, which opened in April, will run through December 2022. “We are Mason” illustrates Mason’s first fifty years as an independent university, with a focus on Mason’s students. You can read more about the exhibition at the following:

New exhibition opening in celebration of Mason’s 50th anniversary: “We are Mason”

The Mason Libraries’ Special Collections Research Center (SCRC) is proud to present “We Are Mason: A Student History” – a new exhibition which will run from April through December 2022, with associated programming to be announced.

“We are Mason” illustrates Mason’s first fifty years as an independent university (officially recognized on April 7, 1972) as well as the fifteen years prior that mark its development from a fledgling branch college (that first opened in 1957). The exhibition focuses on Mason’s students, who have always been the main reason our institution exists and carries on into the future.

The Bulletin, George Mason College of the University of Virginia, April 7, 1972. George Mason University Publications, The Bulletin, R0128, Box 9, Folder 9.

Images in the exhibit illustrate student life throughout the years as well as the growth of university traditions, expansion of the campus, and important milestones in our institution’s history. The images and physical objects in the exhibition date from 1957 to 2022.

Visitors are welcome to view “We are Mason” in SCRC’s exhibition space on the second floor of Fenwick Library, during our open hours (see Hours for more information). The Libraries will host a special exhibition reception later this spring.

New exhibition on the Cold War in American Culture

Looking Over Our Shoulder: The Cold War in American Culture is now on view in the Libraries’ Special Collections Research Center (SCRC) exhibition space. A corresponding digital exhibit is also available online.

High School students practice “duck and cover” technique. Oliver F. Atkins photograph collection, C0036, Box 54, Folder 118, Special Collections Research Center.

In Looking Over Our Shoulder, members of the SCRC team have selected examples from the Libraries’ special collections that illustrate aspects of American life during the Cold War from a variety of angles, through manuscripts, photographs, publications, material culture, and other items. From concerns about the spread of Communism, the threat of atomic warfare, and the Space Race to architecture, fashion, art, film, theatre, novels, and even home décor, the exhibit demonstrates the pervasiveness of the Cold War era on every aspect of American life.

With each exhibit curated by SCRC, Bob Vay (technology and exhibitions archivist) tries to link the history to the lived experience here at Mason. For Looking Over Our Shoulder, he curated a case focused on “The Cold War as A Source of Dissent at George Mason College/University” and highlighted some of the protests in the 1960s. In addition to his work in creating the corresponding digital exhibit, Vay will be sharing a series of blog posts about the current exhibition on the Special Collections Research Center blog. His introduction to the exhibit is available here, and his exploration of “The Ever Present Fear of Atomic Attack & Atomic Energy” is available here.

On Tuesday, November 16, 2021, SCRC will be partnering with the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at George Mason University (Mason OLLI) to host “The Iron Curtain,” a virtual event where Professor Samuel Clowes Huneke will moderate a panel of select OLLI members regarding the history of the Iron Curtain and their individual experiences. This event is made possible by an OLLI Mason Special Project Grant awarded to the Libraries. The discussion will be recorded and added to SCRC’s Oral History Program collection.

SCRC collections are available for use by students, faculty, researchers, and others for research or instructional use. In addition to the items featured in the current exhibit, SCRC holds other related collections to the Cold War as well as many other subject areas. For more information SCRC and their collecting areas, visit their collections site.

Preservation and Conservation at work

Following up on Preservation Week, Amanda Brent, Processing Coordinator in the Libraries’ Special Collections Research Center, has written a piece examining the difference between preservation and conservation, with an example from our special collections.

In the Special Collections Research Center (SCRC), or in any archives for that matter, you hear the words preservation and conservation tossed around a lot – and for good reason! For though archivists are the stewards of hundreds of linear feet of collections and rare books, we don’t always have the resources to repair the inevitable damage that befalls the collections in our care. Damage can occur for a multitude of reasons, and is oftentimes, quite simply, unavoidable. Sometimes collections or purchased records arrive at our repository damaged, or sometimes they accrue damage over time due to the format degrading. However, just because a record or collection is physically damaged, does not necessarily mean that the research value is damaged. In fact, because the research value and uniqueness of the item is of the utmost importance, we call on our friendly preservation librarians and conservators to help us out.

Preserving items is an essential function in archives, one that keeps records safer for longer, so that researchers can continue to use them for as long as possible. Preservation is also a continuum, ranging from fixing specific damage on an item or collection, ensuring proper housing of items, managing climate and pest control in your repository, to ensuring your repository’s building is up to snuff. But what exactly is the difference between preservation and conservation?

Preservation

Preservation in archives is defined as “the professional discipline of protecting materials by minimizing chemical and physical deterioration and damage to minimize the loss of information and to extend the life of cultural property.”[1] In SCRC specifically, “preservation” generally means we can identify and solve the problem in-house with the help of our amazing Head of Preservation Services, Amy Sullivan. “Solving the problem” can entail mitigating and halting the cause of damage, and in some cases repairing the item. An example of this would be repairing a structurally unsound book binding, repairing rips and tears in a document, or getting a fragile item out of an old frame. Preservation also encompasses Digital Preservation, which is a whole other discipline that could be discussed at length another time.

Conservation

Conservation, on the other hand, is defined as “The repair or stabilization of materials through chemical or physical treatment to ensure that they survive in their original form as long as possible…Conservation counters existing damage, as distinguished from preservation, which attempts to prevent damage.” However, “Conservation does not always eliminate evidence of damage…”[2] Occasionally, we have to send off an item/items to be conserved – this generally occurs at the nexus of a) the item is damaged beyond the repairing capability of our in-house staff and b) the record is deemed of such archival value and importance that repairing it becomes a priority.

An Analogy

Let’s use a medical analogy to clarify the varying relationships between these cultural heritage experts in an instance of something needing conservation. A patient (a damaged record or collection) gets a routine check-up from their GP (the archivist), who sees them regularly and knows their medical history. The GP notices something wrong with the patient in their encounter – perhaps something they cannot fully address by themselves – and then refers the patient to a specialist. The specialist (or in this analogy the preservation librarian) can further identify the issue at hand and what the patient truly needs in order to address the issue satisfactorily. In some cases, the specialist might recommend surgery. And that’s when a surgeon (the conservator) comes along to fix or mitigate the damage. The GP, specialist, and surgeon, or in other words, the archivist, preservation librarian, and conservator all have differing and important roles, but working together as a team is essential to caring for the record or collection in question.

An Example

One such collection in SCRC, the Grant of Thornton land from Malcolm de Chastillon to Robert, son of Robert Symond (C0401) from 1327 C.E., was recently sent out for conservation at the Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC). The item, which was acquired in relatively stable condition for its age, was deemed by SCRC archivists and the Head of Preservation Services to be in need of conservation. Though the item could be stored unharmed in our stacks, we were concerned about future patrons handling the item and therefore perpetuating the damage it had already suffered during its 694 years of existence. So, off to NEDCC it went and below is the conservation plan they proposed and that we accepted:

  • Tension mount parchment onto a double-sided window mat with Japanese paper strips using wheat starch paste. The paper strips will be attached to the perimeters of the mat using Jade 403 and wheat starch paste.
  • A sealed package will be created by sealing the window mats, object and archival backings between two pieces of UV filtering acrylic glazing with Scotch #805 archival sealing tape.
  • Create an archival fluted box to store the sealed package.

And here is the final result! Now this collection can be easily accessed by patrons in a manner that is safe for all, and will ensure the longevity of the item.


[1] https://dictionary.archivists.org/entry/preservation.html

[2] https://dictionary.archivists.org/entry/conservation.html