apnewsvol13no4

VOLUME 13

NO.42006

THE UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH

Preservation Department in part-nership with the Archives Service

Center (ASC) is currently conducting aninventory and item by item conditionassessment of the “hardback” maps fromthe CONSOL Energy Mining Map Col-lection. This part of the collection consistsof approximately 600 maps drawn onheavy paper, some adhered to linen. Thisproject will help guide the creation of anongoing preservation program to stabilizeand prepare the maps for description andscanning as well as to improve housing tofurther protect the artifact for future use.

The hardback maps present the mostchallenging preservation issues within theMining Map Collection because of theirlarge dimensions; some maps are nearly 25feet long. Since the maps were sometimesused and stored in the mines, the miningcompanies rolled the maps, some rathertightly. However, due to the use, size, ageand brittleness of the paper and cloth ofmany of these hardbacks, unrolling them

now causes them to split and break intopieces, limiting current use and jeopardizingfuture availability. There is also surface dirtand dust as well as evidence of mold damagecompounded by the storage conditions.

Archival Products

NEWSAssessment and Plans to Preserve theCONSOL Energy Mining Map Collectionby Jean Ann Croft and Debora Rougeux

Pennsylvaniaregulationsrequire mineowners tomaintaindetailed mapsof their ownmines.

Representative of the damage typically seen with some ofthe hardbacks such as numerous edge breaks, tears, minorlosses and soiled areas.

PartnershipsPennsylvania regulations require mineowners to maintain detailed maps of theirown mines.1 Throughout the twentiethcentury, many of the mines were aban-doned due to the waning demand for coal.2The fear of losing significant amounts ofinformation regarding underground exca-vations, especially in densely populatedcoal field regions, encouraged coal miningcompanies to initiate programs promotingpreservation and cataloging of mine maps.3

CONSOL Energy Inc. first began plac-ing mine map materials with the ASC atthe University of Pittsburgh in 1991. Sincethen, the Archives collection has grownthrough additional deposits from CON-SOL to include some 8000+ map sheets ofclosed and/or abandoned undergroundcoal mines in southwestern and south cen-tral Pennsylvania. The dates of the mapsrange from 1854 to 2002, with the bulk ofthem dating from the 1880s through the1940s. They primarily cover mines in thePennsylvania counties of Allegheny, West-moreland, Washington, Greene, Fayetteand Somerset owned and/or operated byConsolidated Coal Company and its vari-ous constituent companies.

Engaged in cataloging and preservationefforts, the Pennsylvania Department ofEnvironmental Protection California Dis-trict Office Mine Map Repository hasteamed up with the ASC to provide sup-port for cataloging and scanning of theCONSOL Energy Mining Map Collec-tion. The Repository is actively scanningabandoned and active mine maps in color.Recognizing the importance of preservingthese maps, the Repository has facilitatedmeetings and discussions concerningpreservation, scanning, and catalogingamongst academic institutions and statemining agencies in Pennsylvania, as well asfederal entities to encourage cooperativeventures.4

The hardbacks are some of the mostimportant maps in the collection. In manycases these hardbacks are the most complete,if not only existing, map of some of theolder mine works. The different colors on the maps represent the time period inwhich coal was mined from that sectionwhile the symbols, dashed, and heavy blacklines are indicative of coal seam outcrops,gas and oil wells. These maps are animportant source of information formunicipal, economic and transportationplanners as they seek to develop new hous-ing, commercial facilities and highways, aswell as deal with such issues as subsidenceand mine water runoff. They are also keyin assisting those dealing with currentmine-related emergencies. In recent years,these hardbacks have been consulted by a variety of people, including: personnelassisting with the rescue of trapped minersat Quecreek, Pa.; engineers planning theroute of the Mon-Fayette Expressway, akey to future economic development in the Monongahela and Youghiogheny River valleys; and federal, state and municipalofficials dealing with the mine water breakthrough incident in McDonald, Pa.,in 2005.

Processing and Description A project is currently underway in theASC to process and describe the 8000+CONSOL maps and related materials.Student assistants, supervised by anarchivist, are examining each map sheetand entering information about it into aMicrosoft Access database similar to thatused by the California District Office tocatalog their map collection. Data collectedincludes company name, mine name, geo-graphic location(s), date, scale and anyother identifying information that appearson the map such as names of propertyowners, etc. A consultant from the CaliforniaDistrict Office is assisting with the

C O N S O L E N E R G Y M I N I N G M A P C O L L E C T I O N – c o n t i n u e d

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The dates of themaps rangefrom 1854 to2002, with thebulk of themdating from the1880s throughthe 1940s.

Mining maps containincredible detail andinformation. Each colorrepresents a time periodwhen coal was minedfrom that section.

It is important not to loseany mine map detailssuch as multiple symbols,codes, and data, duringany restoration/repairproject.

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identification of some maps containing lessthan complete information. However, dueto their fragile nature, such informationfrom many of the hardbacks cannot begathered until some preservation work isdone on them.

Preservation Survey MethodologyTo ascertain the type and extent of problemsinherent in the CONSOL Energy MiningMap Collection, the Preservation depart-ment conducted a survey of representativehardback maps from the collection in May2006. CONSOL provided an inventory ofthe map collection upon transfer of thecollection to ASC. The ASC added morebibliographic data to this inventory whenassigning the hardbacks to a stack area forpermanent storage. The PreservationDepartment hired two library schoolinterns during the summer of 2006 todesign and conduct an item-level inventoryand condition assessment of the MiningMap Collection. The students met withthe curator of the mining maps to discussthe inventory provided by CONSOL andto identify additional information thatwould benefit reference and catalogingservices. The interns designed a templatein Microsoft Access and began to assesseach map to check it against the existinginventory and gather additional informa-tion about the condition of the maps.

Working together, the interns retrievedthe map from the shelf and carefullyunrolled the item. They checked the bibli-ographic data against the original inventoryand added more information includingMining Company, Map Name, and infor-mation contained on the original identifi-cation tags provided by CONSOL. Fur-ther, they inputted these entries into theMicrosoft Access database while they wereevaluating the maps. They un-nested mapsthat had been rolled together, rolledextremely fragile maps into acid free paper,and attached new identification tags to

each map. By the end of the summer, theinterns assessed 100 of the 600 maps. ThePreservation Department plans to continuethis project until all 600 maps are includedin the database.

The purpose of this inventory and con-dition survey is to provide researchers,including colleagues within the coal min-ing industry, with complete and thoroughdetails of the collection, thus showing theimportance and rarity of the materialscomprising the CONSOL Energy MiningMap Collection. In summary, the follow-ing conclusions were found in this repre-sentative sampling:

• 85% of the hardbacks surveyed werelinen backed.

• 29% of the hardbacks surveyed wererepaired with cellophane, duct, ormasking tape.

• 41% of the hardbacks surveyed wereassessed as being in “good” condition.

• 19% of the hardbacks surveyed wereassessed as being in “fair” condition.

• 40% of the hardbacks surveyed wereassessed as being in “poor” condition.

• 57% of the hardbacks surveyed werenested inside other maps.

• 10% of the hardbacks surveyed weretoo fragile to open.

• 53% of the hardbacks surveyed werenot included in the original inventory,most likely because they were nestedinside other maps.

The maps that were surveyed ranged insizes from 46" x 26" to 285" x 59" and allof the maps were soiled with dirt and dustaccumulated from their handling withinthe mines. The survey revealed that theASC does not have a complete inventorybecause many maps were rolled together;sometimes as many as five or six mapswere nested and stored together. Often, theouter most map was the only one of thegroup classified on the inventory, encour-aging the interns to create an entry for


The survey alsoidentifies mapsthat are toofragile to unrollalerting thecurator thatthese maps can-not circulate ormay requireadditionalresearch tolocate the infor-mation onanother map orthrough anothersource.

each map that they encountered. The otherrealization was that this collection willrequire a lot of shifting to keep maps in analphabetical order to facilitate retrieval andto ensure that maps from the same geo-graphic areas are stored near each other.The survey also identifies maps that are toofragile to unroll alerting the curator thatthese maps cannot circulate or may requireadditional research to locate the informa-tion on another map or through anothersource.

Future Preservation PlansThis inventory project will assist in design-ing a strategy for the preservation andaccess of the CONSOL Energy MiningMap collection. The survey revealed that ahigh percentage of materials are acidic andalready embrittled, influencing the decisionto execute digitization in the future tofacilitate information sharing. Because ofthe acidic properties, deteriorated state,and rarity of these maps, many requireconservation intervention to stabilize thematerials as well as improved storage con-ditions before any scanning work could beundertaken.

The Preservation Department and ASCare actively working to secure funding tohire a professional paper conservator toexecute different levels of conservationwork on the maps depending on whattheir need dictates. The proposed conserva-tion treatment for the severely damagedmaps might include, but would not neces-sarily be limited to, surface cleaning, sepa-rating the content from the linen liner,administering an aqueous treatment toreduce acidity, mending paper losses andtears with Japanese paper, humidifying andflattening, and adhering a new Japanesepaper lining and linen for support. Themaps that are in better condition mayrequire surface cleaning to facilitate thecapture of a good image when scanning.However, these conservation treatments are

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contingent upon the close examination anddiscretion of a professional paper conserva-tor and are necessary to prepare the mapsfor future scanning.

This assessment will help establish prior-ities in creating an ongoing preservationplan for the coal mine maps and willinclude upgrading the storage conditions,executing various conservation techniquesto stabilize maps in preparation for scan-ning and creating cataloging records andfinding aids to render maps accessible. TheCONSOL Energy Mining Map Collectionprovides a wealth of information about thechanging environment in western Pennsyl-vania during much of its mining history.This collection yields the potential to bemore fully explored by diverse fields ofstudy in both the physical and social sci-ences such as geology, engineering, envi-ronmental studies, history, sociology, andanthropology in addition to the miningindustry. Therefore, it is imperative thatpartnerships between the mining industryand educational institutions are fosteredand preservation and cataloging agendasare set to ensure that this vital informationwill be available to those who wish to studyit today and for future generations tocome.

1. Heidlage, Robert. The Bureau of Mine Map Repository: Services and Activities. Proceedings of the Fifteenth Meetingof the Geoscience Information Society, Nov 1980: 16.

2. Ibid., 16.

3. Ibid., 16.

4. Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection California District Office Mine Map Repository, “Summary of Map Preservation and Scanning as of 05/08/2006” (working paper, 2006).

Debora Rougeux is the Archivist/Cataloger at the ArchiveService Center at the University of Pittsburgh. She can becontacted at 412-244-7069 or [email protected].

Jean Ann Croft is the Preservation Librarian at the Universityof Pittsburgh. She can be contacted at 412-244-7522 [email protected].

Hardbacks can be achallenging preservationproject. About 5'x25',they have been storedrolled up for years. Somenewer maps are still indecent condition andwill roll out nicely.

Many map challengesincluded size, color anddetailed information.

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For the pastyear, SalisburyHouse has beenundergoingrenovationsthroughout itsstructure toupdate andrestore thehouse.

Salisbury House: Diverse Preservation Needs of a Private Libraryby Lindsay Shannon

IWAS PRIVILEGED ENOUGH TO SPEND

this summer as the Library Preserva-tion Intern at Salisbury House Foun-

dation in Des Moines, Iowa. This historic1920’s mansion is distinguished by its pos-session of an extensive art collection and afine private library containing over 3,000volumes and manuscripts accumulated bythe original owners.

Carl and Edith Weeks had the houseand gardens built on the model of King’sHouse in Salisbury, England. The Week-ses’ fascination with this Tudor mansionbegan with a trip in 1904, and during themid-20s they returned to Salisbury manytimes to acquire authentic furnishings andfixtures for the construction of their ownTudor-style mansion. Tudor fireplaces, tap-estries and sixteenth century oak panelingwere shipped from England to adorn theinterior of the house. Carl Weeks evenbought the sixteenth century roof timbersfrom the old White Hart Inn at Salisbury,under which Shakespeare once reputedlyperformed.

By the time of its completion in 1928,Salisbury House cost $3 million to buildand furnish—exceeding the amount spenton construction of Yankee Stadium justfive years earlier! Since 1993, the SalisburyHouse Foundation has been in charge ofpreserving the house and its collections, aswell as providing public access to thesetreasures.

For the past year, Salisbury House hasbeen undergoing renovations throughoutits structure to update and restore thehouse. Renovation of the library at Salis-bury House was undertaken in 2005, cre-ating a more secure space in which to dis-play Carl Weeks’ beloved books. Duringthe renovation, the entire library collection

was carefully documented with digital pho-tographs and packed away in boxes forstorage by 2005 intern, Andrea Knowlton.

After an analysis of the library was doneto determine the extant surface coatings onthe wood, a trained wood and furnitureconservator began restoration on the six-teenth century English Oak paneling, floorand book shelves. The carved-wood medal-lions and architectural elements on theceiling were also digitally photographed forfuture documentation. The recent photo-graphic records of the library have com-prised an important step in preserving thecollection, as no previous photographicrecords of the library have ever been found.In order to insure the safety of the books,furnishings and artifacts in the library, anexterior panel was added to the originalwindows to filter harmful rays that couldfade the furnishings as well as the books.

Lindsay Shannon at work on the manuscript folder for Mea-sure for Measure, from Shakespeare’s Second Folio, 1632.

Throughout the house the electrical andHVAC systems were updated to increasesafety and maintain a stable environment.In addition, the library was equipped withthe first Sapphire™ fire suppression sys-tem in the state of Iowa, which is an inertgas stored as a liquid that vaporizes quicklyon discharge, eliminating the extensivewater damage usually caused by suppres-sion systems in the event of a fire. Finally,an alarm system was installed in the libraryas well as interior security cameras to mon-itor access.

As my time at Salisbury House began,renovations in the library were nearly fin-ished. Once the books were carefully putback in place, it was the perfect time tobegin a systematic analysis and preservationregime for the collection. From Marchuntil June of this year, Gary Frost and theUniversity of Iowa Conservation staff didan analysis of the library’s environmentalconditions with a Preservation Environ-ment Monitor®. The assessment revealedthat the room maintained a stable environ-ment, with a 35% average relative humidi-ty—ranging from 43% at the highest to25% at the lowest—over the course of thethree months.

After the library environment wasassessed, the collection itself became theimmediate focus of my time at Salisbury

House. My task this past summer was tobegin basic preservation on the collectionand to help implement a long-term preser-vation program. Major issues we encoun-tered in the collection included maintain-ing the period display environment,increasing accessibility for scholars and pre-sentations, establishing exhibition and loanprocedures, as well as addressing generalhandling concerns.

Following the recommendations made byGary Frost, a treatment menu was assembledto address the basic preservation issues ofthe collection. It was decided to target thefirst half of the collection in shelf order, asthis would be conducive to easy documen-tation for staff and future interns. Due toinfrequent use over the years, most of thevolume damage was minimal and easilymaintained under these stabile conditions.However, the entire collection was in needof dry cleaning with lint-free cloths andsynthetic cellular trap sponges to removesurface dust which had accumulated overthe years. In addition, three constructedtreatments were selected for the menu

S A L I S B U R Y H O U S E – c o n t i n u e d

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A nineteenth century volume exhibits typical damage tospine and detached cover.

Creating a polypropylene protector for a first edition of Hem-ingway’s A Farewell to Arms.

While preserv-ing the treasuresof this collectionhas been anorderly process,wading throughthe murky his-tory of the Sal-isbury Houselibrary has beena challenge.

A completed section ofshelves in the library atSalisbury House.


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based on commonly occurring damagewithin the collection. Many of the eigh-teenth and nineteenth century volumeshad damaged covers or detached boards,for which supports were constructed out of alkaline 20 pt. card stock.

The numerous pamphlet materialshoused in the library required four-flap portfolios or manuscript folders made outof alkaline 10 pt. card stock. Some specialprojects surfaced along the way for thesefragile items, such as creating a custommanuscript folder for a Second Folio edi-tion of Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure.Occasional minor repairs on volumes wereconducted as necessary to ensure furtherlongevity of the collection during handling.

Minor repairs on the treatment menuincluded reattaching loose spines withhinged kozo tissue, pasting down looselabels and sealing header gaps. Because thecollection is so lightly used, the main treat-ment concern was to prevent further dam-age to items from tight shelving and occa-sional exhibition.

Along with boards, Archival Productsgenerously donated 3 mil non-reflectivepolypropylene film for construction ofpolypropylene protectors. On Gary Frost’ssuggestion, this film was beta tested as analternative to traditional Mylar jackets.Because of its non-glare property, the filmwas ideal for use in a period display collec-tion like Salisbury House. The film is ren-dered nearly invisible against the spine ofthe book while protecting vulnerable itemsfrom future damage. I found that the softand flexible quality of the film was also eas-ier to work with than Mylar as it readilyforms to the shape of individual volumespines without additional fluting. Theseprotective covers served a variety of func-tions in the collection from preservingpaper publisher’s jackets and paper-coveredvolumes to isolating deteriorated leatherand other damage-causing elements.

While preserving the treasures of thiscollection has been an orderly process,wading through the murky history of theSalisbury House library has been a chal-lenge. Although the focus of my projectdealt with the physical preservation of thecollection, increasing accessibility wasanother priority. As part of the documenta-tion process, I took the opportunity ofupdating the existing inventory database tocreate a searchable format. Volunteersentered the inventory in a Microsoft Accessfile in 1997-98 that included most of thebasic information for the collection. Edit-ing the database to create consistentnumeric entries and completing fields thatwere missing information produced aninventory that can be searched efficientlyto maximize information accessibility oneach volume. This will provide the mostaccurate description of each volume recordand allow quick access to its location. Thefound shelf order had been carefully pre-served and documented during the 2005renovation and continues to be the currentstandard. However, in the process of work-ing through the collection inventoryrecords indicated that many changes haveoccurred in both shelving order and collec-tion organization over the years. This is notsurprising considering the fact that thehouse has been occupied by the Weekses,Drake University, the Iowa State EducationAssociation (which owned the buildingfrom 1954 until 1993), and finally the Sal-isbury House Foundation. In some cases,volumes have been moved since the 1997-98 inventory records were created. Sincethere is no documentation on the originalarrangement, it may be useful in the futureto assess the various collections within thelibrary and make minor logical adjust-ments in shelf order to consolidate subjectsand alleviate over-crowding on the shelves.

Over the course of my six-week intern-ship, I was able to treat about half of the

A book shoe constructedto support a 1620 English translation of Don Quixote.

A four-flap portfolioprotects a copy of the 1775 Journal of the Proceedings of the Congress atPhiladelphia.

volumes in the library at Salisbury House.The most important issue facing theremaining shelves is the fact that this por-tion of the library comprises rare and frag-ile materials housed in locked cases,including a large number of incunabulaand rare Bibles. These volumes will needto be assessed and shelving order consid-ered for the safest possible arrangement.There are also first edition volumes byimportant 20th century authors housedhere which have paper publisher’s jacketsin poor condition. These will need to beprotected with non-reflective polypropy-lene covers in the near future. Since acces-sibility for both staff and interested partiesoutside the foundation was a concernraised in the initial appraisal of the collec-tion, continued consideration of this factorwould be a logical next step in the library’smaintenance. Although I was able toaccess and edit the inventory database inorder to make it searchable, there are stilladjustments that will need to be made aswork continues on the collection. In par-ticular, records covering rare or extremelyfragile items should be consolidated anddetailed descriptions taken in order toensure quick access to documentation.

LBS/Archival Products1801 Thompson Ave.P.O. Box 1413Des Moines, Iowa 50306-14131-800-526-5640515-262-3191Fax [email protected]

archival.com

In particular,records coveringrare or extreme-ly fragile itemsshould be con-solidated anddetailed descrip-tions taken inorder to ensurequick access todocumentation.


Through the initiation of this internshipprogram, records are being created andupdated on a regular basis, which hashelped to track the overall progress andcondition of the collection. The combinedeffort of Gary Frost, staff and interns at theSalisbury House Foundation and supportfrom Archival Products has vastlyimproved the security, stability and docu-mentation of this wonderful collection.Continued work of this caliber will help toensure that the contents of SalisburyHouse library are enjoyed and preservedwell into the future.

Lindsay Shannon served as Library Preservation Intern at theSalisbury House Foundation during the 2006 summer. She haspreviously worked in the Conservation Studio at ParksLibrary, Iowa State University for three years and graduatedin May 2006 with an M.A. in Art History from Richmond, TheAmerican International University in London. She can be con-tacted at [email protected].

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