Smudges, Snakeskins, and Pins, Oh My!

Abstract

Over the course of the Field Book Project, the Smithsonian Institution Archives in partnership with the Smithsonian Libraries and the Biodiversity Heritage Library, numerous volumes of manuscripts, notes and albums have been assessed, treated at various levels, digitized, and rehoused to ensure access and long-term preservation. These many opportunities have provided ample scope for exploring how best to meet the needs of the books as well as those of the Field Book Project, by adapting established conservation and preservation treatments and developing best practices to preserve the physical material culture and intellectual contents of these particular types of commonplace book.