CCAHA Mellon Conservation Fellow Juliet Baines recently recorded this time-lapse video over the course of three days in our lab. The painting in the video is one of a number of c. 1650-1750 Chinese watercolors that we have treated for the Academy of Natural Sciences at Drexel University. The paper...
At CCAHA, we often find that the stories behind the objects we treat are as interesting as the objects themselves. Such was the case with a recent treatment from the Suffolk County Historical Society of Long Island, New York. The Historical Society had a scrapbook of documents that was referred to...
Nicholas Ferrar was born to a wealthy family in London in 1592. After graduating from the University of Cambridge, he pursued various business prospects in London. Upon losing a substantial amount of money to the Virginia Company, Ferrar moved to Little Gidding, a small town roughly 80 miles north...
Long before anyone figured out how to print them, books were painstakingly produced by hand. Each manuscript passed from a parchment maker, who cleaned and stretched the cow and sheep skins that would make the pages, to a scribe. Depending on the book’s size, this process could require several herds...
In 1630, a Dutch diamond merchant named Killiaen van Rensselaer joined his country’s push for globalization and exploration and negotiated with the Mohican Indians for a tract of land in the Hudson River Valley of New Netherland (present-day New York State). His purchase founded the Manor of...
At Pennsylvania Hospital’s upcoming “Flower to Pharmacy” exhibition, visitors will learn about medicine from the 18th and 19th centuries, browse an inventory of the Pennsylvania Hospital Apothecary, and view original recipes written by medical students. On display will be unique botanical volumes...
