Yasmeen Khan, Sr. Rare Book Conservator, Conservation Division, Library of Congress: Conservation treatment of “Islamic” manuscripts at the Library of Congress in the 21st century

The Library of Congress has been collecting Arabic, Persian, Turkish and Arabic script-based books for over a hundred years and is invested in both the access and preservation of these materials. Recent digitization efforts have increased the number of bound “Islamic” manuscripts and printed volumes that have been treated by the Conservation Division, in an ongoing effort to ensure that the text on each leaf can be digitized and that the bindings can be handled on a page-by-page basis without causing damage. Standardizing treatment for these materials is impossible, however, as there is great variety in the Arabic, Persian, and Arabic script-based books at their point of production, specifically, in format, ink, substrate and bindings, all of which reflect their geographic and historic loci. Subsequent changes, such as inharmonious mends and rebindings due to use both in native and foreign cultures, create further problems for the conservation treatment: what is original has to be considered along with what evidence is important for provenance, however recent, and what is best for access to the text at present and in future.

The poster will articulate treatment approaches and techniques used for bound manuscripts in Arabic-based scripts that come out of a Muslim or Islamic cultural milieu from the Middle East, Africa, and Central, South and South East Asia. Treatment choice is based on an evaluation of the condition of the various elements of the book to be treated, relating these to each other and creating a hierarchy of value that will guide the conservator. Treatment solutions are borrowed from the variety of binding and restoration techniques found in books produced in the Muslim cultural milieu, as well as from current conservation techniques used for paper-based and bound materials.