GRAHAMSVILLE – On Thursday, May 7 at 12:30 p.m., the Daniel Pierce Library and the Time and the Valleys Museum are co-hosting a Rara Book Repair Demonstration at the Daniel Pierce Library Community Room. 

Book conservator Cara Schlesinger of Faenwyl Bindery will discuss best practices in book preservation that we all can engage in, including proper handling of books, environmental monitoring, and protective housings. She will also present simple and effective methods of addressing damage including torn pages, repairing loose or split hinges, and bumped corners, and will demonstrate how to make starch paste—a time-tested adhesive relied upon by bookbinders and conservators worldwide, and a range of repair techniques:

Schlesinger is a bench-trained bookbinder and book conservator. She’s spent years as a caretaker of rare, valuable, and beloved books and ephemera, with two key goals: preserving their integrity and longevity as treasured objects and ensuring the ongoing safe use of the information they contain—whether that information is literary, artistic, historical, scientific, photographic, or sentimental. She treats each piece entrusted to her with respect and care, always bearing your priorities in mind. Cara has provided conservation services and/or custom boxes to the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Thomas J. Watson Library, Columbia University Libraries, Peabody Essex Museum, Grolier Club, and numerous private libraries, religious institutions, serious collectors, and antiquarian book and antiques dealers.

Museum and Library Members and Staff: FREE, Non-Members:  $10. Admission to the program also includes light refreshments. Located at 332 Main Street in Grahamsville (St. Rt. 55). For more information call 845-985-7700, e-mail info@timeandthevalleysmuseum.org or visit www.timeandthevalleysmuseum.org. To schedule a field trip for schools, or group tour for children or adults, please call 845-985-7700.