familiar faces
n by Rina Rapuano | photo by Michael Ventura
One for the Books Many a U.S. president’s personal keepsakes have landed in Tom Albro’s capable hands. BOOK CONSERVATOR Tom Albro seems puzzled as to why his profession might be considered interesting.
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Yet there are few people on Earth who can tell firsthand stories about working to preserve George Washington’s dia-
ries, Thomas Jefferson’s vast library, 12th-century documents and music manuscripts from the likes of Brahms, Beethoven or Bach. If it weren’t for an article he saw in the early ’70s highlighting paper conservation at the Smithsonian Institution, Albro’s 28-year career at the Library of Congress might never have come to pass. Back then, he was driving a taxicab to put himself through school at American University, where he studied history.
March/April 2021 n ArlingtonMagazine.com
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