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In a small lab at the Lilly Library, Jim Canary operates on an irreplaceable piece of United States history. With a scalpel, he carefully scrapes off the leather lining underneath a fragment of a bookʼs spine.
The Conservator By Brooke McAfee bemcafee@iu.edu | @bemcafee_E_McAfee
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n a small lab at the Lilly Library, Jim Canary operates on an irreplaceable piece of United States history. With a scalpel, he carefully scrapes off the leather lining underneath a fragment of a book’s spine. He must not let the tool break the intricate design on the other side. Canary, the Lilly’s head conservator, is repairing Thomas Jefferson’s personal copy of “Acts Passed at a Congress of the United States of America.” The book, one of only three known copies, contains the first published laws of the U.S., including the first printing of the Bill of Rights. The other two copies belonged to George Washington and John Jay. A red label on the front of the book reads “The Secretary of State” in gold letters. The book was presented to Jefferson from Washington. The front cover of the book had become detached, so Canary has removed parts of the original binding from the rest of the book for his repairs. He will place a new piece of leather on the spine to stabilize the binding. The new leather will be dyed to blend in. He will attach the original fragments to the repaired spine. As he works, he does not want any distractions. He won’t answer calls or listen to music. He prefers to keep his phone on silent. Like a surgeon, he needs to be completely focused. He is operating on a book that describes the beginning of a nation. * * * Canary is a soft-spoken man with a long white beard and long braided ponytail. He has spent about half his life as the Lilly’s conservator. He is 64, and he has worked at the library for about 32 years. The library opened in 1960 after the University received donations from philanthropist and book collector Josiah K. Lilly Jr., who gave IU more than 20,000 books and 18,000 manuscripts. Now the library is home to about 450,000 rare books, 8.5 million manuscripts, 150,000 pieces of sheet music and 32,000 mechanical puzzles. A Gutenberg Bible is on permanent display in the main gallery. Their 4,000-yearold Babylonian cuneiform tablets are the oldest objects in the Lilly. The collection includes a first printing of the Declaration of Independence. There are archives from writers like Sylvia Plath and Kurt Vonnegut. There are comic books, handwritten letters and a lock of Edgar Allan Poe’s hair. These materials are slices of lives, Canary said. Inscriptions, marginalia and sketches provide insight into the people who owned and created them. Imperfections like tornout pages and evidence of sloppy repairs tell stories about the objects’ histories. Lilly director Joel Silver has worked with Canary for most of his career. He said the conservator brings passion and energy to his work. “I don’t think there is anyone else who combines that enthusiasm with that specific level of experience with both Eastern and Western books,” Silver said. “He’s so deeply interested in all aspects of books, from early manuscripts through modern artist books. You can’t categorize him.” The Lilly is open to everyone, and people can request to view materials in the Reading
Room even if they not working on a specific research project. Yet the Lilly’s mission is also to make sure the collections are available hundreds of years into the future, Silver said. They have to balance the use of the materials with their preservation. Canary’s conservation work is essential to the longevity of the collections. The conservation department is small. There are only two full-time staff members working in conservation at the Lilly, including Canary and the exhibition assistant. Students also work part time in the conservation lab, working on projects like the construction of boxes or envelopes for the safe storage of materials. Canary conducts repairs in the library’s conservation lab. The library also has access to the E. Lingle Craig Preservation Lab in the Ruth Lilly Auxiliary Library Facility, which is located on North Range Road near Fountain Park Apartments. Some of the Lilly’s materials are housed in the facility, and it has its own conservation staff. Although preserving individual materials is a major part of his work, Canary’s main concern is the building as a whole. His responsibilities include protecting the whole collection by monitoring the environment in the library and preventing fluctuations. Every morning, Canary receives a report on the temperature and humidity of the seven-story building. The ideal temperature is about 68 degrees. The humidity level should be about 47 percent. The most valuable items in the Lilly are housed in vaults separate from the rest of the collection. They are monitored closely and have an extra layer of fire protection. Only a portion of the Lilly staff, including Canary, has access. The lighting in the library is carefully controlled. Materials are covered in protective boxes and folders to prevent light damage. The light in exhibit cases is filtered, and the main gallery includes LEDs so that materials are not exposed to ultraviolet light.
“In conservation, you’re looking for permanence, but you have to keep in mind always that these things are composite things, and they will eventually decay.” Jim Canary, Head Conservator
If there’s a leak anywhere in the building, he has to address it immediately by moving collections to a safe place and arranging for repairs. Water could find its way through and under walls. It could reach the stacks and harm the materials. Without a safe environment, whole collections would be at risk of collapse. Another issue includes “slow fires” that devour pages from within their covers. Natural chemical processes can cause acidic paper to become brittle. This means conserving modern materials can be more difficult than conserving old materials. Early printed books tend to be sturdier in both craftsmanship and paper quality, Canary said. Following the growth of printing in the mid-19th century, books were generally created with acidic paper made from wood pulp instead of the linen and cotton rags
Conservator Jim Canary explains how he plans to repair the binding of a book that is currently kept in a cardboard box. Canary conducts repairs in the Lilly Library’s conservation lab.
that were used previously in most western paper production. Objects like newspapers and early comic books are often printed on poor-quality paper. With such fragile pages, Canary might use sheets of a clear polyester film called Mylar to protect them. “Some of the modern papers are so brittle, and they just crumble like dust,” he said. * * * Jack Kerouac changed Canary’s life. He read “The Dharma Bums” as a high school student in South Bend, Indiana. The main character in the 1958 novel was inspired by the poet Gary Snyder, who was one of Kerouac’s friends. The poet is known for practicing Zen Buddhism and living close to nature. “I thought, that’s what I want to be when I grow up,” Canary said. He learned to meditate. He became interested in practicing Buddhism, studying Asian languages and living in the woods. Kerouac’s “On the Road” was also influential. The novel, which was published in 1957, was based on the writer’s own life. It is about a group of friends who go on a crosscountry road trip across America. It is one of the most famous works from the Beat Generation, a literary movement that included writers like Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs. After graduating high school, Canary hitchhiked across the country. Like the main character in “On the Road,” he started his trip with $50 in his pocket. He continued these hitchhiking trips for multiple summers. As he traveled, he collected books, including works by Beat and San Francisco writers. Canary also wrote his own poetry on these trips. He met many people who knew Kerouac, including Snyder, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, David Amram and Neal Cassady’s family. He visited Ed White, an architect and close friend of Kerouac, and read letters the two friends had shared. Canary said Kerouac’s writings about being on the road and being free appealed to him. “I wasn’t so attracted by their radical lifestyle,” he said. “I was more attracted by his writing — his descriptions of people and places and just the immensity of the road and traveling.” Canary started college at IU in the early 1970s. Although he started as a philosophy major, he later switched to an individualized major in Tibetan studies. He took every class he could with the Dalai Lama’s older brother, Thubten Norbu, who was teaching at IU. He spent about seven years studying Tibetan language and culture with him. As a student, he would skip classes to research at the Lilly Library. When he walked through the doors of the library, he felt like its serene environSEE CONSERVATOR, PAGE 3