Hi, family. Take a look at my original message at the bottom, and the response from Randy Silverman, referred to me by Bernice's daughter Emlyn. Then read this message.
I think you all have had at least a look at the Harmon Cutler Bible; we've had it at a couple of the reunions, but not where it could be pawed around by everyone. I hope you have all seen the scanned pages (see the reunion disk), which are the most significant ones for us in the book; the rest is basically an old Bible, except that a few pages are missing on one or both ends, pretty cool but not as special for our purposes.
Besides the pages, the leather cover is really dry and worn, with most of the gold markings worn off or dim, and the binding seems brittle and precarious close to separation with extended use.
Question: Do we want to invest in some refurbishing/preservation/clarification procedures? How much is it worth to us? How do we pay for any of it?
If we feel "unanimous" that it's worth doing, I would probably ask Bernice and daughter Emlyn to "run point" on the project, given the advantages of a little knowledge and better location to keep an eye on the project, and Emlyn knows this guy Randy, and maybe Tomomi as well.
Please let me know your opinions, along with some ideas on how to pull it off. Perhaps Tomomi could give us an estimate of need and cost, and we can decide from there. Maybe it'll take a family fundraiser project, online auction (among family), or something. Do we have any "rich uncles"?
On another relative topic (that is, a topic about relatives): I checked an address for a Chris Cutler listed on the Findagrave.com site, hoping for a response, and we hooked onto a live one! I will try to send you the message trail for at least some of that interchange. Bottom line is, we may be able to help each other answer a few questions, and we may become better acquainted with some new-found relatives to boot.
Love,
Wayne H
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Hey Wayne,
Thanks for contacting me about your Family Bible. As far as I know there is no one in your area doing book conservation. My head of book conservation, Tomomi Nakashima, is doing some private work on her own time. She does exquisite work at reasonable prices. However, there is no way to give you a ballpark price without seeing your book because the price is based on an estimation of time plus materials.
I’m sure Tomomi would be happy to talking with you next time you are in Salt Lake City with the Bible in tow. Alternatively, you can consider shipping it, which of course has risks of loss or damage in transit. If you decide on the latter, we recommend double boxing the book so it can withstand a tumble off the back of the proverbial UPS truck, and shipping it next day mail to minimize the time it is in transit.
Either way, we’d be happy to meet with you to discuss the conservation needs of your book and, if you are interested, Tomomi can give you a treatment proposal and price.
All the best,
Randy Silverman
Preservation Librarian
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Hi, Randy,
I have an old family Bible (published 1825) from my great-great-grandfather. It ain't bad, for its age, as they say, but it has some problems with the cover (leather very dry and brittle), binding (also dry and brittle), some pages are missing, and most importantly, the Family Record pages, with handwriting/calligraphy probably from that g-g-g and/or his wives or some of his children. The ink is faded in spots, and hard to read the spelling and dates.
You were mentioned to me by a cousin's daughter, Emlyn Stutz, who works at the Utah Museum of Natural History in the Anthropology Department and has been to some of your trainings. She recommended that I get in touch with you and/or your department to see about options, costs, etc. I live in the Pocatello area, and am not aware of much help available close by, either university or private business or specialist; I haven't checked at ISU yet, so I suppose it's possible there is someone knowledgeable there, or perhaps at BYU-I in Rexburg.
Sight unseen, I know it's hard for you to tell me anything, but even an idea of where to start, what to consider, or whom to contact, or avoid, would be helpful. I do have some scanned pages that I could send to give you at least a partial idea of their condition.
Thank you for any information or advice you might be able to pass along to me/us (we have a rather large extended family interested in the outcome of this effort).
