UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Employees of Penn State University Libraries’ Conservation Centre will lead hands-on papermaking sessions — from fiber to finish, from petals to paper — from 10 a.m. to noon on June 26 and July 24 at the Childhood’s Gate Children’s Garden in the Arboretum at Penn State.
The free event is suitable for all ages and will teach attendees how to use recycled paper fibers and plant fibers, such as flower petals and garden vegetables, to make new handmade paper. Those in attendance will get to take home their own finished paper and an instructional handout. Both regular and decorative paper will be made during the event.
“Making paper by hand is a fun activity for all ages. Papermaking allows for creativity using a variety of recycled papers as well as different plant fibers,” said Bill Minter, University Libraries senior book conservator. “Our daily work at the Conservation Centre involves paper from around the world, so we need to understand how paper is made so that we can handle it properly. We hope that our simple method of making paper inspires others to look at paper differently.”
Minter will join departmental colleagues Amelia Blevins, conservation and preservation specialist; Jazmyne Daily-Simpson and Kavya Parameswar, conservation assistants; Colin Mellace, preservation specialist; Jacque Quinn, preservation services manager; Bethann Rea, digital collections management librarian, in hosting the summer sessions.
The University Libraries’ Conservation Centre and Preservation, Conservation and Digitization Department are responsible for the preservation of the University Libraries’ collections in all formats, including paper-based books, works of art on paper, photographs, maps, media and digital files. The state-of-the art, fully equipped Conservation Centre opened in spring 2019 and uses vintage tools as well as modern, high-tech equipment.
Attendees are encouraged to check the Arboretum at Penn State June 26 and July 24 event links prior to visiting in case of inclement weather that should necessitate schedule changes.
Anyone interested in learning more about the Conservation Centre or the department or those who have questions about the papermaking events can email ul-preservation-unit@lists.psu.edu.