FROM BOOKBINDING TO D-DAY, EXHIBITS RECEIVE SPECIAL CARE

Though hundreds have seen Lena Warren's work, most people don't
know it.
     Warren, the conservation technician for library exhibits,
and the Preservation Department are responsible for installing
and preparing exhibits on two levels of the Eisenhower Library
and at the Garrett Library and the Peabody Institute. The
exhibits, which can require anywhere from 40 to 80 hours of
Warren's time, remain on display between three and six months.
     The current bookbinding exhibit at the Garrett Library
presented some particular challenges. Some of the 16th-century
books, Warren explained, had suffered extreme water damage. To
prepare them for display, Warren interleaved pages with paper
towels and set them in the paper lab near fans or under fume
hoods.
     "The air flow helps them to dry a little quicker," she
said. Some of the books took several weeks to dry completely.
     The Milton S. Eisenhower Library's D-Day exhibit, which
will be displayed until Aug. 31, includes materials borrowed
from other institutions and some in Hopkins' Special
Collections Department.
     "Most special collections are very valuable," Warren said.
"We have to be careful." 
     Regina Sinclair, head of the Preservation Department at
the library, knows how much effort Warren puts into her work.
     "I don't think people appreciate all the work that goes
into exhibits," Sinclair said.
     Warren was hired as a binder's assistant in 1974. A few
years later she went through a five-year apprentice program,
and eventually achieved her current position. 
     Sinclair said Warren works with curators and others to
chose the color schemes, mount captions and consider
arrangement of items. The most important thing she does,
Sinclair said, is install the exhibits.
      "She has very high standards," Sinclair said.
     "I love what I do," Warren said. "And I've always gotten
compliments about my work."


BOOKBINDING EXHIBIT.........................................

The current bookbinding exhibit in the Garrett Library at
Evergreen House, 4545 N. Charles St., includes information on
bookbinding materials, famous 16th-century collectors, noted
19th-century binding firms and early-20th-century publishers 
bindings. Above, the cover of Everybody s Pepys: The Diary of
Samuel Pepys, 1660-1669, which was published in London in 1927.
The exhibit will run through Nov. 7. For an appointment to view
the exhibit, call the Garrett librarian at 516-0341 or
516-8348.