#CULConservation
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iamkristine.bsky.social
Some glorious #BooksInBooks for the first #ManuscriptMonday of 2025 📚

@theul.bsky.social Dd.9.18, Dicts of Philosophers, 15th century, England.

@theulspeccoll.bsky.social
#CambridgeUniversityLibraries #CuriousCures #CULconservation
January 6, 2025 at 11:56 AM
iamkristine.bsky.social
#CULconservation are having a #CC20 watch party 📚

Excellent papers from colleagues @bodleianlibraries.bsky.social @lampallib.bsky.social @thejohnrylands.bsky.social among others.

#CareandConservationOfManuscripts #CambridgeUniversityLibraries @theul.bsky.social
April 11, 2025 at 7:42 AM
iamkristine.bsky.social
Almost midsummer, and almost twilight in the Dye Garden @theul.bsky.social

#CULconservation #CambridgeUniversityLibrary #LibraryGardens #Midsummer #DyePlants #PracticeBasedResearch
June 19, 2025 at 10:12 PM
theul.bsky.social
Pricking & pouncing: the 16th-century photocopier! 🖨️

Piercing tiny holes along an image outline & dusting pigment through created a dotted guide for copying drawings. 🔍

#CULConservation Manager Shaun Thompson spotted this in Thomas Geminus’ 450-year-old anatomy book.

📖 Classmark: K.7.15

August 4, 2026 at 8:04 AM
iamkristine.bsky.social
Come and work with us! @theul.bsky.social 📚

#CULconservation #BookConservation @conservators.bsky.social
theul.bsky.social Cambridge University Library @theul.bsky.social · Aug 28
Applications are open for the post of Conservator (Book and Paper) at Cambridge University Library!

For full details and to apply, click here: https://loom.ly/VUgy3Uo

The closing date for applications is Sunday 7 September 2025.
August 28, 2025 at 12:39 PM
iamkristine.bsky.social
Conserved c.20 years ago, and holding up pretty well 📚🧿

@theul.bsky.social Add. 1116, fragments of a Qur’an, 9th century

#CULconservation #ParchmentConservation
September 11, 2025 at 6:35 PM
theul.bsky.social
Our Conservation team enjoyed hosting a visit from Moriki Papers last week! We shared how we use Japanese paper in our studio and learned about the art of Japanese papermaking.

#CULConservation #BookConservation #PaperConservation #JapanesePaper #PaperRepair #Papermaking
October 3, 2025 at 8:04 AM
iamkristine.bsky.social
For #InternationalWomensDay a few of the brilliant colleagues in #CULconservation and some #BookConservation friends 📚
@theul.bsky.social #IWD @newnhamcollege.bsky.social
March 8, 2025 at 11:33 AM
iamkristine.bsky.social
A fascinating treatment by #CULconservation @theul.bsky.social for Criminology #RadzinowiczLibrary 🦛

#Conservation #LibraryConservation #NotJustBooks
theul.bsky.social Cambridge University Library @theul.bsky.social · Sep 4
'Morning Smile’, affectionately known as Asbo, was the wonderful creation of three inmates of His Majesty's Young Offender Institution Brinsford. Recently, Asbo began to show signs of deterioration, with the paint on the mouth area lifting and peeling. 🦛

#CULConservation
A large, realistic model of a hippopotamus head with its mouth wide open sits on a white surface in a bright, modern room with glass walls and visible office equipment. This photo was taken before the artwork's conservation.
September 7, 2025 at 9:41 AM
theul.bsky.social
Our Conservation team has created a pigment for research using woad grown in their Dye Garden at the UL. 🌱

This video explains the process! 🧪

#DyeGarden #PracticeBasedResearch #Woad #CULConservation #CambridgeUniversityLibraries #OrganicPigment #NaturalColourants
December 2, 2025 at 5:04 PM
theul.bsky.social
It’s all hands on deck in #CULconservation as our Conservation team prepares objects for the next exhibition, Curious Cures: medicine in the medieval world.

#CambridgeUniversityLibraries #BookConservation #CuriousCures
Manuscripts and books being carefully placed on their cradles for the Curious Cures exhibition.
March 26, 2025 at 4:54 PM
iamkristine.bsky.social
A new #ManuscriptMonday in this blue space. I hear it’s a friendly place to be 📚

@theul.bsky.social MS Nn.3.74, ʻAjāʼib al-makhlūqāt,’ dated 974H/ 1566AD

#CULconservation #cambridgeuniversitylibraries
December 2, 2024 at 10:40 AM
iamkristine.bsky.social
Day to day collaboration between #CULconservation and colleagues in #CHIL @theul.bsky.social 📚 📷
theul.bsky.social Cambridge University Library @theul.bsky.social · Sep 17
📸 Quiet on the set, please! This 1798 Deed of Exchange (MS UA D.XXVIII.6) is taking a ride on our XYZ table in the Cultural Heritage Imaging Laboratory.

🤝 Chief Photographic Technician Scott Maloney and Senior Conservator Emma Nichols ensured safe accessibility of the manuscript during imaging.
September 17, 2025 at 9:08 PM
theul.bsky.social
Our brand-new Dye Garden is coming to life! With guidance from colleagues across the UL, and
@cubotanicgarden.bsky.social, our Conservation team has planted traditional dye plants once used in manuscript painting. 🎨

#CambridgeUniversityLibraries #CULconservation #DyeGarden
A member of the UL's Conservation team planting a seeding in a flower bed. A paper bag full of seeds ready to be planted. Little seedlings growing in the courtyard of the UL. We see a wooden plant label that says: "The Dye Garden".
May 21, 2025 at 9:24 AM
iamkristine.bsky.social
The brilliant Future Nostalgia project @theul.bsky.social headed by our excellent colleague Leontien Talboom!
Digital and analogue preservation intertwined. It’s been great working with her in #CULconservation 💾 #DigitalHumanities
February 26, 2026 at 4:09 PM
iamkristine.bsky.social
It’s been a minute since we last added to our #CambridgeLibraryBingo card, but spring is in the air so #CULconservation took a stroll to the Wren library @trincolllibcam.bsky.social

#cambridgeuniversitylibraries #Bibliophiles #WrenLibrary #WorldBookDay @theul.bsky.social @uniofcam.bsky.social
March 6, 2025 at 7:12 PM
theul.bsky.social
This week, our Conservation team harvested the cornflowers from the Dye Garden. Later this summer, we will share how to turn them into traditional colour for manuscript painting.

#CULConservation #CambridgeUniversityLibrary #DyeGarden #ManuscriptConservation
A woman is picking flowers from a raised flower bed. A small pile of dark blue flowers sits on the wall beside her. We see two hands picking dark blue flowers from a raised flower bed. We see a pile of dark purplish blue flowers held in the palms.
July 2, 2025 at 4:31 PM
iamkristine.bsky.social
Always a pleasure to host colleagues and visitors in #CULconservation 📚

Practice-based research and Heritage Science are key to @theul.bsky.social and @hips-project.bsky.social
theul.bsky.social Cambridge University Library @theul.bsky.social · May 29
🔬 Uncovering the secrets of ancient books 🔬
We recently hosted a workshop for the Hidden in Plain Sight (HiPS) project on erasures and marks of use in medieval religious manuscripts. @hips-project.bsky.social

#HiddeninPlainSight
Photo showing the demonstration of a microscope at Cambridge University Library Photograph of workshop participants looking at several large old books with modern magnifying equipment A medieval illuminated book at Cambridge University Library
June 1, 2025 at 4:22 PM
iamkristine.bsky.social
Today is #WorldPigmentDay so an exciting time for these beautiful (unassuming) plants to arrive @theul.bsky.social 🌱

Colourful adventures to follow with #CULconservation 🎨

#CambridgeUniversityLibraries #MedievalPalette #PracticeBasedResearch
March 22, 2025 at 2:29 PM
theul.bsky.social
Last year the Cambridge University Library Conservation Department received a visit from colleagues at the Oxford Conservation Consortium (OCC).

#CambridgeUniversityLibraries #CULconservation #ConservationCommunity #BookConservation #PigmentConsolidation #KnowledgeSharing
The Cambridge University Library Conservation Department receives a visit from colleagues at the Oxford Conservation Consortium (OCC). We see a group of conservation colleagues chatting in the studio.
January 7, 2025 at 10:33 AM
theul.bsky.social
Conservation in progress!
 
Marina is carefully removing fragments of a historic rebinding layer from the spine of a 17th-century Arabic manuscript. The fully conserved manuscript can now be seen in the Endless Stories Exhibition at Cambridge University Library.
 
#CULConservation
December 17, 2024 at 2:11 PM
theul.bsky.social
This week, the #CULconservation team will share their top 10 manuscripts from the #CuriousCures in Cambridge Libraries Project. First up, is a fine example of medieval illumination under the microscope [CUL Ii.6.2]. #medievalmanuscripts www.cam.ac.uk/stories/curi...
A fine example of medieval illumination under the microscope [CUL Ii.6.2].
May 20, 2024 at 10:25 AM
theul.bsky.social
Our Dye Garden contains traditional dye plants once used in manuscript painting 🌱🎨

These madder plants arrived in gloriously sustainable packaging, nestled in raw wool. We've put the leftover wool in our cherry trees for birds to collect as nesting material.

#CULConservation
A open cardboard box. It contains several small green plants, nestled in raw wool. A row of cherry trees. We see little piles of raw wool on the branches, ready for birds to collect for their nests.
May 5, 2026 at 4:05 PM
theul.bsky.social
Picking Calendula officinalis (commonly known as pot marigold) in the Dye Garden! 🏵️🎨

These vibrant blooms will be dried and processed to make dye. We hope for soft, glowing yellows, honey golds, and warm straw tones.

#CambridgeUniversityLibrary #CULConservation

📷by Raffaella Losito
A photograph of a female conservator in a flower bed. She is holding a bright orange flower in her hand. Calendula flowers drying. The bright orange has now deepened to a darker shade.
June 3, 2026 at 9:52 AM
theul.bsky.social
Thank you to our Conservation team, who have been working on the de-install of the #CuriousCures exhibition – ensuring that the books and manuscripts, from our own collections and beyond, are cared for with great skill and attention to detail

#CULConservation #Conservation
Manuscripts, carefully wrapped in fabric. They have labels marked 'Loan Material'. Members of the Cambridge University Library Conservation team work on the deinstall of the Curious Cures exhibition. A member of the Cambridge University Library Conservation team work on the deinstall of the Curious Cures exhibition. A member of the Cambridge University Library Conservation team work on the deinstall of the Curious Cures exhibition.
December 17, 2025 at 3:05 PM