This book traces the history of collections care at the American Philosophical Society (APS) as revealed through its minute books, treasurers’ receipts, and librarians’ correspondence. It also examines the physical evidence presented by books and documents that were repaired by former restorers and conservators, including Library of Congress manuscript restorer William Berwick, book and manuscript restorer Carol Rugh (later Caorlyn Horton), and the Society’s first full-time conservator, Willman Spawn. Their painstaking repairs, which have not always aged well, present both a vital...

Charles Willson Peale was the owner of the nation’s first successful natural history museum. The Peale-Sellers Family Collection, held at the Amer. Philosophical Soc. (APS) Library, is the world’s largest archival collection related to the Peales. Two recent APS Museum exhibitions included selected items from the collection. The APS conservation staff ensured that the items were stable enough to display for months, and conservators repaired or stabilized books and manuscripts that needed treatment. This book examines the materials Peale and his family have left us, considers their...