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Deacidification is a process that prevents the embrittlement of acidic papers by neutralizing the acids. Not only does it maintain access to the original item, but it maintains this access at a fraction of the cost of reformatting the piece once it becomes brittle.
Presently, all mass deacidification projects at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are completed on a project basis by Preservation Technologies, L.P. Although limited in scope, the Library's initiative is to preserve research materials before they become brittle. Current projects include the Dittenberger-Vahlem Collection and the Meine Collection of American Wit and Humor.
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's Classics Library experienced a dramatic growth from 1900 to 1929. The most significant events of that period were the purchases of the private collections of two prominent 19th century German classicists, Wilhelm Dittenberger (5,600 books and 2,000 pamphlets) and Johannes Vahlen (10,000 books and 15,000 pamphlets). The books were catalogued and included in the collection of the library. The uncatalogued pamphlets were combined into what is known as the Dittenberger-Vahlen pamphlet collection.
This collection includes four types of publications: dissertations, monographic articles, offprints of papers from scholarly periodicals, and Programmshcriften, or short articles which were often included with the annual reports of schools. It was Vahlen's intention to gather all minor and easily perishable contributions to classical studies. His collection dramatically documents an 80-year period of German scholarly activity on all levels of classical instruction with material that is either uncommon or unavailable in other libraries.
Using a gift specifically earmarked for this purpose, the Library has begun deacidifying the collection's non-brittle pamphlets.
Collected by Franklin J. Meine (1896 - 1968), the Meine Collection of American Wit and Humor resides in UIUC's Rare Books and Special Collections Library.
Purchased by the University in 1955, the collection contains several thousand volumes, including extensive runs of early American humor periodicals. Additionally, the collection contains extensive holdings of Mark Twain first and early editions. The vast majority of these materials are 19th Century publications.
The Library began deacidifying this collection in 2002 and will complete the project in the early summer of 2003. In total, 2,833 volumes will be treated by Preservation Technologies, LP. Additional volumes will receive protective enclosures and other stabilizing treatment.
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