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Saving
Louisiana Purchase Documents:
Book Conservator to Speak at UAMS May 8
LITTLE
ROCK – A
book conservator in St. Louis will give a free
lecture to booklovers
and history buffs Thurs., May 8, at the University
of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS).
In
a lecture called “Saving Little-known
Moments in American History,” Richard C.
Baker will describe his efforts to preserve several
interesting historical documents, including correspondence
regarding the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. The
letters by Amos Stoddard of St. Louis concerned
the final
transfer in 1804 of the upper region of the Louisiana
Purchase territory.
Baker also will discuss the journals of American
explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark and
will provide free conservation estimates for books
that participants bring to the lecture.
His lecture and slide show at 4 p.m. in John E.
Pauly Auditorium in Education Building III will
be open to the public. Parking will be available
on the top level of the Hospital Parking Deck on
the north side of the UAMS campus.
Baker will describe The Oath of a Freeman, 1637,
the first item printed in America; a 1760 manuscript
of a poem by an African-American; a history book
about Shays’ Rebellion in Massachusetts
in 1786-87.
Baker has operated his own book and paper conservation
studio in St. Louis since 1989. His professional
experience also includes serving as the head
of conservation services for the American Antiquarian
Society in Worcester, Mass.; a conservator in
the
Rare Book Conservation Laboratory at the Smithsonian
Institution Libraries in Washington, D.C.; and
the assistant bindery supervisor in the Eisenhower
Library at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
In addition, Baker provides conservation services
for books in the History of Medicine Associates’ Adopt-A-Book
Program.
The History of Medicine Associates – a support
group of the UAMS Library’s Historical Research
Center – will sponsor Baker’s lecture.
Registration is not required; for additional
information about the lecture, call 501-686-6733.
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