A Brief History of the Book Model Collection
“The Book Model Collection is a direct inheritance of the curiosity of binders and conservators through almost four decades of activity. It keeps the physical record of their investigations into the structures and materials of the paged paper book.”
–Gary Frost, conservator emeritus
Model-making has been a research and instructional method in the Libraries’ Conservation Lab since its inception in the mid-1980s, under the auspices of the university’s first conservator, William (Bill) Anthony.
The origin of the Book Model Collection can, in fact, be traced to a core set of bindings produced especially for the [1985 Art and Craft of Bookbinding] exhibit, or produced as a result of research done for the exhibit. The fact of the existence of this core set was widely known among the community of bookbinders who orbit the BMC, despite a distinct lack of documentation confirming a definitive list. The core set was essentially hiding in plain sight, integrated seamlessly among the rest of the collection on the shelves, with no formal provenance documentation associated with it. This origin story is rooted in an oral history that undeniably enriches this collection, though without further corroboration, risks the fate of ephemera. Through comparison with images of the exhibit held by the University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art’s archives, images provided by Mark Esser (Anthony’s apprentice during the early period in the history of the conservation lab), and the exhibit labels retained in the BMC’s archive, we have been able to conclusively identify those founding models, and this information is now permanently stored with the models and in the BMC archive.
Hochhalter, Elise, and Giselle Simón. 2020. “Life so Far: A Book Model Collection.” In Suave Mechanicals: Essays on the History of Bookbinding, edited by Julia Miller, 6:124. Ann Arbor, Mich.: The Legacy Press.
Mission
The Book Model Collection represents and demonstrates mechanical and material characteristics of the codex. Book structures are documented across craft traditions in time and geographic regions. This understanding of the book as a physical object is contextualized and extended into the 20th and 21st centuries by the inclusion of machine-produced books in the collection.
The BMC supports the inquiry, research, and education of those working with the physical structures of the book and is used for classroom, workshop, and independent study learning. In this collection, hands-on manipulations of items are an outright form of scholarly investigation. All items collected in the BMC are intended to be extensively studied for their mechanisms and the craftsmanship of their assembly.
The BMC collects the craftwork of bookbinders. As bookbinding is a craft that only survives through the robustness of its community of practice, and in recognition of the numerous connections between binders (and of binders to the University of Iowa), the BMC showcases the range of work and talent of makers engaged in model-making.