Campus Life

Libraries' 2021 Minter Lectureship in Conservation features Cathleen Baker

Penn State University Libraries Senior Book Conservator Bill Minter, shown working in the University Libraries’ Conservation Centre, will host a webinar discussion with Cathleen A. Baker April 29 for the second annual William D. Minter Lectureship in Conservation. Baker is a paper and book conservator, publisher of The Legacy Press and University of Michigan Library conservation librarian emerita. Credit: Penn State University Libraries / Penn StateCreative Commons

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State University Libraries’ Preservation, Conservation and Digitization Department will host the second annual William D. Minter Lectureship in Conservation at 2 p.m. Thursday, April 29. The virtual event will feature a conversation with Cathleen A. Baker, paper and book conservator, publisher of The Legacy Press and conservation librarian emerita, University of Michigan Library. 

Baker taught paper conservation at the State University of New York’s Cooperstown/Buffalo graduate program in art conservation from 1978 to 1993. She then researched and wrote her book, “By His Own Labor: The Biography of Dard Hunter,” which was published in 2000 in both a limited, hand-printed edition and a trade edition. From 2005 to 2016, Baker was a paper and book conservator at the University of Michigan Library.

Baker holds a master of fine arts degree in book arts — taking courses in letterpress printing, typefounding with R. Stanley Nelson, papermaking and bookbinding — and a doctorate in communication studies, both from the University of Alabama. Her imprint, The Legacy Press, established in 1997, focuses on the printing, paper and bookbinding arts. Since 2007, books published by The Legacy Press have received national and international acclaim. Currently, Baker has nine titles in preparation for publication in 2020–2021.

Registration for the April 29 webinar is required. Registrants will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

In addition, a virtual tour of the University Libraries’ Conservation Centre will be held at 2 p.m. Tuesday, April 27, led by Senior Book Conservator Bill Minter. Advance registration for the virtual tour, which also is open to the public, is required.

Registrants for each event will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the online sessions they have selected.

Last Updated April 8, 2021