University of Delaware Office of Public Relations The Messenger Vol. 6, No. 1/1996 Blueprints for conserving America's architectural drawings Undervalued, ill-housed and overused-that's the way many architectural drawings have been treated in the past. But, Lois Olcott Price, Delaware '77M, '80M, has plans to reverse all that by giving conservators, historians, architects and historic preservationists their own blueprint for conserving America's architectural drawings. Supported with a Samuel H. Kress publication fellowship, the UD professor of art conservation is completing a book, entitled Line, Shade and Shadow: The Fabrication and Preservation of American Architectural Drawings, to be published by the Athenaeum of Philadelphia. "Architectural drawings bring you one step closer to the architect, to the process of design," Price says. "But, until the last two decades, their contribution to understanding an architect hasn't been fully appreciated." Architectural drawings can show how the design process of individual architects developed and can document changing design practices in a given region or period. Now, more than ever before, the drawings are used for the study of architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning and interior design. Increased interest in historic preservation has also drawn attention to architectural drawings, which are crucial for restoration. Indeed, they may be the only source of information when a structure or landscape is destroyed or altered. Drawings have been key to the restoration and repair of such well-known landmarks as Thomas Jefferson's University of Virginia, Philadelphia's historic Reading Terminal and the U.S. Capitol. "When an architectural drawing is lost, we lose a part of our past-and in many cases, our future," says Price. Price first saw the need for special attention to architectural drawings in the late 1980s, while working as senior conservator at the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts in Philadelphia. "People would come to me with an architectural drawing and say, 'What is this? How do we take care of it?'," Price recalls. Reviewing available sources, she found that very little was published about how architectural drawings were made. "And, you can't take care of something if you don't understand how it was made," Price says. To fill the gap, she began a search that has lasted almost a decade. Initially, Price hunted for clues in an assortment of records-architects', builders' and draftspersons' manuals, photographic manuals, trade catalogs, trade journals and advertisements of the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries. Next, she used sophisticated techniques such as X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, polarizing light microscopy and Fourier transform infrared to analyze pigments, fibers, tracing papers and photo-reproductive processes such as blueprints. Most importantly, she examined architectural drawings and photo- reproductions themselves, surveying a great variety from collections around the country. The final stages of the research are now under way at Winterthur Museum in Delaware, where Price has served since 1994 as conservator of the library collections. There, she maintains an extensive collection that includes not only rare books and architectural drawings, but materials as diverse as Shaker manuscripts, textile sample books and even one of the country's largest collections of paper dolls. "We use a range of techniques-whatever it takes-to preserve the materials," she says. "We're constantly seeking a balance between protecting the piece and, at the same time, making it available to scholars." The foundation for Price's specialty was laid at the University, where she received her master's degree in early American culture in 1977. She followed that with a master's in art conservation from the Winterthur/University of Delaware Art Conservation program, where she now serves as an adjunct assistant professor. For Price, the art conservation program was a unique way in which to combine her interests in science, art, history and architecture. "I was always building things as a kid," she remembers, with a laugh. "Nobody told me that blocks were for boys. "It's all developed naturally," she reflects. "My interests have all come together." A full schedule of workshops and tutorials allows Price to share her expertise nationally. Curators, archivists, historic preservationists and others await her help with architectural drawings, and she sometimes feels as if she is in a race to preserve the past. "I get calls from all over," she says. "Someone will have just discovered architectural drawings in a collection and is desperate to know how to handle them." Her forthcoming book will be "a practical guide for everyone who uses drawings for research, or who is responsible for preserving them," she says. -Mary B. Hopkins