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