May 2025
Every May, archivists, librarians, historians, and preservationists across the country celebrate National Preservation Month. It is a time to spotlight the vital work of protecting our cultural heritage. At the core of this effort is the belief that historical and archival materials, such as documents, photographs, books, and more, deserve care and attention so that future generations can continue to learn from them.
However, preservation isn't always straightforward. Take, for instance, the challenge of bookworms—not the kind who love to read, but the actual insects, also known as, booklice. These tiny pests are attracted to molds and can unknowingly destroy valuable materials by chewing through pages and bindings. To combat them, the Special Collections Department at McWherter Library maintains precise climate controls and some archives even use pest-monitoring systems to keep collections safe from harm. Seen here in our May 2025 Item of the Month collection is an oversized bound copy of The Memphis Press-Scimitar, Mid-South Edition, from March 1967. The bottom right of the front cover has significant bookworm damage and it was fortunate that the pests did not chew through the entire volume.
Another silent but ferocious destroyer? Heat! Older film, for example, nitrate and acetate-based negatives, is chemically unstable and can deteriorate significantly over time. If housed in spaces with very high temperatures, sometimes the negatives can melt and become warped or even emit harmful gases. Worst case scenario, some donated materials might have even survived terrible fires. Archivists must act fast to stabilize and/or digitize these materials before they permanently remain as melted photographic negatives or are even lost forever. Included in our May 2025 Item of the Month collection are warped photographic negatives, damaged by heat, that feature E. H. Crump, Mayor of Memphis, TN, from 1910-1915. In these two images, Crump is attending the Ole Miss vs. University of Tennessee football game on November 9, 1935.
This National Preservation Month, the Special Collections Department at McWherter Library encourages you to take a moment to appreciate the labored care that goes into saving the materials that shape our shared memory. Behind every letter, newspaper, photograph, or artifact is a team of archival professionals making sure it lasts. And not just for the present day, but for the next hundred years.
To view more materials and images from the Memphis Press-Scimitar newspaper morgue, found in the Special Collections Department, please contact specialcollections@memphis.edu, schedule an appointment online, or visit our Digital Commons page for the newspaper morgue.
The Item of the Month is a specially selected item or artifact (book, sign, photograph, etc.) that members of the University Libraries Special Collections department would like to highlight each month to show the breadth and variety of their collections.
Text from this post is by Grace Neeley, Archivist/Librarian, Special Collections. She can be reached at gneeley@memphis.edu.
