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As part of the Campus Conservation Initiative at the Harry Ransom Center, Class of 2023 WUDPAC alumna Kaeley Ferguson works with partners across the university to preserve important items for future research and study. The Initiative was recently featured on the University of Texas YouTube page. The video accompanies a larger article in Alcalde, the University of Texas' alumni magazine.
Kaeley says:
"The Campus Conservation Initiative (CCI), based at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin, is an ongoing initiative to treat, preserve, and stabilize special collections from across the university's campus. In my position as the Book and Paper Conservator, I have been able to work on wide-ranging items from institutions such as the Briscoe Center for American History and UT Library special collections—the Benson Latin American Collection and the Alexander Architectural Archives. These partners have selected items regularly viewed by classes and researchers at the university, including a Civil War diary, architectural drawings of noteworthy buildings throughout Austin, a 16th-century parchment binding, and much more. The experience has been incredibly eye-opening and rewarding; working with partners across the campus has taught me so much—not only about conservation but also about community, accessibility, and the importance of public university collections.
I'm proud to be part of an initiative that seeks to provide preservation and conservation for the entire campus. As mentioned in the video, I hope that the initiative will develop to include other entities on campus with special collections, as well as expand into other specialty areas. Thanks to the generous funding from the Office of the Executive Vice-President and Provost, I will continue in this role for the next two years and contribute to the initiative's growth!"
