{"id":23776,"date":"2020-02-10T18:14:29","date_gmt":"2020-02-10T18:14:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/scarc\/?p=23776"},"modified":"2020-02-10T18:14:35","modified_gmt":"2020-02-10T18:14:35","slug":"an-enclosure-for-the-scroll-of-esther","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/scarc\/2020\/02\/10\/an-enclosure-for-the-scroll-of-esther\/","title":{"rendered":"An Enclosure for the Scroll of Esther"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The SCARC vault contains many of the rarest, most fragile, and most valuable items held in our collections. Babylonian cuneiform tablets, dating back to 2500 BCE, detail trade transactions involving sheep and goats. Charles Darwin\u2019s expedition and experiences while aboard the The Beagle<\/em> are detailed in a first-edition of The Voyage of the Beagle, published in 1836. The vault also contains historical manuscripts \u2013 including letters from famous scientists, a 13th century Bible on vellum, and Linus Pauling\u2019s Nobel Prizes. There are many vault treasures \u2013 most of which are accessible to visiting patrons by request, and many of which are regularly used in class visits or SCARC events. One of the more unique items housed in the vault is the Scroll of Esther. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

                Tucked\ninto an ill-suited document case, wrapped in tissue paper, lies the Scroll of\nEsther, which was probably made in the 18th<\/sup> century. The scroll\nconsists of a single wooden roller, handle, and the rolled pieces of parchment,\nonto which the Hebrew book has been transcribed in handwriting, as per the\nJewish tradition. While delicate, the scroll is in generally good condition \u2013\neach part remains intact, the ink is still dark and visible, and the scroll can\nbe read somewhat easily, with gentle handling. The document case housing and\ntissue paper wrapping, however, was decidedly inappropriate, and I was tasked\nwith creating a more suitable enclosure for the scroll. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The previous enclosure for the Scroll of Esther<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

                When\ndesigning a custom enclosure for an object such as a scroll, it is important to\nnote where the object is most fragile, and thus needs the most support. The\nhandle and top of the wooden roller are most subject to damage due to their\nprecarious attachment. In some areas, the handle has just started to crack, as\nwood expands and contracts with the changing of its environment. Therefore,\nprotecting these portions of the scroll was of utmost importance, and I needed\nto find a way to create a structure that would prevent the handle from becoming\nloose and breaking off within the box itself, in the case of careless transport\nor further degradation of the wood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                Before\nI began, I found it necessary to do a little research on the subject of scroll\nenclosures. An article detailing the acquisition of a large Torah scroll by the\nRubenstein Library at Duke University explains how enclosures were modified to\nadd frames to hold and support the handles of the Torah scrolls. I used this as\ninspiration for an enclosure that would suit the needs of our much smaller\nEsther scroll, which only had one handle and roller, as opposed to two, as many\nHebrew Bible books traditionally contain. The design was relatively\nstraight-forward: a box, a lid, and a structural frame for the wooden parts. Through\nmy rather chaotic construction plans, you can generally see the process of\nmanipulating the flat e-flute. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The new design plans<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

                After\nthe necessary measurements were made, I began the construction of the box. Each\nsection was cut from e-flute board, folded, and shaped to form the parts.\nThrough trial and error, a structurally sound box was created, with the\nappropriate dimension to enclose and protect the scroll. A label was added, and\nthe scroll was placed back into the vault, where it will remain until it is of\nacademic or intellectual use. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The finished project! <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This blog post was authored by Hannah Lawson, a student archivist and chemistry major at OSU.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The SCARC vault contains many of the rarest, most fragile, and most valuable items held in our collections. Babylonian cuneiform tablets, dating back to 2500 BCE, detail trade transactions involving sheep and goats. Charles Darwin\u2019s expedition and experiences while aboard the The Beagle are detailed in a first-edition of The Voyage of the Beagle, published […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9433,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[96193],"class_list":["post-23776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-archives"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/scarc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/scarc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/scarc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/scarc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9433"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/scarc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23776"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/scarc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23776\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23780,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/scarc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23776\/revisions\/23780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/scarc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/scarc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/scarc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}