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Merrimack Valley

Preserving history: Interim director charged with safekeeping of precious documents

Interim director charged with safekeeping of precious documents

Published: January 11, 2009

ANDOVER — John Ott was recently named interim executive director of the Northeast Document Conservation Center, where some of the nation's most significant historic materials have been restored and preserved.

Notable documents include the journals of famous frontier explorers Lewis and Clark, and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' copy of the Declaration of Independence.

The center, in Brickstone Square, specializes in paper document conservation and is one of the largest regional conservation centers in the country.

Ott, 64, a Groton resident, takes over for Ann Russell, who led the center from its formation in 1973 until her retirement this fall.

— Brian Messenger

First off, what is document conservation and how is it done?

It includes everything from preserving photos, maps, atlases, scrapbooks — documents of all sorts. With a paper document, that could be anything from cleaning to repairs to in-filling to trying to stop the disintegration of the document because of the ink that was used or the paper. That could also be done with book conservation. It absolutely varies with document to document, book to book, map to map. We get all levels of deterioration. There's no case that we won't take on.

How is technology changing the field?

Many of those materials we also have the ability to digitize. I think technology is changing all the time. When a work comes in here, it undergoes a chemical analysis. Much of it is chemistry ... to try to determine what is wrong.

It's a great responsibility to handle and preserve historical documents like the state's copy of the Declaration of Independence. Is it ever daunting?

There's not a lot of room for error. I think we're challenged every day. The staff here, everything they do is with a little bit of fear and trepidation. There's no way to do this work expeditiously. Preservation tends to be slow and plodding. You have to take your time and have a lot of practice.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum recently brought its August "Garry" Herrmann collection to the center from Cooperstown, N.Y. What did it consist of?

A lot of newspaper clippings, scrapbook materials. They call him the father of the World Series. He collected material for years in the early 1900s. It included some 20,000 documents.

What kind of training is required to enter your field?

Many of these people have gone to graduate school in paper conservation or book conservation. If you're going to be a librarian or take care of papers and books, you really have to know what these materials are about.

You retired in 2007 after a 37-year career working in museums. What made you come out of retirement?

I was on the board of NEDCC for about three years. They were trying to find a few museum people. They were trying to look at a few broader collections. It's been great fun, just a remarkable group of people here.

You've been charged with finding a permanent director for the center. Describe the person you'll be looking for.

I don't know how many people are out there. This is such a specialized job. I guess we're looking for an MBA conservator who's a good people person and will fit into the Andover area nicely.

What changes are in store for the center?

We're always thinking to improve our services here. The space we have now is about 20,000 square feet, and we could probably use 2,000 to 4,000 more immediately. There is a space within the Brickstone complex. We're looking to move to another building

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