William James Barrow (December 11, 1904 – August 25, 1967) was an American

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a graduated scientist trained in the study of chemistry, or an officially enrolled student in the field. Chemists study the composition of ...

and

paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, Textile, rags, poaceae, grasses, Feces#Other uses, herbivore dung, or other vegetable sources in water. Once the water is dra ...

conservator, and a pioneer of library and archives conservation. He introduced the field of conservation to paper deacidification through alkalization.

Overview

An American document restorer and former director of the W. J. Barrow Research Laboratory located in Richmond, Virginia, where he became highly recognized for his pioneering achievements in the

preservation Preservation may refer to: Heritage and conservation * Preservation (library and archival science), activities aimed at prolonging the life of a record while making as few changes as possible * ''Preservation'' (magazine), published by the Nat ...

and conservation of

historical documents Historical documents are original documents that contain important historical information about a person, place, or event and can thus serve as primary sources as important ingredients of the historical methodology. Significant historical docume ...

.---. (06/02/2000) ''Abstract. W. J. Barrow Research Laboratory Records, 1932-1978''. Virginia Historical Society, Department of Manuscripts and Archives. (accessed January 25, 2011) He was an innovator and entrepreneur. Barrow was at one time considered by many authorities to be the leading independent scientific center for research into paper and the deterioration of paper. William J. Barrow developed the first practical roller-type laminator.Kniffel, Sullivan, McCormick, Edith. (1999)''"100 of the most important leaders we had in the 20th Century"'', p. 38. American Libraries, 30-11: Research Libraries With this device, Barrow developed a process for laminating brittle documents between tissue and cellulose acetate film, as well as a highly effective means of deacidifying paper. He demonstrated the facts of paper stability over the past four centuries and developed a durable paper having a high degree of permanence. Barrow was also a part of a team of paper manufacturers, partially supported by the paper industry, which developed a large-scale process to manufacture alkaline or permanent-durable paper from wood fiber. He was also involved in other investigations connected with paper and ink for a period of more than 30 years, and was probably the most important single contributor to the knowledge of methods of achieving permanence and durability of archival materials. William Barrow had a thorough knowledge of both

library A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...

and

archival An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials, in any medium, or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or organ ...

practices, a long record of published research, and a command of his technical specialty.Church, John A. ''"William J. Barrow: A Remembrance and Appreciation"''. ''The American Archivist''. Spring/Summer 2005: pp. 152-160. Volume 68, No. 1. In honor of William J. Barrow's contributions to the library and archival professions, he was recognized as one of the ''"100 of the most important leaders we had in the 20th Century"'' according to the

American Libraries ''American Libraries'' is the flagship magazine of the American Library Association (ALA). About ''American Libraries'' was first published in 1970 as a continuation of the long-running ''ALA Bulletin,'' which had served as the Association’ ...

. William James Barrow became interested in the problems of paper deterioration while investigating the history of his family.Barrow, W. J. (1972) ''Manuscripts and Documents: Their Deterioration and Restoration'', 2nd ed. Virginia: University Press of Virginia. Even though Barrow did not have a formal education in the field of

Chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

, the mystery of paper deterioration became his passion. This passion became his life's work to determine what the causes were and to slow the deterioration process down or eliminate it altogether. W. J. Barrow Research Laboratory ceased operations in 1977, ten years after his death on August 25, 1967.

Significance to preservation

Before the 1850s,

linen Linen () is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant. Linen is very strong and absorbent, and it dries faster than cotton. Because of these properties, linen is comfortable to wear in hot weather and is valued for use in garments. Lin ...

and cotton rag were the primary material source for

papermaking Papermaking is the manufacture of paper and cardboard, which are used widely for printing, writing, and packaging, among many other purposes. Today almost all paper is Pulp and paper industry, made using industrial machinery, while handmade pape ...

, but a shortage drove the market to develop the notoriously acidic wood-pulp alternative. With the advent of steam-driven paper making machines such as the Fourdrinier in the 19th century, in conjunction with the advent of the steam driven rotary

printing press A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a printing, print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in whi ...

, wood based paper caused a major transformation of the 19th century economy and society in industrialized countries. The wide availability of cheap wood based paper can be credited with the birth of

ephemera Ephemera are items which were not originally designed to be retained or preserved, but have been collected or retained. The word is etymologically derived from the Greek ephēmeros 'lasting only a day'. The word is both plural and singular. On ...

, and consequently with the birth of modern paper preservation, as large quantities of rapidly deteriorating materials needed the attention of science. Barrow published an article in the 1930s that introduced librarians, archivists, and other restorers to chemical means of controlling the acid deterioration of paper. While he is widely considered to be the first promoter of acid paper issues, his earliest published work on this topic went somewhat unheeded until the 1950s when he began to receive grants from the

Council on Library Resources The Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) is an American independent, nonprofit organization. It works with libraries, cultural institutions, and higher learning communities on developing strategies to improve research, teaching, an ...

(CLR) and the

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world. History 19th century ...

(ALA), among others. The delay in addressing these issues could be largely due to the onset of the Depression, and the following paper-hungry

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

which pushed the acid paper problem to the back of scientists' minds. Barrow's greatest significance is perhaps as an aggressive promoter of paper preservation, as in retrospect his scientific discoveries have not been entirely sound. For example, his tests to accelerate the natural aging of paper samples at elevated temperatures have since proven to be erroneous, and modern scholars doubt his importance as an original chemical researcher.

Critical reputation

Barrows' innovations did not move forward in history without some controversy or challenges. Some doubts arose in the mid-1970s concerning document conservation practices.Jones, Roger. ''"Barrow Lamination: The North Carolina State Archives Experience"''. ''The American Archivist''. Spring/Summer 2005: pp.390-396. Volume 68, No.1. These criticisms were being directed at the Barrow process of

lamination Simulated flight (using image stack created by μCT scanning) through the length of a knitting needle that consists of laminated wooden layers: the layers can be differentiated by the change of direction of the wood's vessels Shattered windshi ...

and

deacidification Mass deacidification is a term used in library and information science as one possible measure against the degradation of paper in old books, the so-called " slow fires". The goal of the process is to increase the pH of acidic paper. Although aci ...

. The doubts appeared in a summary in the ''

American Archivist The ''American Archivist'' is a biannual peer-reviewed academic journal and the official publication of the Society of American Archivists. It covers theoretical and practical developments in archival science, particularly in North America. The jou ...

'', April, 1976. The criticisms were stating that the Barrow lamination process had some harmful effects caused by heat. Frazer G. Poole, the assistant Director for Preservation for the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

authored the article. Upon further investigation by The Preservation for the Library of Congress into the allegations, they found Poole's report to be lacking in hard scientific data because the report consisted of broad observations, undocumented generalizations, and inferential statements. Several of Barrows' major conclusions are heavily questioned in the course of

Nicholson Baker Nicholson Baker (born January 7, 1957) is an American novelist and essayist. His fiction generally de-emphasizes narrative in favor of careful description and characterization. His early novels such as ''The Mezzanine'' and ''Room Temperature ( ...

's book

Double Fold ''Double Fold: Libraries and the Assault on Paper'' is a non-fiction book by Nicholson Baker that was published in April 2001. An excerpt appeared in the July 24, 2000 issue of ''The New Yorker'', under the title "Deadline: The Author's Despera ...

. Additionally
according
to the

Barrows' works on accelerated aging "have since proven to be erroneous."

Authorship

William J. Barrow wrote several articles and publications documenting his work and findings. One of those articles was the ''"500 Book Paper"'', written in 1957. In this article, Barrow documented the findings of some physical tests performed in the Rare Book Room of the Virginia State Library. In 1959 he wrote the ''"Deterioration of Book Stock Causes and Remedies"''. This book was written documenting two studies he performed. The first, to determine the physical strength of non-fiction book papers from 1900-1949, and the second, to determine the stabilization of modern book papers. In 1960, William Barrow wrote ''"The Manufacture and Testing of Durable Book Papers"'' which he takes his findings from his 1959 publication and demonstrate that it was possible to treat newly manufactured papers with solutions of magnesium and calcium bicarbonates, thus neutralizing acidity and prolonging the life of such papers materially.

Education and career

Barrow was a native of

Brunswick County, Virginia Brunswick County is a United States county located on the southern border of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Brunswick County was created in 1720 from parts of Prince George, Surry and Isle of Wight counties. The county was named for the forme ...

, born December 11, 1904. He graduated from Randolph-Macon Academy and later attended Randolph-Macon College. Although Barrow never completed his undergraduate education, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by his alma mater, Randolph-Macon College, a year before his death. Lacking extensive formal training, he overcame this deficit and became an able and serious researcher through assiduous home study, discussions with recognized experts through apprenticeship with professional paper chemists from the

National Bureau of Standards The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into physical sc ...

and the

National Printing Office National Printing Office (NPO) is one of 3 Recognized Government Printers in the Philippines (together with Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and the Apo Production Unit). It was first established in 1901 as the Philippine Bureau of Printing. It is ...

, and daily hands-on work in the laboratory.

The Barrow Book Collection

"The Barrow Book Collection comprises 1000 books from the period of 1507-1899 that William James Barrow (1904-1967) used in a series of scientific studies on the degradation of paper."The Barrow Book Collection: Characterization and Acces

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Selected bibliography

*Barrow, W. J. 1939. The Barrow method of laminating documents. Journal of Documentary Reproduction, 2 (June): 147-151. *Barrow, W. J. 1954. ''Migration of impurities in paper''. *Hummel, R. O., Jr. and W. J. Barrow. 1956. Lamination and other methods of restoration. Library Trends, 4 (January): 259-268. *Barrow, W. J. 1957. ''Physical strength of non-fiction book papers, 1900-1949: A preliminary report to Council on Library Resources, Inc.'' *Barrow, W. J. and R. C. Sproull. 1959. Permanence in book papers. Science, 129 (24 April): 1075-1084. *Barrow, W. J. 1959. ''A sample of strong and stable book paper''. *Barrow, W. J. 1959. ''Deterioration of book stock, causes and remedies: Two studies on the permanence of book paper'' (Virginia. State Library, ichmondPublications). *Barrow, W. J. ''Manuscripts and Documents, Their Deterioration and Restoration'', Charlottesville, The University Press of Virginia, 1955 *Barrow, W. J. 1959 ''The Barrow method of restoring deteriorated documents'' *Church, R. W., ed. 1960. The manufacture and testing of durable book papers. Studies conducted by W. J. Barrow. (Virginia State Library Publications, no. 13). Richmond, Virginia: Virginia State Library. *Barrow, W. J. 1964. An accelerated aging study of several writing papers: Re-evaluation of data. Tappi. 47 (February): 105-107. *Barrow, W. J. and A. M. Carlton. 1967. Durability of three current laminating tissues. American Archivist. 30 (July): 526-529.

Footnotes

External links

The Virginia Historical Society
in Richmond, Virginia houses th
William James Barrow Papers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barrow, William James 20th-century American chemists 1904 births 1967 deaths Conservator-restorers Papermakers cy:William Barrow