In November 2024, Cincinnati Children’s Mitchell-Nelson History Library, Archives and Museum (MNHLAM) had much needed UV film applied on the library windows.
The MNHLAM is in the Children’s Hospital Research Foundation and Clinic Building’s original Research Foundation Library, that opened in 1931 and is the last of the original Burnet campus. The building and the foundation exist due to the generous donation from William Cooper Procter who announced on January 4th, 1928 a $2.5 million gift to construct and endow the Children’s Hospital Research Foundation.
Fun fact: Louise Sias, who received library training at the University of Wisconsin in 1915-1916 became the first librarian in the late 1930’s after working at the Henry Ford Hospital library. Sias worked at CCHMC for 30 years, building the library from scratch.
While long term damage from the sun’s UV rays have done considerable damage to the bindings of our early patient histoires, the goal of the UV film is to slow the deterioration of all the artifacts and bound volumes currently stored in the space.
Funding for the UV film was generously provided by the Co-operative Society, the Hospital’s oldest philanthropic organization. The Co-operative Society, founded in January 1884, has given more than $14 million to various programs at the medical center, including the Mayerson Center for Safe and Healthy Children, the International Adoption Center and our Pediatric Primary Care Clinics. Additionally, members give generously of their time. They volunteer in an on-site sewing room where dedicated stitchers create children’s clothing, blankets and quilts for beds and cribs, toys for use by the Division of Child Life, soft helmets for patients with neurological disorders and teaching tools used by the nursing staff. They also brighten the medical center by decorating lobbies and public spaces for the holidays.
To prepare for the installation, I had to move all artifacts including some small bookcases, away from the windows. One snag that I ran into was moving a large, wheeled rack of hemofiltration equipment. The rubber on the wheels had deteriorated (it had been sitting in the sun since 2012!) to the point of breaking off in chunks so our Facilities team had to use a pallet jack to move it. Luckily, they will be able to replace the wheels when time permits. Once everything was moved, Environmental Services came in to clean the windows and window coverings and vacuum the sills. The next day, the vendor came to apply the UV film on all 15 window coverings. Another snag that happened is with the largest pane that was actually plexiglass which required a different type of substrate that the crew didn’t have. Thankfully, the material arrived and it was successfully applied. The next day Facilities came back to reinstall the covers and I put the room back together. In all, it took five days to complete the project.
By Jim DaMico, Archivist, Cincinnati Children’s
