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Page 26 The Antique Shoppe April, 2019
GREATER ORLANDO ANTIQUES

Kissimmee • Oviedo • Winter Park • Orlando SPOTLIGHT

KISSIMMEE WINTER PARK
1. Lanier’s 5. Orange Tree Antique Mall By Dorothea Killian
2. Echoes of Yesterday 6. Gingers Antique Mall

MOWERY CONSERVATORS A COLLECTOR’S DREAM
OVIEDO ORLANDO
Conservation of artworks on paper, historical documents, books, and
3. The Coop 7. OAE Inc. bookbinding of rare books, are specialist endeavors. Finding people who have
4. Oviedo Antique Mall the experience to do this work can be difficult. So, you may be glad to discover,
on Venice Island, Florida, at Business 41 near the corner of Venice Ave, the
lab of professional conservators Frank and Sonja Jordan-Mowery. Frank
Mowery, a master bookbinder for 37 years, was head of conservation at the
Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC. He conserves art from private
WE’RE OPEN AGAIN! collections, art for museums, and rare books for libraries or collectors and
dealers. Plus, he restores ephemera preserved in historical associations. Lucky
GINGER'S for Floridians. He says he “moved three years ago to Florida, with wife Sonja
ANTIQUE MALL of equal renown” and now operates one of America’s best and well-equipped
Historic Downtown Marketplace “Tin To Tiffany” conservation studios. Reading their website; www.restorepaper.com and
querying Sonja@bookconserve.com can easily explain to readers the advanced
108 Broadway
in the Old McCrory’s Building 2695 W. Fairbanks Ave. methods for conserving books, manuscripts, and works of art on paper, of
which they are expert. Documentation reports are part of all their treatments.
Winter Park, FL 32789
Kissimmee, FL (One block West of I-4 at Fairbanks) They include before and after photographs for one’s own provenance.
407-933-5679 Antiques & Collectibles A current project is the
Antiques, Collectibles & Accessories Orientals - Imari - Mud Men cleaning and conservation of Mowery Book & Paper Conservation
Heisey - Cut Glass - Candelabras 100 West Venice Ave. Ste E., Venice FL
for the Home & Garden 250 items of ephemera, which
Serving the Orlando area for Over 30 Years many sympathetic mourners had 202-468-8644
Family owned and operated for 20 years Wed-Sat 11am-5pm or by appt. • Closed June-Oct.
OPEN: Mon-Sat 10-5:30 407-740-8775 posted at the scene of Orlando, Mon-Fri 10AM – 4PM Sat/Sun By Appt.
Laniersantiques.com 1 6 Florida’s, Pulse Nightclub
shooting. Sonja refers to these
written sentiments as expressing the very “fabric of our humanity.” There
had been some subsequent hurricane moisture staining and other challenges
3 to overcome in order to conserve these paper sentiments. The 250 conserved
4 articles of ephemera are included in the Pulse building’s upcoming museum,
Geneva which will be open to the public. According to Frank and Sonja, these precious
writings and drawings convey a deeply heartfelt appreciation of all human
worth by those many mourners who took time to leave notes of sympathy at the
scene.
Of note, last year, Frank and Sonja conserved a workbook of Entomology
5 images. They were excited to clean and repair many finely drawn insect
6 images on paper; all drawn with pencil and watercolor paints in 1859 by
early USA entomologist Charlotte Scarborough Taylor. She was related
to the Charlotte County Taylor family. Born in 1806, and after graduating
finishing school in New York, then taking the world tour, Charlotte married
and raised her children on their family plantation. She had studied insects
for decades as more than a lady’s hobby. So, in her fifties, Charlotte began
publishing articles on preserving wheat from parasites, expanding the USA’s
silk production, the life cycle of various spiders, the usefulness of moths, and
7 diminishing the numbers of mosquitos.
Her drawings show great attention to
detail. Sonja recalled that Charlotte was
known for using magnification to enhance
her accuracy in her drawings of insects.
Charlotte Scarborough Taylor’s illustrated
Entomology articles were published in
Harpers and the American Agriculturist
periodicals. Frank explained that the
workbook is being stored in Charlotte
Paper conservators Frank Mowery and Sonja County Florida and may be posted online
2 1 Jordan-Mowery in their Venice shop. for everyone to enjoy.
In terms of advice, I asked Frank and Sonja what is one thing people should
never do to a paper keepsake? Frank said, “No tape!” even if the package
claims its archival quality. Never use tape of any kind. Sonja agrees that the
“adhesives” eventually will discolor your paper.
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