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About Peter D. Verheyen


For a complete record of his professional activities please view his Curriculum Vitae online. ORCID | VIAF

Peter D. Verheyen is a librarian at Syracuse University Libraries. He was formerly Head of Preservation and Conservation and began his involvement in conservation and the book arts while a work-study student in the conservation lab at the Johns Hopkins University Library. After interning in the conservation lab of the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg, Germany he completed a formal apprenticeship in hand bookbinding at the Kunstbuchbinderei Klein in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, passing examinations in 1987. Further conservation studies were held at the Professional School for Book Restoration of the Centro del bel libro Ascona in Switzerland in 1987. He was Mellon intern in book conservation at the Folger Shakespeare Library, 1988. In Chicago he worked as assistant conservator at Monastery Hill Bindery and to William Minter. In 1991 he began work as assistant conservator at the Yale University Library. In 1993 he became rare book conservator at the Cornell University Library, before establishing the conservation lab at the Syracuse University Libraries where he also led several digitization projects.

He is past exhibitions and publicity chair for the Guild of Book Workers. His bindings have been exhibited widely with the Guild, and in invitational and solo exhibitions throughout the USA and abroad. In 1994 he founded Book_Arts-L and the Book Arts Web, also publishing The Bonefolder: e-journal for the bookbinder and book artist. He was awarded the Guild's Laura Young Award for service to the organization in 2009, and their Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016.

His most active research interests include the study of bookbinding techniques, in particular the German style about which he has most published in various journals. He is the translator into English of Ernst Collin's Der Pressbengel, with a 2nd edition (fine press and print-on-demand) out later in 2016, and just completed a history and bibliography of The Collins: W. Collin, Court Bookbinders & Ernst Collin, the Author of the Pressbengel that also appears in German as Die Collins: W. Collin, Hofbuchbinder & Ernst Collin, der Autor des Pressbengels. These activities are also shared via his Pressbengel Project blog. In the same vein, he introduces students studying the book as art to the fundamentals of sound structure and its continuing validity to the art of the book. He is also interested in the impact of the online environment on the book arts, especially in regard to how people learn.

In addition to the book arts, Verheyen has presented on various aspects of the digitization process including scanning, project management, and the wider impact of digitization on public services, drawing on his experiences managing diverse digitization projects at Syracuse. He would like to see digitization applied more systematically to the preservation of endangered collections as well as the preservation of the digital.

Positions

1995 - Present Librarian, Syracuse University Syracuse University Libraries
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Honors and Awards

  • Lifetime Achievement Award, 2016: The Guild of Book Workers' Lifetime Achievement Award is presented to individuals regardless of membership for service to the profession of the book arts.
  • Laura Young Award, 2009: The Laura Young Award recognizes members who have made an outstanding contribution of service to the Guild of Book Workers.

Education

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June 1995 - May 1997 MLS, Syracuse University ‐ Information Studies
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August 1981 - June 1985 BA, Johns Hopkins University ‐ German
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Contact Information

Program Management Center
Syracuse University Libraries
222 Waverly Ave
Syracuse, NY 13244

Email:



Bookbinding and the Book Arts (24)

Tutorials (14)