As the first Mellon Conservator in Columbia’s Conservation Laboratory, Jarvis will join Columbia’s team of conservators in performing complex treatments on rare books, manuscripts, prints, and drawings from all of the Libraries’ special collections, as well as carrying out research to identify causes of condition problems and to answer questions pertinent to the study of the collections as physical objects.  In addition to training student interns from graduate programs in conservation, beginning in 2012, she and the other Columbia conservators will teach a new generation of library and archives conservators in classes offered through a partnership with the Conservation Center of New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts.

"It's exciting to be part of an institution with such a prestigious history in book conservation like Columbia,” Jarvis said. “I'm looking forward to working with the different libraries and their special collections materials.  I'm very grateful to both the Mellon Foundation and Columbia for this opportunity."

This new conservator position has been created through the generosity of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, which has awarded the Columbia University Libraries $1,250,000 million to establish an endowment.  Columbia is in the midst of raising $1 million to match the grant endowing the position.