#ColorOurCollections has come and gone, but luckily the links to the coloring pages in our original post will remain, so if you feel like coloring, please make use of them. We’re always excited to see your artistic takes on our collection items. Hopefully this project will continue next year – we’re already brainstorming sources for another batch of coloring pages!

From what showed up on social media, #ColorOurCollections apparently took the library/archives/museum world by storm. What started with a list of around fifty participating institutions swelled to over two hundred by the end of the week. A complete list of participating institutions (and links to their coloring pages) can be found here. Many thanks to the New York Academy of Medicine for organizing this. I know I speak for all of the staff here at the American Bookbinders Museum when I say that we had a blast.

And just for fun, check out the artwork the staff here created! We enjoyed having a few coloring sessions together – see the photo posted on the left. We’ve put our artwork up here in our workroom, where we all see it while walking up the stairs. It definitely puts a smile on our faces.

I’m also happy to report that the mystery we wrote about in our initial #ColorOurCollections post has been solved, thanks to friend of the museum Tom Conroy. While looking through it, he noticed the photographs and diagrams were familiar to him. It turns out that the mystery item we were identifying simply as “Der Buchbinder,” thanks to a woodblock print on its first leaf, is actually a German translation of John Corderoy’s Bookbinding for Beginners. What we have is a photocopied version, and it’s missing the first few pages, including all identifying information. The boards are also covered in what might actually be contact paper (or something similar), which made for a great coloring book page but didn’t help much with identification! We’re very grateful to Tom for solving the puzzle.

Thanks to all who participated. If you enjoyed this project, or if you just like artwork, stop by the museum between 5:30 and 8pm on Thursday, Feb. 18. We’re participating in a Third Thursday joint effort with the Cartoon Art Museum to celebrate handmade artwork and the history of printing and binding in North America – I’ve heard some rumors about what’s going to be taking place that evening and I can tell you it sounds pretty great.

-EO