Looking at old books does not seem like a fun activity that anyone would want to do. At least not something that I would think I’d like to do in my free time. However, as many people already mentioned, seeing the Egyptian scroll on Tuesday was really neat. It was so hard to wrap my mind around that fact that the very scroll had been around at the time of Egyptian gods like Osiris and Isis. Learning about these figures in middle school and high school history classes, they seemed like such abstract creatures, so far away from us now. But being only inches away from a scroll that these god like figures had also been around was really powerful. Also, the fact that this piece was in such good condition after all those years was mind blowing. I have newspaper clippings from high school that are already yellowing and becoming fragile; and those are only a few years old. Although many years ago there may not have been much technology, but the quality of the pieces made seems to be on a higher scale than they are now. Of course technology is not a bad thing, but has the quality of things gone down with the existence of so many new tools and shortcuts? Will our thin paper be able to last as long as their papyrus, parchment, stone, and clay? Will we be forgotten because of our superior technology? (that would be quite ironic)
The preservation of our paper will be different and even possibly more difficult because our material seems to be more fragile. Maybe the convenience of mass production has lead to material that is less reliable and in the future will lead to problems with preservation of our books and documents.
This seems to relate to the thought I had concerning the role of art. In earlier times, manuscripts were seen as an art form, with much time and effort being put into their creation. Now, the goal of the print industry is to cheaply produce as many copies as possible. With this focus on maximizing distribution, quality has been neglected, thus leading to the dilemma of material that quickly decays.
Quality has definitely gone down with the rise of technology, and mass production – making a lot of things cheaply means that companies cut corner on quality as the first was to cheapen production. The preservation of our books will probably not be as good as the preservation of books made in the early days of printing, simply because the paper used back then was much more durable and wear-resistant. Ripping an animal skin is probably a little tougher than ripping a thin sheaf of paper. The stone tablets will definitely survive longer than any book printed today – paper has no chance against the likes of a rock.