This collection contains the records of the Barbara Goldsmith Preservation and Conservation Department from the period 1981-2020, including conservation documentation from the period 2004 through 2020.

The materials concern a variety of preservation and conservation initiatives, including specific grant projects, as well as work involving bindery operations, deacidification programs, preservation microfilming and photocopying projects, and preservation supplies.

Specific preservation projects encompass efforts related to map preservation, student newspapers, a preservation video entitled "Murder in the Stacks," acetate audio recordings, digitization projects, photograph preservation, music research collections, and conservation training. These projects include coordinated programs with other institutions such as Columbia, Cornell and Syracuse Universities, as well as efforts to conserve materials held by NYU special repositories such as Tamiment Library, the Wagner Labor Archives, and Fales Library. A significant amount of material deals with the Research Libraries Group (RLG) Great Collections Microfilming Projects (GCMP).

The collection consists of correspondence, grant applications, annual reports, and meeting records, as well as records documenting the department's administrative activities, such as strategic planning documents and job descriptions. Funding documentation relates primarily to New York State aid, as well as National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) awards. Conference materials cover New York State preservation meetings, and meetings of the Eleven Comprehensive Research Libraries.

In accordance with the American Institute for Conservation (AIC) code of ethics, conservation documentation is maintained in order to establish the condition and aid in the care of cultural property. Conservation documentation relates to treatment of items in the NYU Bobst Special Collections (The Fales Library & Special Collections; Tamiment Library & Wagner Archives; University Archives), the Stephen Chan Library Collection (Institute of Fine Arts), the Ehrman Medical Archives, and the Courant Institute Library.

Conservation documentation consists of logbooks used to track the movement of collection materials in and out of the lab, as well as reports of examination and treatment of items. Some treatment reports include images of the item before, during and after treatment.