Carolyn Price Horton

Horton and volunteers known as "Mud Angels", helped museums and libraries in Florence, Italy to recover books and manuscripts damaged from the 1966 flood of the Arno.

Her book Cleaning and Preserving Bindings and Related Materials was first published by the American Library Association in 1967 and republished in 1969.

Carolyn Price first became interested in bookbinding when her High School English teacher in Easton, Pennsylvania recommended she bind a book she had authored.

[5][9] Her book restoration company, Carolyn Horton and Associates, eventually occupied three of the four floors of her home at 430 West 22nd Street.

She trained and worked with both Europeans and Americans,[2] doing book, paper and art conservation for museums, libraries and private collectors.

"[2]The records of Carolyn Horton and Associates for 1919-1988 are archived with the Rare Book & Manuscript Library of Columbia University.

[13] On the night of November 4, 1966, and on into the next day, the Arno river flooded its banks, leaving the Renaissance city of Florence, Italy, its churches, museums and libraries, and its artistic and historical treasures, in up to 22 feet of mud and water.

The impromptu response has been described as "an expression of the internationalist instincts, transnational travel and generational solidarity that had developed out of the new-found postwar mobility of the youth of western Europe.

[19] When Horton arrived in Florence on November 16, 1966, almost two weeks after the flood, the city lacked heat, running water, and electricity.

[20][19] With her knowledge of book conservation techniques, Horton supplied essential expertise to other members of the Mud Angel army.

[21] Later described as "a practical and pragmatic problem solver",[2] Horton combined her knowledge with an ability to experiment and develop new treatment protocols.

[20][22] She recommended storing books in unheated, well-ventilated rooms to minimize the effects of heat, damp and mold.

[28][29][30] Horton advised library staff on freezing techniques to prevent further deterioration of the books until they could be individually conserved.

[2] Treatment of an individual volume, such as Comoediae Novem (1498), could involve freezing, washing away debris, de-acidifying paper to prevent decay, and repair and rebinding of the book's pages.