The conservation process of the E. Haldeman-Julius printing plates is a long, effortful one. Started in the 1910's, the Haldeman-Julius Company of Girard, KS printed millions of Little Blue Books and other publications. After the death of E. Haldeman-Julius in 1951, the ownership of the company switched hands to his son, Henry. He ran the company until the printing facility suffered a fire in 1978.

After the fire, the rescued printing plates were stored in a home until they were donated to Pittsburg State University's Special Collections and University Archives in 2002. Inside the archives, the old library card catalog cabinets were repurposed to house the metal plates. It was discovered in 2024 that the storing method was not the best for the plates or the cabinets and conservation efforts, headed by student employee Angel Abshire, began.

This image is just the beginning of an excel sheet documenting the condition of the Little Blue Books' printing plates, typically 8-12 plates of 4 pages per book. Organized by book, Angel Abshire, student worker, documents the condition of each plate as it was initially found in the drawer and then the condition after brushing the plates in an attempt to clear off some build up. The very left hand side of the excel sheet occasionally notes additional actions she took to clean the plates, like soaking them in detergent and/or degreaser, when and how long, and what brush was used to scrub them.

The above printing plates are from book 67, "A History of Mediaeval Church." The plate on top appears to have gone through the conservation process, no noticeable ink or other build up or growth is on the plate. It also has no presence of a patina. The bottom plate, however, has some build up or cardboard adhered to the left side as well as a greenish tint does not present in the top plate.