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Preservation and Conservation of manuscripts and rare material in libraries and archives is one of the crucial aspects to preserve library heritage of a nation. Preserving and conserving manuscripts and rare material produced in earlier years is a very challenging task. The conservation process differs from fumigation of documents to chemical treatment as well as through digitization. This paper mainly focuses on important aspects of preservation and conservation of manuscripts and rare materials, types of conservation, basic causes behind damage to the rare documents and manuscripts, conservation process and role of conservation laboratory. It provides awareness among LIS professionals about basic ideas, tools and techniques to conserve preserve the manuscripts and rare materials to make it usable for future generations and hereby to preserve traditional and cultural heritage of a nation.