AIC's 53rd Annual Meeting

The Research Libraries of the New York Public Library (NYPL) are advancing climate action in collections contexts through improved collaboration, application of materials science, and communicating with internal and external peers. 

The NYPL Research Libraries includes three historic research centers: the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building (1911) at 42nd Street, the Library for the Performing Arts (1965) at Lincoln Center, and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (1905, 1979) in Harlem. They are three very different buildings given their construction, mechanical HVAC systems, and building envelopes. As a library, NYPL has centered access to information in its mission for over 125 years. Access is strengthened by a coordinated infrastructure of preservation and operations activities including management of storeroom environments, maintenance of well-designed drainage systems, conscientious exhibition planning, careful transport, routinely performed housekeeping, and so forth. Preservation is the job of a great variety of people working in synchrony within and with NYPL. 

But, for decades, preservation and registration contexts have centered on stringent adherence to legacy setpoints interpreted from works by Garry Thomson. Most people in collections preservation work have had at least one confrontation about achieving an appropriate environment within storerooms and exhibitions, resulting in chagrin, remorse, and sometimes outrage. Increasingly, we see a new future as many of us realize that preservation and the planet are not served well by static set points, but through more active, ongoing, and collaborative exchange and experimentation. 

This presentation will review how that change has been occurring at NYPL. It begins with the establishment of the NYPL Collection Management program in 2016, its participation in the Getty Conservation Institute Managing Collection Environment’s program in 2017, reviving an improved environmental monitoring strategy and adopting wider seasonal environmental parameters in 2018, the hiring of NYPL’s first energy management team in 2021, and education of staff about new preservation environment goals. We will discuss managing issues with challenging exhibition spaces in our historic structures, including communications with staff and potential lenders about areas lacking mechanical HVAC. This talk will specifically highlight learning from our facilities and capital planning teams, working together, and strategizing how to make NYPL preservation strategies more sustainable.

Today, many organizations are striving to be more sustainable. The reasons can range from a desire to align with sustainable development goals defined by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, or to reduce an institution’s carbon footprint. Regardless of the reason, institutions around the world are implementing energy saving strategies to reach these goals. For some, the implementation of these strategies is a resounding success. For others, multiple unforeseen dead ends or problems impede implementation rollout or stop it altogether.

Implementation successes and challenges vary from organization to organization, as and vary internally within an institution. The problems can range from internal disputes to administration priorities. Some institutions do not know what steps to take when a project begins to go off track. Others may have set high expectations for the results of the implemented strategy and though the strategy is successful, they desired better results and consider the project a failure. n

Over the last 12 years we have worked with over 70 collecting institutions of all kinds to help them implement energy saving strategies. During that time, we have worked with a number of organizations that have successfully implemented energy saving strategies and some that, though they tried hard, were not able to successfully implement any energy saving strategies. Every institution faced hurdles of some kind during the course of their project, either internal or external. In some case the hurdles were easy to overcome and in other cases they significantly impacted the project.

This presentation will provide some examples of institutions across the spectrum of libraries, museums, and archives that we have worked with over the last 12 years. It will identify some of the major successes they experienced, as well as lend insight into less successful situations. The presentation will recognize the factors in each of these cases that led to success, including significant energy and/or carbon reduction. It will also examine the hurdles that institutions faced that caused the project to stall and, in some instances, stop all together. At the conclusion of the presentation, attendees will have a better understanding of some of the major factors that can impact the implementation of sustainable strategies at an organization and best practices for navigating these challenges, or avoiding them altogether.

This presentation explores the challenges associated with loaning objects from institutions that stipulate stricter environmental controls than those typically maintained by the borrowing institution, particularly in the context of increasing sustainability efforts.  The Postal Museum (TPM) in London, is aiming to achieve net zero emissions by 2040, part of this is by becoming more flexible in its approach in controlling conditions, however doing this has highlighted the difficulties of balancing the needs of the collections, the desire to borrow objects and the desire to become more sustainable.

TPM, being a medium sized museum, has the ability to make decisions readily within a small Collections team.  Currently it has been trialling the reduction of plant use to control environmental conditions and has altered its temperature and humidity parameters allowing more flexibility, but without compromising care of the objects it looks after.  We are aware that larger institutions may not have the ability to make changes quite so freely.  Sustainability and reducing energy consumption is not new within the conservation sector and it seems to be the general consensus that changes should be made, however, how much of this is actually becoming a reality?

We will discuss recent case studies in which both the borrowing and lending institutions' requirement specifications varied.  TPM aims to be as flexible as possible when lending items, looking at several measures to off-set both risks to the objects as well as helping to reduce costs and energy use.  This includes minimal use of couriers, especially when the borrowing institution have qualified collection care staff on hand, to the re-use of mounts and being practical about the conditions.  Obviously, each loan is different, and measures will be determined on a case by case basis.

We would like to generate a discussion about how museums can work together better to mitigate these issues by employing alternative conservation strategies, as well as ways to get everyone working to the same standards.  The audience will be encouraged to discuss similar situations they have encountered, any negotiations held and solutions reached.  In our experience, it has been the larger institutions that have been less flexible in their requirements.  Discussions will be raised regarding how the size of the institution affects the process; are larger institutions being hampered by the organisation structure and decision-making process? Do larger institutions want to change their criteria? Or is it that Conservators working in larger institutions are less flexible due to focusing on their own area?

Obviously, there are caveats and specific examples can be found where strict controls are absolutely necessary, but in today's world it is interesting to explore what more can be done to mitigate this.

This presentation aims to contribute to the broader conversations within the museum community about how the museum sector can evolve to meet the dual goals of conservation and sustainability, ensuring the loaning of objects continues to be a viable practice.

In the spring of 2024, a fire at the Archaeology Lab at James Madison's Montpelier caused significant damage to collection materials, many of which were housed in polythene bags that melted under the intense heat. These recently recovered collections were in the initial phases of processing. Much of the contextual information and inventory that archaeological research depends on was recorded solely on artifact labels and paper lists that were also affected by fire. This paper outlines the development of a preservation strategy to address the state of the collection. The conservation methods tested include a combination of mechanical, thermal, and chemical techniques.The focus of the tests is twofold: first, to develop an effective approach for removing the melted polythene from the archaeological materials without causing additional damage; and second, to recover as much of the original inventory and contextual information as possible from the charred and melted labels. In collaboration with local public safety offices and archaeological repositories, further research is taking place to assess how the choice of storage materials may impact artifact preservation and recovery in fire events.

For various decades, countless natural threats —particularly hurricanes— have assailed Puerto Rican built heritage. Even in recent years, the effects of climate change have increased the intensity of these phenomena. Besides all the havoc, the recurrence of these events threatens the conservation of built heritage. However, climate change is not the sole risk factor for historic properties. Factors such as planning and preservation policy, urban development, and financial stability further exacerbate the vulnerability of historic buildings in Puerto Rico. As a potential step forward, vulnerability assessments are a proper tool to understand the vulnerability of historic sites from climate change vis-à-vis these external factors. Vulnerability assessments (VAs) generally allow exploring how ecosystems, communities, and historic properties are vulnerable to a changing climate. In the long-term process, VAs help identify potential mitigation and adaptation measures that contribute to decreasing vulnerability and protecting resources for long-term resiliency. Nevertheless, most of these existing tools focus on a particular historic resource and its specific conditions. This approach complicates the possibility of applying a protocol on a larger scale to other historic sites and resources because it overlooks the socioeconomic, cultural, and political histories, decisions, and processes that can aggravate the vulnerability of an overall region.




Considering the strengths and limitations of the existing heritage-focused tools, this paper proposes an alternative and experimental framework for VAs that addresses how general external factors beyond the particularities of a specific historic site can further influence the vulnerability of historic properties of an overall region. The methodological alternative is based on a multidisciplinary analysis of the geographical and historical complexities of the Central Aguirre Historic District in the southeastern municipality of Salinas in Puerto Rico, a former sugar mill company town that functioned from 1899 to 1990. A set of overarching questions about Puerto Rican history and the historic district’s conditions led to the development of the alternative VA protocol, composed of different indicators and criteria that range from policy, economy, conditions, and social issues. This proposal facilitates the calculation of the climatic vulnerability of Puerto Rican built heritage in general, quantifying the vulnerability of historic properties vis-à-vis environmental, political, sociocultural, and historical conditions in the archipelago. An applied protocol test with twenty properties out of the over four hundred properties of the historic district demonstrated how varied circumstances (such as ownership, current conditions, materials, and use of incentives) can sway the vulnerability of historic properties despite exposure to climatic risks. In the end, this result captures how the proposed framework can respond to the environmental and historical particularities of the archipelago when trying to understand the vulnerability of historic properties regardless of their location.

Nam June Paik's Who's Your Tree is a monumental, site-specific video installation that has been a centerpiece of the Indianapolis Museum of Art's contemporary collection since its creation in 1996. The artwork is a large-scale tree-shaped video installation composed of 31 thirteen-inch cathode ray tube (CRT) TVs to make up “leaves and branches” and three twenty-five-inch CRT TVs for the “trunk.” The video contents feature iconic symbols and representations of Indiana including drag races, the state flag, native wildlife, and residents of the Hoosier state. The videos mirror the Indiana state flag with 19 stars and torch images and provides a familiar entry for Hoosier audiences to engage with TBM.  

Despite its significance, Who's Your Tree was entombed in a walled-off gallery for more than thirteen years due to frequent breakdowns of the TVs and limited spaces where the fifteen-foot-tall installation can fit within the galleries. Without thorough documentation, institutional lore about the condition and functionality teemed with contradictions. But, in the autumn of 2021, the artwork was selected as a high-priority inclusion for an exhibition of contemporary art at the museum. With less than two years to undertake the needed preparations, and scarce monetary resources, it was clear that collaboration with colleagues throughout the IMA and beyond would be critical to successfully treating this important work for the collection. 

As TBM ages, conservation teams without TBM specialists may be tasked with addressing the issues posed by these multifaceted objects. This talk will explain how, with few resources and little time, the IMA built a team to address these challenges and ultimately succeeded in getting this important work back on view. The talk will address the essential nature of collaboration to this effort and the complex stories of the artwork’s place in the IMA’s collection for nearly 3 decades.  Lastly, this talk will discuss the many possible futures for this work include digitizing the three video files to be able to play them on media players instead of DVD players as well as continue researching and testing possibilities for the eventual retrofitting of the original CRT technology with updated screens within the current monitor based on precedents from several other ground-breaking Nam June Paik treatments at other institutions.

This presentation shares the story of two large-scale outdoor sculpture installations at the Toledo Museum of Art’s Georgia Welles Sculpture Garden—Josiah McElheny’s Moon Mirror (2019) and Roxy Paine’s Interim (2002) —and highlights how collaboration and lessons learned from one project informed the success of the other. Both installations involved unique conservation challenges and relied heavily on cross-disciplinary teamwork, demonstrating the impact of connections and shared problem-solving. 

  

Moon Mirror, a mixed media work incorporating glass blocks within a stainless steel frame, was acquired by the Toledo Museum of Art (TMA) in 2022. Its installation, however, faced significant delays due to unforeseen revisions needed for the sculpture’s substructure. These changes required close collaboration between conservators, engineers, and the artist to adapt the design for outdoor conditions and ensure the long-term stability of the piece. The challenges presented by Moon Mirror offered valuable insights into how to manage mixed media artworks in outdoor environments, influencing future decision-making and preventive strategies. 

  

Building on the lessons learned from Moon Mirror, the installation of Roxy Paine’s Interim benefited from a more streamlined approach. This sculpture, an early work in Paine’s Dendroid series which stands at over 35 feet tall, came with its own set of technical challenges, particularly related to its size, assembly, and structural requirements. Installed on a tight timeline as part of a major bequest, the project required collaboration with engineers, riggers, and welders. By applying strategies developed during the Moon Mirror installation, the team was able to address complex issues more efficiently, ensuring that Interim was installed on schedule and with a preservation strategy that also kept the artist’s vision in mind. 

  

Both installations involved close collaboration with the artists, who played key roles in site selection and decision-making, further emphasizing the importance of building strong connections between conservators, allied professionals, and living artists. The lessons from Moon Mirror not only informed the technical execution of Interim but also reinforced the value of shared knowledge and adaptive problem-solving across projects. 

  

This presentation explores the pivotal role that collaboration played in both installations, highlighting how the challenges faced and lessons learned from one project can directly inform the success of another. Attendees will gain insights into the power of interdisciplinary partnerships and the ways in which past experiences can drive innovation and more effective conservation outcomes in future projects.

In autumn 2022, the Balboa Art Conservation Center (BACC) received a delicate and significant object for examination: a portrait of Jassim Al-Oboudi, a prominent Iraqi actor and professor, painted on a single ply of plywood. This portrait, one of the few items the Jassim family managed to bring with them when fleeing Iraq during Saddam Hussein’s Ba’ath Party regime in the 1970s, was in a fragile state with flaking paint and numerous splits in the single ply of wood, held together as a single unit by shipping tape on the verso.

BACC paintings conservators, unfamiliar with treating a painting on a 2 mm ply, sought external advice but faced more questions and treatment options than clear solutions. The necessary research, mock-ups, and professional development needed made treatment prohibitively expensive for the family.

As a nonprofit committed to public benefit and making conservation accessible, BACC, led by Executive Director Leticia Gomez Franco, established a pro bono treatment program for objects of local cultural value that also provided opportunities for skill development for BACC conservators. Given El Cajon’s large Iraqi (Chaldean) community– the second-largest outside Iraq, after Detroit–, the portrait was an important piece of local history. Conservators Bianca Garcia and Morgan Wylder embarked on a pilot project to treat the portrait, which involved considerable additional research.

Initial consultations with conservators from various specialties revealed a lack of consensus on how to approach the treatment. Despite many ideas, practical experience with similar objects was limited. Synthesizing all recommendations, the treatment goals focused on finding a practical solution to achieve structural stability and allow the portrait to be displayed in the family’s home. Ultimately, the decision was made to return the painting to its original layered construction and back onto a plywood support. With the guidance of furniture conservators,  Morgan and Bianca learned techniques generally used to apply decorative veneers back onto wooden supports, adapting them to accommodate the paint layers. 

The project was successful on several fronts: the portrait was effectively conserved and returned to the Jassim family, BACC conservators gained new skills from collaborating experts, and the pilot program demonstrated a valuable approach for future projects. This initiative prompted BACC to reconsider its role in community service and affordability. Can we truly serve our community if only those who can afford treatment benefit? Are these issues for only nonprofits to address? While much remains to be explored, the experience has reinforced BACC’s commitment to addressing these challenges.

The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) has recently implemented a novel lighting policy (discussed in detail in VanSnick & Gaspar, 2024) - seeking to strike a balance between the display of light-sensitive objects and their long-term preservation. This work offers an evaluation of the practical rollout of the policy, refinement of process, and stakeholder uptake.

This policy works by whittling down collection on display to those objects that have the most pressing light vulnerabilities, looking experimentally at those objects, and using that new information to inform how we select vulnerable objects in the future. The first step is determining light vulnerability on a broad material level, flagging objects on display made from materials academically known to be highly light sensitive. These broad strokes are of huge benefit as it ensures that the first action of this policy will target those objects with the potential to be currently undergoing massive light damage. The second phase invites curatorial colleagues to assign a relative value each object in the group of highly light sensitive objects, allowing resources to be targeted in on the most exemplar objects which are materially assumed to be highly light sensitive. Where possible, objects that are highly light sensitive will be rotated out of display in a time period dependent on their rating value. Where rotation is not possible objects are examined experimentally using Microfademetery Testing (MFT).

Objects are unique in their vulnerabilities and these vulnerabilities are not as linear, consistent and predictable as one might expect. Experimentally analysing objects using MFT has the potential to bring their actual current light vulnerability into sharper focus. Given the vast size of the V&A’s collection, it is truly unfeasible to experimentally analyse every object - however this policy allows precise targeting of experimental resources to the places in the collection where they are most immediately needed. The lessons learnt about discrepancies between the assumed light sensitivity and the current experimental reality found are fed back into the initial stages of this process, allowing us to redirect resources to more vulnerable objects. For example, MFT conducted on Chinese, Japanese, and Korean lacquerware as part of this process has found this material to generally be drastically less sensitive to fading in practice than was academically thought. Not only does this mean that these objects can have far greater lifespans on display, improving access and ensuring we are focussing on the collections that need us most. 

This is not a static system - it is a cyclical process that edits and allows a more accurate picture of the collection’s sensitivities to coalesce in each iteration. It allows us to learn about our collection today and to react as the composition and the needs of our collection evolves over time.

Trello is a kanban style project management tool that allows teams to visualize their work. Kanban was first developed in the manufacturing industry and later adapted by the software development industry, where the emergence of kanban boards led to wide applications for project management. Kanban boards generally consist of columns, which delineate steps in a workflow, and are populated by cards that represent work items and advance through the workflow. Four case studies, spanning three specialties and three institutions, will demonstrate how Trello and similar kanban products have great potential for adaptation and use in conservation.

Windsor Conservation was contracted to treat Olga de Amaral’s El Gran Muro (1976), a multi-panel large-scale textile wall hanging composed of a woven ground and thousands of free-hanging “shingles” attached to the surface. The treatment process included four stages of mechanical cleaning with suction, chemical sponge, and damp Evolon. An asynchronous and accessible communication and project management system was needed to coordinate the process across a staggered technician team. Trello, accessible through a phone application or web browser, allowed technicians to track the progress of predefined sections through the treatment workflow, note and photograph condition issues, and track time spent per section.

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (ISGM) has a unique mandate that “nothing in the galleries should be changed.” To maintain the thirty-three galleries and thousands of objects carefully arranged by Isabella, a team of five Collections Maintenance Technicians cleans artworks one day a week in a rotation that takes 4-6 months. Previously, paper records were kept in a binder and were later entered into a spreadsheet. The introduction of Trello revolutionized how cleaning progress was tracked, assisted technicians in remembering their place week-to-week, stored useful information for returning to galleries in subsequent rotations, and served as a communication method between the technicians.

The 16th-century Italian coffered ceiling painting in the Dutch Room of the ISGM will be cleaned in spring 2025 for the first time in over 120 years. The painting spans 50 m2 with 15 recessed bays. Each bay contains 29 separate painted elements depicting biblical and mythological scenes with decorative floral and fauna motifs, currently obscured by a yellowed surface coating and heavy layers of soot and grime. Trello will be used as the management framework for the treatment and will consolidate archival notes employing multiple numbering systems for the painted components. The multi-step treatment will take place on public view with a cross-disciplinary team of paintings and objects conservators, and requires a high level of coordination, timing and method of evaluation to ensure a unified result.

Lab and exhibit project management have been improved at the Colonial Williamsburg Textile Conservation Lab through the adoption of Planner, a Microsoft kanban tool. Exhibit boards are populated by object cards that progress through workflow steps (such as treatment, mounting, and photography), visually representing the exhibit components and states of progress. An overarching board tracks progress on loan, exhibit, and other projects that provides a holistic view of the current lab workload.

Citrates in Paper Conservation
Conservators have employed numerous techniques and chemicals to remove discoloration and staining from paper objects. These have traditionally ranged from treatments that are viewed as less interventive, such as washing in alkaline water, to the use of aggressive oxidative lightening procedures. The pursuit of paper brightness is further complicated by the diverse and complex nature of staining. Beyond the stain itself, paper supports may have a wide variety of materials within their composition such as fillers, dyes, and optical brighteners. While other conservation specialties have utilized ammonium and sodium citrates as stain removers for decades, these are now beginning to see more widespread use in paper conservation. Citrates have shown promise as a tool to remove metallic impurities and staining while preserving the integrity of media and cellulose, however more information is desired.
This panel welcomes the submission of new research, treatment studies, and experimentation involving the use of citrates in paper conservation. We aim to design a program which includes technical studies and treatment

Possible topics could include, but are not limited to:
●    Aqueous overall or local treatment using citrates
●    Technical study of use with different types of media
●    Success or limitations when treating different kinds of staining
●    Analytical study of citrates effects on cellulose and or/media
● Use of citrates in combination with other stain reduction techniques

Penn Museum archaeologists began organizing Heritage West, a community archaeology project in West Philadelphia, in 2019. The initiative doubled as an undergraduate course in 2023 involving Penn faculty, staff, and students, as well as members of the public who live and work or whose families lived and worked in the immediate vicinity. Throughout 2024, lab work and processing of the materials took place at the Penn Museum, near the excavation site. Heritage West as a whole is a significant outreach and engagement opportunity that highlights local archaeological resources, makes field and lab experience accessible, and explores research questions of interest to people in the neighborhood closest to the museum.  

Archaeologists implemented extensive preparatory work to direct their focus and goals, concentrating on the Black Bottom, a once thriving Black community in the area now called University City. It was destroyed in the 1960s under the guise of urban renewal. The archaeologists believed that oral histories collected early in the project and existing archives about the area could be enhanced by archaeology. Excavation pushed the historical narrative of the neighborhood further back in time than living memory, adding material weight to stories of people who lived there, uncovering artifacts inspiring further memories and revealing aspects of daily life rarely recorded through other historical methods.  

Site conservation is about balance: the excitement of discovery and slowly revealing surfaces to avoid destroying historical data; the amount of material uncovered and the need for storage; the budget and the best supplies; the desire for democratizing access to archaeological training and the fragility of the archaeological record. The team experienced tight timelines and navigated continuously changing circumstances between the short excavation season (10 days over one semester), the physical location of the site in public spaces (a community center’s active gravel parking lot and yard), and the variety of excavators (from novice students and community members to practiced archaeologists). This excavation was not an example of perfect site conservation, but it exposed community members, undergraduates, graduate students, and museum staff to the effectiveness of a historical archaeological team that includes a conservator. Students in the class and community volunteers were interested in the relationship between the fields and had good instincts for asking questions most pertinent to each specialty. They quickly brought the conservator materials for possible identification, drew attention to more fragile finds for options for lifting and storing, and learned how to expose relevant maker’s marks, decorative surfaces, and other important details of recovered artifacts.  

The future of the collection is going to be decided in close collaboration with members of the team of volunteers who helped plan and excavate. This group of community volunteers all have current or familial relationships to the neighborhood or work in community organizations supporting current residents. It is hoped the artifacts will survive to be used in local artist efforts towards memorializing the neighborhood or on display in exhibitions, and that will be due to the efforts of the team to incorporate conservation considerations throughout the project.

Esteemed American horticulturist and author of The Architecture of Country Houses, A.J. Downing played a pivotal role in the emergence of the American Picturesque movement of the mid-19th century. His ideals are expressed in the minutiae of material usage and finishes as well as in the pattern books that resulted from his influence. Over time, his work has shaped scholars’ understanding of the architectural colors of the period. Despite A.J. Downing’s well-documented influence on the American Picturesque movement, little empirical research has been conducted on the actual use of color in architecture from this period. Most existing studies are unpublished and largely inaccessible, creating a gap in our understanding of how Downing’s theories were applied in practice. Ivy Lodge, a key example of mid-19th-century Italianate architecture in Philadelphia’s Germantown neighborhood, offers a rare opportunity to analyze original finishes that have remained largely intact. By examining the paint layers and comparing them with Downing’s pattern book prescriptions, this study not only challenges prevailing assumptions about his influence but also provides crucial insight into the material culture of the American Picturesque. The findings contribute to the field of architectural conservation by offering new data on historic color practices, helping to refine our understanding of 19th-century American aesthetics and their practical applications. Using cross-sectional and polarizing light microscopy to analyze paint samples, the paper illuminates the chosen color palette. It offers perspective on the actual influence of pattern books and Downing’s specific prescriptions for color during the American Picturesque Movement.

The analysis of Ivy Lodge's paint layers reveals a dominant early finish of white lead-based paint rather than the anticipated earthen tones displayed in Downing’s pattern books. Later layers introduced colors like gray, brown, and green, aligning with the period's broader palette. Differences in stratigraphy among windows and exterior details suggest varying approaches to trim and cornice paint, with some dark gray paints appearing in isolated areas. These findings challenge the assumption that Ivy Lodge's color scheme followed A.J. Downing’s recommendations for the American Picturesque Movement. While Downing advocated for natural tints and rejected white exteriors, Ivy Lodge's white-painted trim more closely aligns with earlier Colonial and Georgian aesthetics, suggesting that the homeowners may have blended Downing’s ideals with prior influences. Furthermore, the later introduction of Picturesque colors in the 1870s, post-Downing era, implies that his influence may have expanded over time rather than being immediately adopted. This study broadens our understanding of mid-19th-century American architectural finishes, questioning the extent of Downing’s impact on contemporary color choices.

This presentation explores the power of collaboration in preserving and understanding three seminal electronic artworks by Alan Rath in the Denver Art Museum's collection: "Looker II" (1990), "Family" (1994), and "Sky Watcher" (1990-91). These complex pieces, incorporating Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) monitors, custom circuitry, and Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROM) chips, embody not just technological innovation but also the artist's unique vision. Our conservation approach demonstrates how engaging a range of voices and expertise can enrich our understanding of an artwork's history, meaning, and preservation needs.

At the heart of these artworks lie the EPROM chips, a now-obsolete technology that poses unique conservation challenges. These chips store custom software and image data essential to the artworks' functionality. However, their UV-sensitive nature renders the data vulnerable to erasure if exposed to light, making them a fragile link to the artist's original programming and intent.

Our preservation efforts centered on two key collaborations. Joshua Eveland of Nolara Conservation Services LLC, who worked closely with Rath in his later years, provided crucial insights into the artist's philosophy and technical practices. Eveland shared valuable information about the artworks' construction and potential emulation strategies, offering guidance on CRT preservation and circuit board documentation.

Equally vital to our efforts has been the expertise of the artist Jim Campbell, a contemporary and friend of Rath. Campbell's deep understanding of EPROM technology and its use in electronic artworks has been crucial in addressing the technical challenges we face. He shared his extensive experience with EPROM technology, discussing the types of chips used in Rath's work and explaining the risks associated with data loss.

This collaboration will culminate in a planned visit by Campbell to the museum in October 2024, where he will use an EPROM reader to access and migrate the fragile data to the museum's cloud storage, ensuring long-term preservation of Rath's original programming and image files. Campbell's expertise has also been crucial in navigating the potential pitfalls of data recovery, including the possibility of "uncopyable" chips made by the artist.

In recognition of Eveland’s and Campbell's significant contributions to this project, we plan to invite them to be co-authors of this presentation and any subsequent publications. This co-authorship acknowledges the vital role that artists and technicians can play in the conservation of their peers' work, bringing unique insights and technical expertise that complement traditional conservation approaches, as well as the indispensable nature of interdisciplinary collaboration in the field of electronic art conservation.

By engaging with those who knew Rath and his work intimately, we gained insights into his creative process and the intended viewer experience that inform our preservation strategies. Collaborating with another artist  not only enhanced our technical understanding but also deepened our appreciation of the artworks' cultural and historical significance in seeing it through Campbell’s eyes. Our presentation will highlight how these collaborations shaped our conservation methodology, from documentation and maintenance planning to the ethical considerations of component replacement and potential future emulation. In addition to the successes, we will  discuss the practical challenges of this collaborative model and how we navigated them.

Since the mid-1980s, American artist Robert Gober (b. 1954) has been at the forefront of revitalizing representational sculpture. Gober’s works explore themes of childhood, domesticity, sexuality, religion, and politics through familiar objects such as doors and sinks, questioning how they contribute to our psyche. His unusual lexicon of meticulously hand-crafted common household objects are marked with surrealist twists or mutations such as X-shaped cribs, doors turning in on themselves, and legs protruding from walls. This phantasmagorical theme is also found in his wax sculptures of human body parts merged with domestic items in bizarre variations.

 

Throughout his career, Gober combined these elements  to create complex installations, as seen in the untitled work at the Milwaukee Art Museum (MAM) —fondly called “the suitcase”. An imposing black, open suitcase with a grate inserted in its base that sits on the gallery floor. Peering into the suitcase reveals a subterranean world through a brick shaft in the floor. Below is the “Gober Room”, housing a large pool of water with a set of wax adult male legs and baby - an allusion to baptism. A motor and fan create gentle lapping of the water, which swirls around the legs, and causes the seaweed to sway. Like much of Gober's work, this installation explores the dynamic between the immediately apparent conscious world and the subconscious lurking beneath.

 

Since its 1999 acquisition the various sculptural and mechanical elements of Untitled have shown wear, and biological growth bloomed in the pool—drastically changing Gober’s intended experience of the artwork. Tackling this herculean endeavor and addressing the various, complex elements of this installation required many hands. For more than two years, the conservation team at MAM collaborated with other museum experts and allied professions to perform the most comprehensive treatment of this work to date in order to accomplish the ultimate goal of recapturing the artist’s original intent—to immerse viewers in an animated, watery scene.  

 

This project started with conservator Christian Scheidemann, an expert in Gober installations, treating the pool and legs and fabricating new seaweed. The next step was to address the hot and humid environment in the “Gober room” to slow biological growth. A lighting technician replaced the hot lights with theater-style LEDs that mimic daylight, as specified by the artist’s studio. MAM’s Facilities crew added ventilation to increase airflow and control the temperature of the space.  Regaining the subtle sound of the sculpture has been the more dramatic transformation of the treatment. The original motor drowned out the sound produced by the water’s soft lapping. A new, quieter motor was designed and constructed by a local engineer and the ambient noise was reduced. Working with a flooring expert, visually distracting flooring around the suitcase was also corrected.

 

The final step was to treat the suitcase and drain. This required consultation with the artist’s studio and the Schaulager Museum to determine the scope of treatment and acceptable level of change while maintaining the artist’s original intent and integrity of the artwork as it ages and technologies change.

The 1896 residence of Caroline and John Jacob Astor IV on Fifth Avenue in New York City was designed by architect Richard Morris Hunt and renovated in 1910 by Carrere and Hastings, two of the most prominent architects of America’s Gilded Age. The mansion contained reproduction boiserie period rooms produced by the French interior decorating firm Jules Allard et Fils, emulating the tradition of ornately carved and gilded wood paneling of the 17th and 18th centuries in France. Prior to demolition of the Astor residence, two of these rooms—the Cream Salon and Library—were purchased in 1926 by John Ringling and soon after installed as period rooms in the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Florida. In addition to the 1910 renovation, the period rooms had received later alterations and repairs, including overpainting of all painted paneling and much of the gilded ornament.

In 2023, EverGreene Architectural Arts was retained by the museum to elaborate upon earlier investigations, to characterize historic finishes in the rooms and carry out condition assessments and treatment testing. The goal was to better understand the boiserie techniques and develop methods for the appropriate conservation of the wood, gilding, painted finishes, and clear coatings on the wood paneling.

In this study, a more refined understanding of Jules Allard’s manufacturing and decorating processes was achieved. In particular, Allard drew upon traditional 17th-century French architectural gilding techniques, while also using more contemporary methods to enhance the depth and dimensionality of gilded surfaces. Visual examination combined with exposure windows and overpaint removal testing, in conjunction with optical microscopy and instrumental analysis, helped to confirm that Allard created desired visual effects by applying sanded boles, juxtaposing oil gilding and water gilding techniques, selectively burnishing the gold, and toning with shellac. In addition to identifying Allard’s 19th-century manufacturing methods, including the incorporation of wood veneers, the results of this investigation suggested the use of salvaged elements from authentic boiserie.

The light sensitivity of works on paper is an important issue for any paper-based collection with regular exhibition cycles. The main concern is to protect the media from light-induced color changes, and MFT is a proven in-situ method for predicting these changes. As a substrate, however, white paper and especially rag paper is generally considered to be quite stable, with the exception of wood-containing and colored paper, which are considered light-sensitive according to the lighting guidelines. However, within the broadly defined class of white papers – which have been the most widespread worldwide since their emergence – there are also lignin-free white papers that are affected by moderate exposure to light. Our research group – three conservation scientists and five paper conservators collaborating from a print and drawing collection, a conservation science research laboratory, and two universities – studied typical light sensitivities related to compositions of paper and the ability of MFT to predict light-induced change in a broad range of the most typical white paper compositions.

We prepared nine sets of 37 papers divided into four compositional groups that represent papers across time. Three sets were aged in UV-filtered museum and commercial gallery exhibition-simulated settings (LED, mixed fluorescent/daylight, up to ca. 2.5 Mlxh), four underwent cyclic light-dark aging with or without pre-aging, and two sets were micro-faded by two commercially available MFT devices, one with a xenon source, the other a LED source. Using this test setup, we evaluated the influence of paper components on the color development of the papers during these different natural and accelerated aging conditions and compared them with the MFT results. The color change data of all exposures are given in Blue Wool Scale (BWS) by comparison to co-exposed Blue Wool Standards. 

Most white papers in exhibition simulation fell into the relatively stable BWS 2.5–4, but aged rag papers and papers containing ligneous and OBA papers ranged at BWS 1.–2.5. The predominant color change tended to be fading, but highly optically brightened (OBA) papers of low quality darkened. Groundwood and other high-lignin papers changed to yellowing after initial fading. Iron-contaminated papers without a significant alkaline reserve also tendentially darkened. Previous light-dark aging cycles had an effect on the type of color changes caused by light. Both MFT types and the cyclic light-dark aging predicted the papers’ sensitivity adequately compared to the simulated exhibition exposures and identified the most light-sensitive gelatin-sized rag papers and lignin-containing papers. However, predicting the color change of OBA-containing papers proved to be much less reliable. The color change of the papers that were exposed to LED in the exhibition-simulation was better reproduced by LED-MFT than by xenon-MFT or cyclic light-dark aging.  

We hope that the research results of the recently completed project will provide a clearer idea of the role of white paper in predicting the light sensitivity of artworks on paper using MFT. 

Our collaborative project was funded by the Germany Research Foundation 2021–2024.

Unintentional dye migration is a critical problem that textile collections and the conservators that care for them are facing. Early synthetic organic dyes (ESODs) include some of the most fugitive dye classes used on historical textiles in collections today and are characterized by their makeup and manufacture throughout the second half of the 19th century.1 Bleeding dyes can have both aesthetic and structural implications; though impacted textiles are often precluded from traditional treatment methods due to the ongoing volatility of the materials present.2 Several key case studies have proven the efficacy of removing natural dye migration through aqueous cleaning methods in the form of solvent gels.3 However, these methods are exclusive to natural dyes that predate the mid 19th century despite the common bleeding problems exhibited by early synthetic organic dyes.4

This pilot study – a collaborative effort between the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and the University of Amsterdam (UvA) – presents an investigation into the novel application of gel-based cleaning methods for the removal of unintentional ESOD migration. The project focused on a Chinese Woman’s Jacket from the 1920’s. The sumptuous silk jacquard woven jacket exhibited severe staining at the armpits, where dyes from the green inner lining had migrated outward onto the surface of the outer pink layer. After confirming the identity of all dyes present using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), a variety of traditional and new sustainably-focused gels were tested to deliver a solution that targeted the pH-dependent bond between the fugitive dyes and the jacket’s silk fibers. This project considers the ethical parameters of dye bleed removal and works to develop sustainable and accessible methodology for stain reduction. A culmination of expertise across departments, institutions, and regions of the world is represented in this project resulting in an emblem of this year’s conference theme about “the power of working with others.”5

1: J. Barnett, “Synthetic Organic Dyes, 1856-1901: An Introductory Literature Review of their Use and Related Issues in Textile Conservation,” Reviews in Conservation, no. 8 (2007): 68-69.; A. Scharff, “Synthetic Dyestuffs for Textiles and their Fastness to Washing,” ICOM Committee for Conservation 2, (1999), 656.

2: Barnett, Synthetic Organic Dyes, 1856-1901,” 72.

3: A. Smets, K. De Vis, and N. Ortega-Saez, “A Challenging Treatment of an 18th Century Embroidered Textile Using Gel Cleaning in Combination with Decamethylcyclopentasiloxane (D5) Silicone Solvent Barriers,” Conservar Património 31, (2019).; K. Sahmel, L. Mina, K. Sutherland, and N. Shibayama, “Removing Dye Bleed from a Sampler: New Methods for an Old Problem,” Textile Specialty Group Post prints 22, (2012). 

4:  Note that early synthetic dyestuffs, known as ESODs, can be found in textiles dating between 1856 and the 1930s, as they were slowly replaced by more stable dyestuffs throughout the early 20th century.; Barnett, 74.

5: “AIC/FAIC: Upcoming Meeting 2025,” accessed September 4, 2024.

Thousands of visitors to Valley Forge National Historical Park in Eastern Pennsylvania have passed by “the forge” while walking the Park’s many trails. The forge was constructed in 1742 to finish crude iron “pigs” into hardware and tools. However, in 1777, British forces burned the valley and the forge—a major strategic site—to the ground. The Pennsylvania State Park Service excavated the Upper Forge Site ruins in 1929-1930 before the Park’s transition to federal ownership. Until recently, over three hundred wooden fragments of the forge’s structure sat in a barn. The artifacts fluoresced bright green under UV and reeked of mothballs—a telltale sign of the petrochemical creosote. The condition of the collection lent itself to a major collaborative research project including the Valley Forge National Park and Harpers Ferry Center in West Virginia.

Before treatment began, we established a triage lab in an open barn to temporarily store the collection. This process required the cooperation of Valley Forge’s maintenance staff and Harpers Ferry Center in order to provide the necessary infrastructure and resources. Our greatest priority was to remove the creosote coating, thus allowing the collection to be relocated to a climate controlled environment. Creosote is composed of strong volatile organic carbons (VOCs), which can cause respiratory irritation and damage. Unfortunately, creosote removal scholarship provided little help in devising a treatment plan for the Upper Forge Site. While creosote can be removed on an industrial level using abrasives or water pressure, these methods were not suited to fragile archeological material. The treatment plan had to be designed and tested from the ground up.

The condition of the collection was suitable for comprehensive testing. Boxes of dissociated debris were available for spot-testing. The wood’s internal cell walls and structure had long since been destroyed by the outside environment. Fluctuations in temperature and humidity caused the objects to expand, contract, and severely split in the barn. Conservators do not typically recommend submersion baths for archaeological wood for fear of bursting cell walls with fluid. However, the Park was more comfortable with pursuing wet treatment because the collection had already undergone this damage during storage.

After I conducted analytical testing at the Harpers Ferry Lab, I employed triage-style processing at the Park. I treated the wooden artifacts using a combination of solution, mechanical, and poultice cleaning. The creosote removal also yielded new residue-limiting poulticing techniques. I encountered challenges during the numbering process, which required the insight of conservators across multiple states. The project concluded with a modular storage method, also designed by a committee.

The Upper Forge Site project was an experiment in collaboration. Craftsmen, curators, preservationists, conservators, and analytical scientists across the federal government provided their expertise to the protection of this historically significant collection. Within a year, we had relocated the forge fragments from a barn to a climate controlled archive. Historical research has been compiled for the eventually interpretation, exhibiting, and possibly even reconstruction of the revolutionary forge.

This study presents a collaborative, multidisciplinary approach to conserving and displaying the high-quality linen Shroud of Thutmose III, which bears a rare section of the Book of the Dead. Traditionally, these texts were written on papyrus, but in this case, they were written on fine linen fabric, dating back to 1450 BC. The shroud will be displayed for the first time at the Grand Egyptian Museum-Conservation Center (GEM-CC) collection, which requires an innovative conservation approach in preparation for its first public display since its discovery. Upon arrival at the GEM-CC, the conservation team faced several challenges. It was attached to old, acidic cardboard, and its large size (4.5 m) made it difficult for conservation and display efforts. These challenges necessitated the development of a conservation strategy for the shroud using the principle of least invasive treatments, drawing on multidisciplinary expertise in conservation and scientific research. Using non-destructive techniques such as multispectral imaging, optical microscopy, X-ray fluorescence, and FTIR, the team could comprehensively assess the properties of the fabric, pigments, and overall condition of the shroud. The results revealed that the manufacturer used yellow Orpiment and Egyptian blue pigments in the upper decorative frame for the writing, and carbon black ink was used for the inscriptions. The analyses also revealed that the old cardboard backing and adhesive used had caused damage to the fabric, resulting in discolouration and darkening of the fabric. These scientific analyses informed key decisions in the conservation process, ensuring the careful removal of the acid support and reinforcement of fragile parts. The conservation team also designed a customized and secure textile mount for the shroud’s large dimensions. The innovative use of non-invasive techniques, combined with specially designed and multidisciplinary solutions, ensures the long-term preservation of this unique artefact and its proper display and beauty in the exhibition at the Grand Egyptian Museum. The study highlights the combination of scientific progress and expertise in the field of heritage conservation, demonstrating the power of collaboration in overcoming the complex challenges of studying, conserving, and exhibiting ancient textiles.

Sam Owens and Cass Fino-Radin present the outcome of the latest collaboration between Glenstone and Small Data Industries: the debut of a new user-friendly app for automating and managing fixity checks and uploading incoming acquisitions in media collections. This ambitious project was only possible thanks to a foundation of many years of collaboration. It exemplifies what is possible when trust between conservation, IT, and outside consultants has been actively cultivated.

Small Data developed the app to meet the specific needs of Glenstone's team. As with many art museums, Glenstone faced challenges in identifying tools that were both easy for collections staff to use and cost-effective. Existing tools in the digital preservation field were designed mainly for libraries and archives. As such, they are often either too complex, requiring advanced technical expertise, or prohibitively expensive because they were intended for large-scale institutional use. Glenstone needed a solution that would be accessible, capable of handling the specific needs of its collections staff, and scalable for future growth. 

This app offers a streamlined approach to collections staff interaction with, and oversight, of digital collections storage. It is manageable for institutions of all sizes and requires minimal technical expertise to implement while offering robust, scalable features for those who need it. 

Key aspects of the presentation will include discussion and exploration of:

1. The context of the project at Glenstone and the needs that were to be addressed
2. The collaborative process including the importance of long-standing professional relationships and effective communication in the design and software development projects.
3. The challenges and rewards of such collaborations within the context of art museums, including insights for institutions considering similar projects.
4. Live demonstration of the app, providing an overview of its functionality and user interface.
5. Reflection on the history and sustainability of software development in cultural heritage contexts.

Our presentation will share insights into how this project has met Glenstone's specific needs, providing solutions for accessible digital preservation in an art museum context. We will reflect on the collaborative design and software development process, the history of solving similar challenges in the cultural heritage space, and details on the public release.

By sharing this experience, we hope to introduce this new tool to attendees and also inspire institutions that may be considering collaborative projects involving software development in the context of collections management. We'll emphasize how such projects can lead to solutions that not only solve immediate problems but also contribute to the broader field of digital preservation in art collections.

Originally constructed in 1879, the Conservatory of Flowers in the Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, California is a rare example of the wood-and-glass conservatory in the late Victorian style constructed using early techniques of mass production and assembly of simple glass units. Following extensive wood decay and significant windstorm damage, the building underwent extensive restoration and structural upgrades from 1998 to 2002.

Preserving and maintaining an active greenhouse is no easy task, and working around plants that cannot be moved or environmental conditions that cannot be drastically altered calls for careful planning and thorough research and material testing, even for the simplest tasks, such as painting. This presentation aims to review some of the unique challenges that we have come across during our three decades of work at the Conservatory of Flowers and the rigorous planning and research we had to conduct to extend the maintenance window of the building while having minimal impact on its unique aesthetic and the collection of rare and exotic plants. Two projects we aim to discuss are the replacement of failed glazing putty with silicone extrusions and surface preparation and painting mock-ups in the Conservatory’s Aquatic Plants gallery. They provided opportunities to consider and evaluate alternate solutions for longevity, durability, and appropriateness to the unique environment of the Conservatory of Flowers.

The British artist Henry Moore is well known for his monumental outdoor sculptures, three of which are installed at the Getty Center in Los Angeles as part of the Stark Sculpture Collection. The fourteen-foot-tall sculpture, Bronze Form, was the artist’s final outdoor work before his death in 1986. A series of six editions, they were cast and finished at Morris Singer Foundry outside of London starting in 1985. Some of the editions were not completed until after his death, as was the case with the fourth edition of Bronze Form, finished and purchased by the collectors Fran and Ray Stark located in Los Angeles, California in 1987. The Getty acquired Bronze Form (1985, 4/6) as a gift from the Fran and Ray Stark Revocable Trust in 2004-2005, and it has since been prominently displayed surrounded by a reflecting pool adjacent to the Tram Arrival Plaza. 

The Museum’s conservators have spent over a decade maintaining Bronze Form and planning for its long-term preservation. In 2010, a major treatment was carried out to remove an aged, clear polyurethane coating that was applied before the Getty’s acquisition, replacing it with an acrylic lacquer. By 2020, the surface developed uneven corrosion that blemished the translucent, golden patina prompting a more extensive treatment. To remove the corrosion, the treatment involved repolishing the surface and repatinating, which prompted another round of research on Moore’s original intent and expectations for the work in an outdoor setting. Even though Moore’s artistic process is well documented, the intent of the artist’s polished finish for these later works is uncertain and a significant departure from his aesthetic norm. The beginning and end of the project was met with unexpected findings resulting in adaptations to the treatment process. Collaboration and consultation with bronze specialists from Bronze et al, Ltd. and the Henry Moore Foundation helped shape the approach. This paper will review the evidence that supported the conservators’ final plan of action to conserve Bronze Form, starting with a description of its original materials and casting method, including comparison with other editions within the series, pre-treatment testing, and will finish with an overview of the final treatment.

Xanthan-konjac/agar double-network hydrogels, a recent addition to the conservation cleaning toolkit, are thermoreversible, optically clear, cohesive, flexible, conformable, and elastic hydrogels capable of controlled delivery of a broad range of aqueous preparations, some organic solvents, and microemulsions. The development of these hydrogels is described in a separate submission.

Here, a series of case studies illustrate successful applications of these gels for the cleaning of easel paintings, painted surfaces, East Asian export lacquer, gilded surfaces, and works of art on paper, highlighting potential uses and limitations for these versatile formulations. Taken together, we present a model for early dissemination of emergent treatment materials, embracing a feedback loop to refine production and application techniques.

Recently, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) announced an intention to permanently display the Emancipation Proclamation (EP) to tell a more complete story of the nation’s road toward a more perfect union. The EP is a double-sided document with iron gall ink (IGI) on paper, as well as an original seal and silk ribbon remnants that once held the document as a folio. Its treatment and display history are complex and have resulted in variations in text density and substrate appearance across pages. To determine the exhibition specifications for this iconic document, NARA scientists and conservators engaged in intensive investigation to identify and reduce risks of long-term display. In the past, NARA has used sealed anoxic encasements for documents permanently displayed. However, recent research into IGI behavior in anoxia1 as well as material and structural differences between the EP and other treasured national records meant that the use of a low oxygen environment needed to be examined for the unique needs of this document. 

Scientist Bruce Ford previously demonstrated that IGI fading can revert in the dark, similar to Prussian blue, but that anoxia diminished this reversion potential. His experiments exposed ink to light levels equal to several decades of display followed by a period of darkness that allowed ink to revert overnight. We sought to conduct a similar experiment, but with a closer match between typical exposure and rest periods to exhibit conditions. Additionally, we wanted to know if IGI reversion potential could ever be exhausted or would change with past treatment history. Subsequently, we designed experiments using an automated LED MFT (2700K white LED, ~3.1Mlux) in an atypical manner. We repeatedly exposed contemporaneous non-record samples and paused for reversion periods in the dark on the same spot, tracking the within test as well as overall change in color (ΔE00) and L*a*b* color space parameters. We tracked and controlled temperature and humidity as much as possible to prevent movement during test periods (up to 1.5 weeks) and kept the dose for each exposure as low as possible (0.04-0.4 Mlux-hrs.), only inducing enough change required for reasonable signal to noise ratios. We performed mock de-silking and delamination treatments on historic samples to mimic the condition of the EP. Treated ink required higher dosages to induce the same amount of change as non-treated IGI. We conducted multiple cycles of low-dose MFT both in air and anoxia and were able to reproduce Ford’s result showing both reversion in air, but significantly reduced reversion in anoxia. We investigated the nuances of reversion in each of L*, a* and b* under each condition. After several tests in anoxia, we reintroduced oxygen up to 2% concentration which showed a returned ability to revert. MFT results were also compared to an experiment with 2 klux LED lamps (up to 4.5Mlx-hrs) where no visible change was observed. This indicated reciprocal failure, however these results still have important implications for display design requirements for the EP and other IGI records.

Works Cited

1. Ford, B. 2014. “The accelerated light fading of iron gall inks in air, hypoxia and near-anoxia.” In ICOM-CC 17th Triennial Conference Preprints, Melbourne, 15–19 September 2014.

In preparation for the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation’s new Colin G. and Nancy N. Campbell Archaeology Center (CAC) scheduled opening in 2026, conservation was undertaken on a variety of objects selected for display in the new exhibition spaces. As the fellows hired to begin this process, part of our work was the treatment of two carboy bottles. The glass bottles, one clear and one green, were first assembled in the 1980s following excavation from the historic site of the Public Hospital. By the 2020s, the bottles’ original use is unclear, the old adhesives were visibly degrading, and no treatment records could be located. Additionally, after decades in open storage in the Archaeology Collections Building, the soon-to-be predecessor of the CAC, the bottles were obscured by surface dust. Over eight months, we examined, documented, disassembled, cleaned, and reassembled the two bottles, becoming familiar with a variety of adhesive reversal methodologies in the process.

There are 138 clear and 187 green fragments, creating the project’s first challenge. The sheer number of fragments required a mapping system to denote their locations on the bottles. We created a panorama map for each bottle, on which every fragment received a unique name and a physical label to identify it throughout treatment. We also devised a spreadsheet to track the treatment progress of each fragment. At about two feet tall, these bottles required close teamwork, clear communication, and comprehensive organization.

Another challenge of this project was the unknown adhesives from previous mending. These generously applied, yellowed adhesives were not only visually distracting but also posed risks to the bottles’ structural stability. FTIR analyses revealed Duco rubber cement and Epotek 301 on the clear bottle, and epoxies – most likely Fynebond and Epotek 301 – on the green bottle.

We undertook treatment on the clear bottle first, and one of its adhesives proved extremely tenacious. To find an effective treatment method for what was likely epoxy, reversal testing was performed to find ZipStrip (methylene chloride) alternatives. First, hot water and 1:1 acetone and ethanol baths were tried, but both were unsuccessful. Next, four solvent bath combinations were tested with 49 xylenes:45 acetone:6 ethanol proving to be the most effective, which reversed many joins and minimized the use of ZipStrip.

Surprisingly, the green bottle proved much easier to disassemble despite the FTIR results conclusively showing epoxies. Most joins were successfully reversed with 1:1 acetone and ethanol vapor chambers and baths. The few tenacious joins were reversed with 49 xylenes:45 acetone:6 ethanol baths. Testing from the clear bottle treatment provided an effective solvent combination to tackle the stubborn joins, significantly saving time during the second treatment.

The scale and complexity of the project required creativity, collaboration, and eventually tacit understanding between the two of us. Organization was key, with the panorama map and spreadsheet preventing disassociation and ensuring smooth coordination. Reversal testing revealed safer methods for removing epoxies. After much time and dedication, the two bottles are revitalized and ready for display in the new CAC building.

• $35 registration fee
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• $35 registration fee
• Adding this event to your schedule does not guarantee you a space. You must add it to your registration via the above "Add to Registration" button.

Traditionally, cultural institutions have been dedicated to collecting in perpetuity. To accommodate this mission, we as conservators have prioritized extending the physical life of an object for as long as possible by reducing perceived risks at all costs. Several factors are driving us to question its sustainability and re-evaluate this approach:

• Museums continue to acquire, often without providing the additional resources needed to store and care for their growing collections. This leaves us strained to do the best we can under ever-increasing workloads. 
• We are grappling with how collections reflect social and political reckonings. In doing so, we are making efforts to better connect with the cultures that artifacts originated from and the communities that our institutions serve. 
• We are living and working through a climate crisis and are now acutely aware of the negative impact our actions, policies, and procedures may have on the global environment and its cultural heritage.

Four speakers will share their thoughts on how we can build a more sustainable future for collections by focusing on and honoring context, accessibility, and community in our work: Pejuta Haka Win Red Eagle, an Oglala Lakota & Wahpekute and Wahpetunwan Dakota winyan and an enrolled member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, is a Curatorial Fellow in Anthropology at the Science Museum of Minnesota. Jane Henderson teaches at Cardiff University’s BSc in Conservation and MSc in Conservation Practice programs and is the Secretary General of IIC.  Jessica Walthew is an objects conservator at Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum. Dr. Joelle Wickens is Assistant Professor of preventive conservation in the Department of Art Conservation at the University of Delaware. 

This study investigates characteristics of three cellulose ethers in the search for a stronger solvent based adhesive to add to the options available to paper conservators. Cellulose ethers are available in various polymer chain lengths (corresponding to strength), can be water and/or solvent soluble, and often have desirable aging properties. Two of the most widely used cellulose ethers in paper conservation are methylcellulose (Methocel) and hydroxypropyl cellulose (Klucel). This research compares commonly used Methocel A4M (water soluble, long polymer chain) and Klucel G (water/solvent soluble, short polymer chain), with overlooked Klucel M (water/solvent soluble, long polymer chain). Klucel M has the potential to be a crucial tool in the toolbox of paper conservators, as it has a similar polymer chain length and adhesive strength to Methocel A4M, but has the advantage of being soluble in solvent, like the much shorter length and weaker adhesive Klucel G. While older research indicated that Klucel M is inappropriate for long term use with collections, more recent research has indicated that it could be an acceptable option. Using analytical techniques including accelerated aging, colorimetry and UV-vis-NIR spectroscopy, size-exclusion chromatography, Oddy testing, and PAT testing, this study compares the adhesives Methocel A4M, Klucel G, and Klucel M and offers case studies for the use of Klucel M.

Mercury: A Collection Component




Mercury, a common component in 18th, 19th, an 20th century collection items, is a well-known hazardous material with potentially severe short and long-term health consequences. Collection items with mercury include a wide variety of natural science specimens (geological, botanical, and taxidermy), pharmaceutical materials, historic pigments, historic mirrors and gilded wood, historic clothing items (felted items such as hats) and scientific instruments. While our understanding of the breadth of mercury use in cultural heritage items is growing, determining actual exposure risks and potential solutions for collections as well as collection care staff and visitors is a current area of research. 



This joint session between the Preventive Care Network and the Object Specialty Group will acquaint participants with the range of collection items containing mercury as an intrinsic component, and will help initiate discussions among conservators about hazards, handling, and access. Panelists will present brief case studies to provide examples of risk management, exposure assessments, and handling protocols to control risks associated with these collection items.




90 minute panel of short presentations followed by discussion with the audience. 




Panelists will cover topics including: 

* Toxicology
* Industrial Hygiene
* Pharmaceutical collections
* Taxidermy and mineral collections
* Felted garments/textiles
* Mirrors 
* Gilding
* Scientific Instruments

Note: Some Invited panelists’ participation have been confirmed yet; a final list is forthcoming.

Large archaeological objects can be challenging to manipulate during and after treatment due to a variety of factors including structural integrity/fragility, scale, awkward shape, and weight.  These characteristics often occur in combination making it difficult to determine where to make direct-contact to an artifact’s surface as well as to identify center-of-gravity and how it will shift as an object is lifted or rotated. Consideration too must be given to minimizing stress to weak points and ensuring that an artifact is adequately secured, so that as it is moved/turned, it cannot physically shift in an uncontrolled/unexpected manner. Due to the need to reach all sides of an artifact during treatment, it is usually unavoidable that it will have to be turned at some point which increases the risk of damage. Ultimately, once an object is conserved, it will have to be placed on a mount and moved into storage or put on exhibition which also has the potential to cause damage. As no two archaeological objects are identical, often what works directly for one object may not for another. However, overarching concepts can apply to numerous objects such as the utilization of multipurpose mounts that can be used over the course of an artifact’s treatment. These kinds of mounts minimize the need for physical handling and therefore reduce the risk of accidental damage. This paper will present a series of case studies utilizing primarily USS Monitor artifacts to highlight a range of techniques and methods employed at The Mariners’ Museum and Park to lift, turn, and store large archaeological objects over the course of the last decade.

Books are kinetic objects that perform finely-engineered movements to reveal their contents. If a book’s structure is broken or compromised, its information cannot be experienced in the manner that its creator intended. Loss of mechanical function is particularly disruptive for manuscripts, artist’s books, photograph albums, and scrapbooks, in which unique, intimate narratives may be presented. In some ways, nineteenth century photograph albums present worst-case treatment scenarios to conservators; these albums tend to be both heavy and very fragile, due to inherent vice, yet these albums may be frequently requested by researchers. Furthermore, photographs are physically and chemically sensitive, and nineteenth century papers are often quite water sensitive, which limits treatment options. As heavy leaves and delicate hinges embrittle with age, a nineteenth century album may pull itself apart, posing many questions; is it possible to restore mechanical function to this album without frequent re-interventions? Which materials are best for reinforcing the connections between heavy leaves and delicate hinges? Do adhesive mixtures, such as 75% wheat starch paste and 25% methylcellulose, provide better flexibility when dry?

The above questions inspired this study, in which the author, a book conservator, collaborated with paper conservators, photograph conservators, and conservation scientists at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This presentation will discuss the methodology and results of the study, in which the relative folding endurances of Jin Shofu wheat starch paste, photo-grade gelatin, and six cellulose ethers were evaluated, before and after artificial aging. Additionally, 3:1 mixtures of wheat starch paste, methylcellulose, and/or photo-grade gelatin were studied, to observe the mechanical performances of these mixtures, once dry. To inform the methodology of this study, a self selecting survey of seventy-five AIC Book and Paper Group members was conducted. Survey participants were asked to indicate their adhesive preferences for certain treatment scenarios, and whether they are in the habit of combining two or more adhesives to alter their wet and/or dry properties. In this study, all adhesives were prepared at concentrations that would normally be used by book, paper, and photograph conservators, or at viscosities that would allow a conservator to reline the spine of a book or repair its hinges. Strips of naturally aged chromatography paper (pure cotton linters, manufactured in 1959) were impregnated with these adhesives and were evaluated with a Tinius Olsen folding endurance machine. Although folding endurance machines do not perfectly replicate a book’s normal range of motion, these machines offer insight into the effects that adhesives and sizing agents may have on the mechanical strength of a standard paper.

The surprising results of this study indicate that wheat starch paste has a much lower folding endurance than cellulose ethers with comparable bonding strengths, and that mixing two adhesives together significantly impacts the folding endurance of a standard paper, both before and after artificial aging. The author hopes that the results of this study may assist book, paper, and photograph conservators when selecting resizing agents and when repairing the flexible components of books and moveable paper objects.

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) formed the Architecture and Design curatorial department in 1988, focusing on works of graphic design, product design, furniture and architecture. In the context of modern and contemporary art museums, SFMOMA has adopted the shared practices to collect and display design objects as aesthetic objects without its functionality. In 2014, SFMOMA, along with support from the Adrew W. Mellon Foundation, launched four-year Artist Initiative to develop a series of interdisciplinary research projects. Acknowledging the limitation of traditional display methods, SFMOMA investigated new approaches to collect, display and conserve design in the 21st century. In-use video was one of the strategies responding to the transformation of design with complex digital elements and interface. By producing in-use videos for two exhibitions (2015 & 2018), SFMOMA was able to present various functions in use that could not be understood by static display formats, and helped make the hidden world accessible without turning on the object while on display.   

During the two-year preparation for Art of Noise (2024), an exhibition dedicated to audio technologies, we have observed an interest shift to actively acquire and present design object's functionality. To show playback functions of media players in the exhibitions, incoming accessions and selected collection objects were studied, tested, serviced and repaired for the filming of in-use videos. To address the emerging interests and challenges, we have been revisiting our institutional policies and lay out our mission, resources, and timelines it may require to care for functional design objects. Additionally, we spoke to our colleagues in the other institutions to learn if they have experienced a similar shift to present the full lifecycle of object functions and provided insights into the potential landscape change in collections care. 

The aims of our endeavor are two-fold––addressing the evolving focus and the additional expertise and workload for ongoing and future activations. We started by asking the following questions: what happens if functionality becomes an element to be acquired? How can we test and keep track of its maintenance requirement? How does the desire to show functionality influence our conservation practice and what’s the proper scope?  Through collaborative whiteboard exercises, we worked on disentangling layers of decision-making by different stakeholders and defined several sets of categories for design objects with electronic functions. As modern devices are often designed to be multi-purpose, we further identified groups of functions and their needs of care. Starting from the pre-accession process, we continue to reshape the process by introducing the in-take form and activation record which led to defining a terminology that can be agreed upon. In this paper, we would like to share our efforts to construct a holistic approach and initiate conversations with the community as we continue to refine our practices to care for functional design objects.

In 1924, while looking into ways to utilize southern yellow pine sawmill waste, William H. Mason invented a process to create a new type of hardboard. Within a year, he established a plant in Laurel, Mississippi to manufacture his new material. By 1926, Mason applied for, and was awarded, several patents for this new engineered hardboard that would be known as Masonite. Developed at the beginning of the Great Depression, and over the next 100 years, its affordability made it a popular material for use in homes, design, and art.  Masonite even found a place in conservation, although later abandoned.

Soon after production began, Masonite was being used by artists.  An advertisement for Masonite in the June 1928 issue of Scientific American asked: “Where will this grainless wood be used next?” and “Did you know… that it is in daily service at the Chicago Art Institute as artist’s boards?“  It was in the paintings of Chicago-based Regionalist painters including Grant Wood and Thomas Hart Benton that we first find Masonite being widely used. It could be said that the rise of Masonite parallels the rise of American Regionalism and Social or Urban Realism painting in the 1930s, movements that represented a direct reaction against European Modernist painting. Rejecting not only traditional European subject matter but also traditional painting materials, Masonite was both affordable and readily available; it was also, at this time, a uniquely American material and a product of American ingenuity.  

However, American painters were not the only artists who reached for Masonite in their attempt to upend the traditional hierarchy of painting materials and subject matter. The Catalan painter, Joan Miro, famously used Masonite in a series of 27 paintings in his attempt to do just that –to “assassinate painting” -between the years of 1927 and 1937 By 1940, in order to ramp up hardboard production, Masonite had licensed manufacturing facilities in Australia, Canada, Italy and Sweden. Its use as a painting support quickly spread across the globe.

Scholars of art materials and techniques, including Ralph Mayer and Frederic Taubes, have written about the use of Masonite in making art. The subtle changes in their advice over subsequent editions reveal a changing understanding of the pros and cons of Masonite’s properties. Sorting out the history and details of Masonite production and how this has changed over time as well as the history of its use will help us more accurately understand the role of Masonite as an art material and why, at times, problems arise in its use.  

Though Masonite is a ubiquitous art material, it remains understudied and many aspects of its composition, manufacture, and use by artists remain to be explored. For example, Masonite appears to exist between the realm of paper and wood panels: how do its properties compare to these materials? Can we identify where a board of Masonite was produced?  And how does Masonite production affect what was painted on it and our treatment options?

Joe Overstreet (1933-2018) was an innovative artist who defied easy categorization. Interested in art from a young age he studied in California at different institutions but by 1958 he felt he had outgrown the West Coast and moved to New York where he became friends with many of the abstract expressionists and color field painters working there. Always politically motivated, many of his works from the 1960s directly referenced the civil rights movement, some such as The New Jemima(1964) are overtly figurative whereas others, such as 16th Street Birmingham (1963) and Strange Fruit (1965), are more abstract. In the late 1960s, urged by Frank Stella and Sam Gilliam, Overstreet began to create shaped, unprimed canvases painted in acrylic with bold geometric patterns that referenced his African and Shoshone heritage. These works, exemplified by North Star(1968) and Justice, Faith, Hope and Peace, presaged his growing interest in the sculptural possibilities of paintings. In his next, perhaps best-known series of works Overstreet freed himself from the stretcher altogether. His mandala paintings, such as Hoo Doo Mandala(1970), retain the geometric patterns of the shaped canvases but are stretched onto the surface of the wall. His slightly later flight patterns incorporate the soak-stain approaches of Gilliam and Frankenthaler and are held in taut geometric shapes through ropes attached to the walls, floors, and ceiling. Overstreet indicated that his use of ropes referenced both construction techniques used by Ancient Egyptians, and the ropes used in lynchings, while his desire to create easily transportable works was an homage to his nomadic ancestors who survived with our art by rolling it up and moving it all over."The founders of the Menil Collection, John and Dominique de Menil had a long association with Overstreet, purchasing The New Jemimaand several flight patterns. Through this connection he was invited by Larry Rivers to participate in the 1971 Some American Historyexhibition and in 1972 Dominique organized a solo show of Overstreets works at the Rice Institute for Arts. In 2025 the Menil Collection will open Joe Overstreet: Taking Flight,which brings together shaped canvases, mandalas, flight patterns and his seminal late series of oil paintings made after visiting Senegal in 1992. This exhibition, and access to Overstreets artworks and studio materials provided by the Eric Firestone Gallery and Corrine Jennings, Overstreets partner, provided an unparalleled opportunity to begin to examine Overstreets materials and methods. Overstreet said that My work has changed every picture I've ever made, because I'm searching for the unknown truth, but how did his materials and methods change over time? Non-destructive analysis by XRF and limited sampling revealed a shift in pigments, and an increasingly complicated painting process as he moved from shaped canvases to mandalas to flight patterns while his Senegal series marks a return to the use of oils, particularly those of the New Holland line. This is the first in-depth study of this seminal artists practice and helps reveal the various ways he sought to express his truth.

The Anatolian kilim collection of Murad Megalli, most of which is now at The George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum, is one of the foremost in the US.  Anatolian kilims, particularly those woven by local nomadic tribes, are poorly understood and almost no provenience information is available.  Much of the current literature is based on stylistic assumptions, with little to no technical information to confirm.  Significant loss of traditional lifestyles in Anatolia means that anthropological research is not feasible, and no written records exist about their original manufacture.   Object-based data collection is the only viable option to advance our understanding of these dynamic and graphic textiles.

 

This collection was chosen as a pilot project to develop a methodology for analyzing textiles in-house at The Textile Museum, using methods that are non-invasive, non-destructive, and can be operated by conservators in the absence of a conservation science department.  As permanent staff are unable to consistently devote time to research within the demands of an exhibition schedule, a full-time research fellow position allows the rapid integration of new analytical techniques and equipment.

 

Now in its second year, this project spans the fields of conservation, conservation science, technical art history, and experimental archaeology and incorporates microscopy, fiber-optic reflectance spectroscopy (FORS), UV/Vis transmission spectroscopy, multiband imaging, and x-ray fluorescence (XRF).  A combination of structural and stylistic analysis with more technical information on dyes and mordants has resulted in a new, data-based method of establishing the age of Anatolian kilims. Consistent information sharing and collaboration between technical researchers and curators and art historians allows for targeted analysis and focuses the direction of the research towards what will be helpful for the end user.  Data analysis in RStudio has allowed us to disprove many assumptions previously made about these objects and how their characteristics change over time and space.   This project has also allowed the museum to develop connections with other researchers within The George Washington University, to offer research experience for undergraduate chemistry students, and to help train emerging conservation professionals on non-invasive analysis techniques that are increasingly applied to textiles.

 

Lastly, the results of this research highlight the value of thinking creatively about the resources available to smaller institutions, and adapting the use of analytical equipment to gather data that at first glance requires much more expensive and specialized instrumentation.

Values shift over time. To be sustainable, values need to be adaptable, which creates a challenging paradox for conservators who need to preserve the past, serve the present, and safeguard for the future. The team working to re-invigorate the prehistoric archaeological site of Vésztő-Mágor, Hungary, is attempting to recognise the benefit of blending interdisciplinary perceptions of value in their approach of safeguarding the site. This multi-year program aims to stabilize, preserve, and rejuvenate the exhibition of a unique, in situ heritage property in the Carpathian Basin. Drawing insight from archaeologists, conservators, engineers, site managers, and working with the local community, the project looks to create a dialogue of meaningful presentation strategies for the site. Project phases include conservation and stabilization throughout the trench and the built shelter, climate control with environmental monitoring, and finally a visitor interpretation program to rejuvenate the exhibition. The key aim of the project is to help ensure the site is preserved as a thriving center for local identity and regional congregation. The team looks to achieve this through collaborative approaches to enhancing visitor experience and attracting more visitors. This paper discusses the successes and challenges of the project and stabilization program to this point. While it is recognised that despite having different and often conflicting purposes, archaeological research and conservation are deeply intermingled in the preservation of future knowledge, and this project looks to take a further step in inclusive practice through understanding value in a broader perspective. In this context, focus on communal and evidential values in initial project phases is used to support later stages of engagement focusing on evidential and historical values of this incredible piece of heritage. Visualisation, environmental monitoring, and practical conservation outputs are also discussed.

The selection of appropriate repair materials is a primary factor in the long-term success of interventive treatment. This is particularly challenging for parchment repairs in which we must find a material that is comparable in rigidity, color, and weight as well as compatible with the hygroscopic nature of the original parchment. When parchment repairs are needed in bound materials, these repairs must also be able to withstand repeated flexing from use. Following a 2019 cross disciplinary workshop hosted by the Folger Shakespeare Library, “Biocodicology: The Parchment Record and the Biology of the Book”, conservators at the Folger became interested in recreating an historic preparation of tawed parchment for use as a repair material. It was immediately apparent that this project would require extensive collaboration. The outline for the project included processing the skins, making sample repairs, and carrying out a suite of analytical and ageing tests. 

As a small independent research library, the Folger does not have the analytical capabilities necessary to evaluate the skins, nor do we have a scientist to help guide testing and interpret results, so we began reaching out to other institutions for assistance. The Folger collaborated with Jesse Mayer at Pergamena to prepare twelve skins of varying thicknesses using an historic recipe. Once the skins were prepared, conservators at the Folger worked with William Minter and the Penn State University Libraries to begin accelerated ageing tests on samples from the skins. The Preservation Research and Testing Division (PRTD) at the Library of Congress has an extensive array of analytical equipment and a staff of highly trained conservation scientists. In the spring of 2024 conservators at the Folger began working with Dr. Gwen dePolo at PRTD to analyze the tawed skins. With the specific use case of the repair material in mind, the analytical testing has focused on the mechanical properties, physical properties, thermal stability, and investigating the source of a residue exuding from the skins. Dr. dePolo and Kathryn Kenney have had regular meetings about the skins, types of tests to perform, and how the results impact the usability of the alum tawed parchment as a repair material. The collaboration between the Folger Library and PRTD has proved mutually beneficial as the methods applied to analyzing the alum-tawed skins will also be used in other parchment-related research projects that will be pursued at the Library of Congress. 

This talk will discuss the benefits and challenges of a large collaborative project. We will discuss how we defined the scope and scale at an institutional level and have been able to draw on the strengths and expertise of all the participants at an individual level. Specifically, we will focus on how we used our different, but complimentary knowledge to evaluate a potential new repair material considering usability and long-term stability.

In recent years, image-based 3D reconstruction has become an important tool for documenting heritage objects. In the case of time-based media artworks (TBMA), the inherent complexities of their ephemeral and technological nature present unique challenges in their documentation. These artworks only exist in their installed state, meaning their components and configurations may change with each iteration. In this context, 3D reconstruction can complement current documentation systems and provide an innovative way to capture detailed information and process the interaction between audiovisual, sculptural, and equipment elements. 

As part of my conservation fellowship at the Smithsonian Institution, specifically within the Time-based Media and Digital Art Working Group (SI-TBMA), my research focused on the exploration and application of 3D models to document and reconstruct TBMA. The goal was to assess both the potential benefits for conservation processes and the limitations of these techniques. The research methodology involved selecting four case studies from three Smithsonian museums and proposing a workflow for the digital reconstruction of each artwork. I utilized photogrammetry and solid geometric modeling techniques to create accurate and detailed models. 

By collaborating with different museums of the Smithsonian Institution, I was able to implement 3D documentation methods across these four case studies: Electronic Superhighway: Continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii by Nam June Paik (1995), Cloud Music by Robert Watts, David Behrman, and Bob Diamond (1974–1979) from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Four Talks by Laurie Anderson from the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, and An Atlas by Es Devlin from the Cooper Hewitt Museum. Each of these artworks presents distinct challenges, from their creation and exhibition to their installation and long-term preservation, providing a diverse range of technical insights. 

Based on the analysis of these case studies, I developed a guide that compiles strategies and workflows for 3D documentation of TBMA. The guide addresses the selection of scanning tools, image-based 3D reconstructions tools, the processing of 3D models, metadata management, and key questions to adapt these techniques to different types of installations. It also includes recommendations for implementing this type of documentation in other settings and for other artworks that share complex technological features. 

3D documentation complements existing traditional methods and is especially useful in installations that integrate multiple components, both audiovisual and sculptural. It also provides a deeper technical understanding of specialized equipment and complex systems, facilitating decision-making during installation, iteration, and technological change during the artwork's life. Adding animations to the 3D models offers a visual and interactive experience that can be helpful for preserving and restoring TBMA.

Bartolomeo Vivarini’s 1485 monumental altarpiece Virgin and the Dead Christ with the Ascension and Saints consists of a central polychrome sculpture surrounded by nine panel paintings all enclosed in the original ornate gilded frame. It is signed on the base of the Pietà: FACTVM VENETIIS PER BARTOLOMEVM VIVARINVM DE MVRIANO PINXIT 1485 (“Made in Venice by Bartolomeo Vivarini of Murano he painted it 1485”). Though the altarpiece was dismantled when it was removed from its original location in current-day Croatia in 1876, it is believed to be a completely intact work. The work has been in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA) since 1901, with the various elements receiving different degrees of treatment over the past century. As a result of this uneven treatment history, the altarpiece has never read as a unified work of art. 

A major collaborative conservation treatment, supported by technical and scientific research, was carried out between 2018-2024 with the aim of finally bringing all the elements of the altarpiece into a cohesive whole. This presentation explores the ways in which distinct conservation specialties approached the treatment working in tandem with our research scientists and curators. 

Each element of the altarpiece was documented and examined thoroughly using techniques such as X-radiography, UV fluorescence, and infrared reflectography. The structure of the Pietà was investigated with CT-scanning at Massachusetts General Hospital. The materials (pigments, varnishes, gilding) were analyzed to better understand their composition and determine if the same materials were used consistently throughout, using methods including optical microscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray fluorescence, Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy.

Structural work was carried out on all the elements to stabilize splitting or cracking of the wooden substrates and strengthen areas of insect damage.  Some of the panels were sent to the Metropolitan Museum of Art Paintings Conservation Studio for more specialized treatment.  

Treatment was carried out simultaneously in the Paintings, Objects, and Frame Conservation studios, all of which are now in proximity, along with the Conservation Science department, in the MFA’s newly renovated Conservation Center. At several points in the treatment process the various parts of the altarpiece were brought together and reviewed with the entire team, including curatorial colleagues, to make sure that the levels of first cleaning and then compensation remained consistent. As treatment progressed, previously unnoticed or obscured details shared by the different pieces emerged, highlighting the complementary relationship among painting, sculpture, and frame. These visual cues were bolstered by the results of scientific analysis, which more firmly tied the works together. 

This project, completed in the spring of this year (2024), was an exciting opportunity for many of the divisions of the Conservation Department to collaborate on treatment and analysis. It led to fruitful exchanges of methods and different uses of materials and has built a framework for more collaborative treatment projects in the future.

Beginning with his Nocturnes, Whistler began diluting his oil paint with a secondary medium he referred to as his “sauce.” Such a fluid medium allowed the artist to work wet-in-wet, and facilitated scraping, rubbing, and scumbling. While there are primary source references to copal being used in his “sauce,” there have been no technical studies that have identified copal as an ingredient that Whistler employed. In the 1980s and 1990s, Stephen Hackney and Joyce Townsend collaborated on a series of technical studies on paintings by Whistler in the Tate, National Gallery of Art, and Hunterian Art Gallery, among others. Their research did not find any evidence of copal, instead determined that turpentine and mastic varnish were added to the oil paint to create the sauce.

The four Nocturnes in the Harvard Art Museums’ collection (1943.171, 1943.172, 1943.173 and 1943.176) were completed over the course of the 1870s. The paintings are significantly understudied, largely due to their inclusion in the Winthrop collection, which stipulates their continuous display in the galleries and prevents their travel. The closure of the museum during the pandemic provided a rare opportunity to study the paintings. This research aimed to contribute up-to-date material analysis to compare with primary sources and build on the work of both Hackney and Townsend.

A small set of samples were taken from each painting and were either prepared as a cross-section or analyzed by thermally assisted hydrolysis and methylation pyrolysis-gas chromatography mass spectrometry. A comparison of the data has revealed some insight into Whistler’s painting materials and technique for this set of paintings. In darker compositions (1943.171 and 1943.173) multiple layers of media rich paint, some of which were unpigmented and all varying in thickness, were applied. This is in contrast to lighter compositions (or areas, 1943.172 and 1943.176) where single, relatively thick, pigment rich layers were applied. In these layers the addition of organic media was observed, in patches or waves, suggesting incomplete mixing. Pinaceae resin, may at the very least be suggested to be part of Whistler’s ‘sauce’ based on the analysis conducted here. Using written accounts as a guide the use of turpentine could be suggested, which would result in a more fluid paint medium which is a characteristic of Whistler’s paint. Analysis also suggests the recipe for Whistler’s sauce was not fixed, with evidence found for the incorporation of bleached shellac (1943.171) and perhaps mastic (1943.172) into the paint in some but not all of the nocturnes.

The Art Museums of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation display exquisite examples of needlework, but not every textile in the collection is expertly crafted and beautifully finished. A recent exhibition titled The Art of the Quilterpresented the opportunity to showcase three such pieces ambitious projects that ultimately entered the Foundations collection as UFOs (unfinished objects). The gallery in which large scale, flat textiles are generally displayed consists of large wall cases fitted with slanted boards of medium-density fiberboard (MDF) encapsulated with Marvelseal and covered in dark polyester show fabric. Textiles have previously been hung with headers of hook-side Velcro stitched along the top back edge of the object. The hook Velcro marries well with the coarse, napped show fabric, eliminating the need for custom loop-side Velcro hanging mechanisms. This allows for expedient rotation of objects and offers tremendous flexibility during installation but significantly limits mounting options beyond the traditional Velcro header, a system that is not suitable for all textiles.The three UFOs each required a different approach. A group of 25 appliqud quilt blocks, all square but varying in size, were mounted in the lab before installation. Individual padded boards were created for each block and the textiles were secured with entomological pins. Each padded board was fitted with Velcro tabs on the back, and installation required tiling the boards together on the slant board within the case. To mount 45 fragments of an unfinished pieced-over-paper hexagon quilt top, heavily modified Velcro headers marked with the corresponding accession number were secured with pins to 41 of the fragments. The four remaining fragments were pin-mounted to a single padded board. The fragments were positioned to imply the intended spacing if the quilt had been completed. The third UFO consists of 20th century printed tobacco pouches pieced into a quilt top, many of which retain fragments of paper tax stamps. The lightweight nature of the object and the fragility of the paper fragments limited options for stitching or pinning into the object, so rare earth magnets were used to secure the object to a custom header that included a ferrous metal bar. The magnets were covered and toned to match the textile, and the header was constructed to both facilitate mounting and provide protection and support to the object. These objects, never completed by their makers for whatever reason, provide valuable insight into the art of quilt making. Details that would have been removed or obscured in the final construction, like repurposed pieces of paper or differing bobbin and top thread colors, shed light on the context in which these objects were created and tell the story of their makers. Creative modifications to existing gallery casework and infrastructure allowed for these non-traditional quilts to be safely displayed and ethical considerations about the display of the fragments necessitated collaboration with curators and exhibition designers to strike a balance between honoring the original intent of the maker and expanding visitors' understanding of the art of quilting.

From May 2019 through December 2024, 201 ancient objects from the island of Cyprus were examined, documented, and treated in preparation for permanent installation in The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art. From 2020 onward, this conservation effort was led by Conservator of Sculpture and Decorative Arts Emily Brown, collaborating with guest curator and Cypriot specialist Joanna Smith and private conservator Dimitra Pantoulia. Along with her own treatments, Emily delegated and managed the majority of this treatment, which was completed by four other conservators working in close collaboration: The Ringling Kress Conservation Fellow Tara Johnston, Objects Conservator Dimitra Pantoulia, and RLA Conservation conservators Elena Bowen and Krista Vaughn. After a brief introduction to the collection and conservation history of The Ringling’s ancient collection, this presentation will focus on an overview of the collaborative treatment methodology applied to the 201 objects prepared for permanent display. Material types included limestone, ceramics and terracotta, bronze and precious metals, glass, and gemstones. The talk will include case studies for several treated objects and conclude with a brief post-mortem reflection on the treatment approach, including both successes and lessons learned.

The Transfer Data Trust project exemplifies the power of collaboration in addressing the critical challenge of preserving born-digital artworks. This innovative initiative brings together six time-based media conservators, two developers, five pioneering digital artists, and the founder of TRANSFER Gallery to create an open-source system architecture and toolkit for a webring of artist-owned repositories. Initially focused on a decade of digital art exhibitions from TRANSFER Gallery (2013-2023), the project aims to develop a scalable model that any artist, institution, or collective can adopt to establish private networks of redundant storage for the long-term preservation of digital cultural heritage.

The importance of this project lies in its novel approach to tackling persistent problems in digital art conservation: obsolescence and long-term sustainability through distributed storage. By involving artist studios directly in the preservation process and combining the knowledge of conservators, technologists, and curators, we're exploring how interdisciplinary collaborations and cooperative stewardship can reshape our approach to media art preservation in the 21st century. This project is particularly significant as it addresses the urgent need for innovative preservation strategies outside of museums. 

Our methodology, co-designed by this diverse team, combines conservation practices with innovative technology. The first year will include condition assessment and documentation of 15+ international art series, development of a redundant storage network across international artist studios, implementation of content-addressed versioned file storage, creation of detailed metadata schemas, and establishment of a time-banking system for pooling conservation expertise. The project's initial phase focuses on the works of five pioneering digital artists: Carla Gannis, Lorna Mills, Huntrezz Janos, Eva Papamargariti, and Rosa Menkman. Their diverse practices, ranging from glitch art to complex virtual environments, offer a rich testbed for our collaborative preservation strategies. Artists have been paired with many conservators involved in the Electronic Media Group at AIC including Sasha Arden (Guggenheim Museum), Eddy Colloton (previously Denver Art Museum and Hirshhorn Museum), Taylor Healy (The Art Institute of Chicago), Regina Harsanyi (Museum of the Moving Image), and Claudia Roeck (Haus der Elektronischen Künste).

Preliminary results from our prototype phase are promising. We have successfully set up a private network between network-attached storage drives in each artist studio and organized artist projects into artist information packages stored redundantly across the network. We've developed a standardized condition reporting template for born-digital artworks that is adaptable to various media types. A user-friendly interface for artists to manage their repositories has been created by Ryan Betts and Andrew Vivash, empowering them in the preservation process. Additionally, we've established partnerships with organizations like Gray Area Foundation and NYU Tandon School of Engineering, expanding our collaborative network. The project's significance has been recognized with funding from the Knight Foundation's Tech Expansion Fund, supporting our ongoing research and development.

Our findings suggest that this collaborative, distributed network approach can significantly extend the lifespan of digital artworks by reducing reliance on centralized storage and starting the documentation process much earlier in the lifecycle of these artworks. It empowers artists to participate actively in the long-term preservation of their work, facilitates more efficient sharing of conservation resources and expertise across institutions, and provides a scalable, open-source model for others to establish their own distributed repositories. Importantly, it has the potential to shift the artist's relationship to equity in their work, reminiscent of the historic Artist's Reserved Rights Transfer and Sale Agreement of the 1970s, but updated for the digital age.

This project contributes to the field of conservation by demonstrating how collaborative, interdisciplinary efforts can produce practical, scalable solutions for digital art preservation. By open-sourcing our methodologies and tools, we aim to benefit the broader artistic community and advance the field of time-based media art conservation. It challenges us to rethink traditional conservation roles and institutional boundaries.

Dendrochronology is a method of dating the age of wood, based on the measurement of tree ring widths followed by statistical comparison with master chronologies. Dendrochronology is used widely in the study and authentication of artworks, particularly furniture, panel paintings, and sculptures. In traditional dendrochronology this involves destructive surface preparation, macro photography, and manual ring counting. On painted surfaces or inlaid panels however, the tree rings are often not accessible to retrieve this information. X-ray imaging has therefore been used with success to obtain virtual cross-sections of objects without invasive methods. A proven method is CT scanning, which provides a three-dimensional image of the object, which can be virtually 'sliced' to obtain images of the tree rings. Recently, fast digital radiography detectors with high resolution have become available that can be combined with commercially available digital turntables to rapidly generate large numbers of radiographs of a single object at fixed angular increments. With these, it is now possible to generate full X-ray tomographic reconstructions (CT scans) using equipment available in many museum radiography laboratories. This eliminates the need for dedicated CT equipment or the transport of artworks to specialized facilities. 

 

Large flat panels of wood, such as those used in furniture and panel paintings, pose difficult problems for conventional tomography because it can be difficult or impossible to rotate the entire panel within the field of view, and because the thickness of wood presented to the X-ray beam varies so dramatically as it is rotated.

 

In this presentation, we will present a solution to the challenge of large panels by obtaining X-ray images in a limited angular range. The resulting tomographic reconstruction has lower resolution in depth, but tree rings are still clearly resolved. The creation of a full 3D reconstruction means that obscuring elements such as marquetry, paint, and cradles can be virtually stripped away. We take an extra step by then using imaging processing methods to automatically measure the tree rings along the full 3D volume, thus averaging thousands of measurements and yielding precise and robust measurements. This method was developed using only the in-house X-ray imaging equipment of the J. Paul Getty Museum – which consists of a digital detector and a simple computer-controlled turntable. We demonstrate the method and prove that it works on test planks first. The obtained measurements are compared to traditional measurements made by three dendrochronologists. We then continue to apply the method on a case study object from the J. Paul Getty Museum. This method should allow many more artworks and architectural elements to be dated by dendrochronology than ever before.

 

We combine the expertise of dendrochronologists, conservators, X-ray scientists and computer scientists in a highly interdisciplinary project. The project is a collaboration between the J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles) and the Center for Mathematics and Computer Science (Amsterdam).

The Courtauld Gallery’s version of Edouard Manet’s iconic painting Le Déjeuner sur l’Herbe is perplexing. It has long been thought to be a copy created after the iconic large-scale French masterpiece of the same title; a work described as a founding moment of modern art by the last great old master. The Courtauld’s smaller work, painted “in a curiously harsh and hasty style” (Wilson-Bareau, 1986), and the large Musee d’Orsay canvas has long been a subject of scholarly debate. The Courtauld canvas has indeed been considered to be a preparatory sketch, a later replica of the d’Orsay version, or even a copy by a later hand



This Courtauld “sketch” was purported to have been commissioned by a close friend of Manet, Commandant Hippolyte Lejosne. However, according to the Gallery archival records the Courtauld painting was understood to be a gift from the artist to his friend.  Following the Commandant’s death, the Lejosne family (of Maison-Lafitte) approached the Galerie Duret, one of Manet’s key dealers in Paris, who took the work on commission. In June 1928, the small sketch was brought to the attention of Samuel Courtauld by his principal art advisor and top London art dealer, Percy Moore Turner. Mr. Courtauld purchased the painting, and later, in 1932, bequeathed it to the newly formed Courtauld Gallery



Although signed by Manet in the lower left, scholarly debate has also extended beyond the painting function and onto questions over attribution. Much has been written about the narrative and symbolic meaning behind the making Le Déjeuner sur l’Herbe but the ambiguous status of the Courtauld work is in no small part due to the fact that the painting had not the focus of a materials investigation, nor had it been painting treated in the Courtauld Conservation studio for over four decades. Now, after an in-depth material investigation and the full conservation treatment this paper endeavours to explore the relationship of the Courtuald’s painting to the largescale signature work housed in the collection of the Musee d’Orsay.

This paper is a typical collaborative story between art history, science and conservation. Working closely with the curator, the conservator and the conservation scientist considered the painting materials and artistic working practice in an attempt to shed new light on the meaning behind the making of Courtauld’s version of Manet’s iconic work. Using new techniques, such as macro-XRF scanning and steadfast archival research methods, it hopes to propose a possible chronology by looking at the notions of the artist’s sketches, working as well as later copies and finally look at the possibility of replicating by another hand.

This paper will highlight conservation activities that are part of Paisajes Arqueológicos de Pañamarca (Archaeological Landscapes of Pañamarca), a multidisciplinary and multiyear archaeological research project in northern Peru’s Nepeña Valley. Pañamarca was one of the most important monumental Moche centers during the Late Moche period (ca. 600-800 CE). The adobe site is best known for its polychrome wall paintings that depict mythological iconography and human ritual activity. Conservation of the immovable elements of the site, especially the wall paintings, has been a priority since excavations by members of the current team began in 2010. The project expanded in scope and capacity before the 2023 season with funding from the Avenir Conservation Center of the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. This expansion included the addition of more conservation staff and an enhanced focus on objects conservation and materials analysis. The excellent preservation environment at the site means that small finds are plentiful and span a range of materials, from sections of woven plant material to copper alloys. These small finds help to provide a more holistic sense of the archaeological spaces and the wall paintings that embellish the surrounding surfaces. This paper will provide an overview of how objects conservation has developed over two field seasons since 2023 at the site. To date, objects conservation has included both preventive and interventive activities; the paper will highlight examples of both, as well as some of the unique opportunities and challenges the project provides. Materials characterization has emerged as another area of focus for the project. Characterizing the paint palette for the site’s wall paintings exposed during excavation began with in situ analysis with portable X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometry. Further analysis with polarized light microscopy (PLM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) has started on samples removed and exported from the site. Objects conservation and materials characterization will help to situate the materials and methods of production encountered at Pañamarca within the broader Moche world.

The recent conservation treatment of a fifteenth-century Spanish altarpiece at the Conservation Center of the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University provided an opportunity to explore aspects of collaboration past and present. In this talk we will share recent research on the materials, techniques, and workshop practices of the Saint John the Baptist altarpiece (ca. 1415-20), a fragmentarily preserved retable attributed to the Aragonese painter Blasco de Grañén and now in the collection of the San Diego Museum of Art. The surviving panels of what was once a larger structure include a monumental central depiction of John the Baptist flanked by four scenes from the saint’s life. The treatment of the painting presented the opportunity for its examination, which was carried out using an array of techniques including binocular microscopy, x-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF), infrared reflectography, x-radiography, cross-sections, scanning electron microscopy (SEM-EDX), and Raman spectroscopy. Physical and stylistic aspects suggested aspects of cooperation within the Zaragosa workshop and offered information on the retable’s original construction and its conservation history. Salient features of the painting’s facture include its freely incised preparatory drawing and its innovative use of metal leaf in the rendering of textiles. It shows both similarities and differences with contemporary art in Spain and Italy. Through this research, we contribute to the still-understudied field of fifteenth-century Spanish and especially Aragonese painting; though a few publications have appeared recently, there is little information on the methods of many important workshops, nor on the commonalities and variations in the period’s artistic practice.

The treatment and technical study of the five panels was carried out within the Kress Program in Paintings Conservation at the Conservation Center by four students and one instructor and under the guidance of additional colleagues. The project provided an opportunity to work together as a group to examine and treat a large composite object; to coordinate, in both cleaning and retouching, the unified presentation of an array of panels in different conditions; and to collaborate in scientific investigation and writing. The talk will hence also reflect upon that experience within an educational context. It will sketch the division of research by subject and summarize the discussions and challenges that arose through the processes of restoration and scholarship. The desideratum of collaboration brought a heightened awareness of the painting’s original materials and our own conservation methods, as this fragmentary object presented many variations in condition and even in response to the same treatment steps. With its numerous, coordinated moving parts and apprenticeship-like structure, this project created a kind of modern analogue to the traditional workshop in which the retable was made.

Red-figure pottery is a type of ancient Greek ceramic that originated in Athens in the later 6th century B.C. It typically features decoration in diluted clay slip that turns black after firing and is painted on a clay body that appears reddish orange. This kind of ware was used in daily life, dedicated in sanctuaries, and placed in tombs. The “red” areas contain hematite (Fe2O3), and the black background contains magnetite (Fe3O4) and hercynite (FeAl2O4). The red and black designs of Attic pottery have been shown to result from a complex firing process involving cycles of oxidation, reduction, and reoxidation. Initially, fine-grained red hematite is reduced to a dense, vitrified layer of black magnetite and hercynite, which resists reoxidation. In the final oxidation step, only the coarse-grained, porous ceramic body reoxidizes to red hematite, creating a sharp contrast between the red figures and the glossy black background (1–3).  

The Harvard Art Museums house an impressive collection of Athenian red-figure pottery. This includes the focus of this study, the so-called Bouzyges krater (1960.345), a 5th century B.C. mixing bowl for wine and water, named after the protagonist of the mythological scene depicted on its front. Although there are areas of well-preserved red-figure decoration on the krater, other areas display various levels of discoloration. The pronounced differences between adjacent sherds suggest that some alterations occurred after the vessel was broken, likely due to its involvement in a cremation burial. In such burials, ceramic vessels, often used as grave goods, were likely thrown onto the pyre and then swept into the burial, leading to the discoloration seen on the krater. Funeral pyres can reach temperatures up to 1000 ⁰C, creating a partly reducing environment due to the evolution of carbon monoxide and dioxide from burning bodies (4). It is to be expected that the temperature and oxidation/reducing environment will vary across the pyre, causing the broken fragments to display different degrees of discoloration. On some fragments, the red ceramic is altered into grey due to the reduction of hematite. On others, the black gloss is partially altered into red, suggesting high-temperature oxidation of the iron oxides occurred in areas of the fire where oxygen was more abundant.  

The disassembly of this vessel as part of its conservation treatment provides an ideal opportunity to study the krater, shedding light on the high-temperature material changes observed from the surface of the slip to the bulk of the ceramic. Using techniques such as SEM-EDS, X-ray diffraction, Raman, and FTIR spectroscopy, this material study will be important for the conservation of similar ceremonial vessels, furthering our understanding of their involvement in ritualistic practices. 

References 

1. R. Jones, Adv. Archaeomaterials. 2, 67–127 (2021). 

2. M. Walton et al., J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 96, 2031–2035 (2013). 

3. S. Balachandran, Arts. 8, 70 (2019). 

4. M. S. Walton, M. Svoboda, A. Mehta, S. Webb, K. Trentelman, J. Archaeol. Sci. 37, 936–940 (2010).