AIC's 53rd Annual Meeting

The exhibition New African Masquerades: Artistic Innovations and Collaborations will open at the New Orleans Museum of Art in April 2025. Five masquerade ensembles were mounted in 2024 in preparation for this exhibition, a challenge with no mountmaker on staff. This paper will detail the construction of the posable figural supports, made with aluminum tubing and locking hinges, and the decision-making across roles and continents that led to this design strategy.The exhibition aims to model more ethical ways to collect and display African art through direct commissioning rather than secondary market acquisitions, and collaborative presentation, emphasizing the ability of Africans to tell their own stories. To accomplish this, a team of eight people was assembledthree masquerade artists from Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Burkina Faso, three American scholars, each with a longstanding research relationship with one of the masquerade artists, another artist/researcher from Cameroon, a research director of a museum in Senegal, and a curatorial assistant from Ethiopia.This team agreed that it was important for the display to reflect the liveliness of masquerade practice, and the physicality of the bodies inside the ensembles. Countering the history of Western museums displaying just the headpieces as abstract sculptures rather than full body suits worn by humans, the appearance of the bodies in New African Masquerades would impact viewer interpretation, and therefore their fabrication presented a variety of potential pitfalls.Specific poses were requested that standard retail mannequins could not provide. The ensembles weight and the five-venue schedule called for strength and durability. Shelly Uhlirs mounts for the NMAIs exhibition Circle of Danceprovided both conceptual inspiration and a specific product that became critical to the project: a click-adjustable aluminum hinge. These allowed the construction of strong supports without welding for asymmetrical, naturalistic poses, with the added benefit of being partially adjustable even during installationinvaluable with a curatorial team of nine.Because of the artists preference for realism, the exposed hands and feet were cast in epoxy and painted brown. The weighty history of museum displays of Black bodies has been previously discussed, notably by Stephenson and Gunsch, and the appropriate degree of realism as well as the color was carefully considered by the team.Also presented will be lessons learned while installing with the full curatorial team, all nine of whom are planned to be present at NOMA, and the practicalities and ethics of the removal of original material required by the artists to meet their standards of beauty in display.

Charged with preparing for the first comprehensive exhibition of the Gorham Collection of American silver since 1984, the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) museum embarked on a volunteer-based “mass” conservation project. This Decorative Arts collectionis comprised of over 2,000 pieces and represents the largest holdings of Gorham in any museum collection. Dating from 1831-1981, the Gorham silver manufacturing company from Providence, Rhode Island, grew to be a substantial player in both the commercial market as well as the innovative art wares category. As theGorham Manufacturing Companyand the RISD Museum share the same town of origin, this particular conservation project resonated with much of the local community in a variety of unique ways. Three years in advance of the opening of the 2019 exhibition“Designing Innovation: The Gorham Manufacturing Company 1850-1970”, the cleaning, polishing and stabilizing of the silver commenced. As the quantity of sterling silver objects proposed for display numbered 1250, an equally large number of vetted, and trainable, volunteers was needed to undertake such an ambitious conservation project. This conservation project ultimately involved managing 90 community and student volunteers. As Providence is comprised of many institutions of higher learning, a significant level of student participation could be incorporated into this hands-on project. A short video (Silver Linings, www.risdmuseum.org) was created mid-way through this project to highlight five particular students, each traveling on a different educational path, who chose to dedicate their unstructured time to this collaborative project.“Designing Innovation: The Gorham Manufacturing Company 1850-1970”was designed as a traveling exhibition. By harnessing the talent of graduate level students in theJewelry + Metalsmithing Department at RISD,an illustrated visual glossary for condition reporting was created which proved to be a unique and symbiotic learning opportunity for both the conservator and young, emerging fine art students. This illustrated silver digital reference was collaboratively further refined in tandem with the museum’s registration department so that all of the terminology was composed of well-defined and non-ambiguous definitions to avoid any potential misinterpretation of condition issues during the duration of the exhibition. An additional academic opportunity presented itself for a capstone senior thesis project, focusing on a proprietary conservation material, was also another symbiotic educational oppportunity for reciprocal learning that benefited both the student and the museum.A highly collaborative project, the synergy created by a museum conservator working with a wide range of community volunteers was mutually beneficial in many creative ways. This paper will examine the ways in which a complex conservation project with a limited budget and staff can be organized and managed. Discussion will include the many creative interactions that resulted from the fusion of individuals with wide-ranging expertise from the Providence community. Creating a symbiotic working environment in which 90 untrained conservation volunteers could be identified and retained will be explored. Most importantly, the management of this conservation project required critical focus on training non-conservation professionals to use conservation protocols which were straightforward in interpretation and application.

The collection of King Tutankhamun (18th Dynasty, 1347–1337 BCE) has fascinated scientists and the general public since the discovery of his spectacular tomb in 1922 by the archaeologist Howard Carter. After the opening of the tomb, Howard Carter mentioned that Tutankhamun's tomb was robbed and the robbers destroyed many objects during the robbery; at least two boxes found dismantled in the entrance debris seem to have been employed by the robbers to carry off their loot. Alfred Lucas completed the restoration of Tutankhamun's collection in 1932, subsequently transferring almost all of the Tutankhamun objects to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Only a few objects were kept in the Luxor museum storeroom. In recent years, the Grand Egyptian Museum's conservation center (GEM.CC) has been devoted to the transportation and conservation of Tutankhamun's collection to be exhibited at the new museum (GEM). This study presents the role of conservation along with the archaeological data and scientific investigation at GEM.CC in the rediscovery and assembly of some broken painted wooden boxes from Tutankhamun's tomb after 95 years of keeping these parts separately in different museums.

After surveying the wooden boxes of Tutankhamun to gather more information on these boxes as a first step in our study, the second step included imaging techniques and optical microscopy to gather more information and to provide evidence on the techniques of manufacture, woodworking and identification of wood species. In the third step of our work, hand-held X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) were applied to determine the chemical compositions of the materials used in preparatory layers and the pigments.

The results of the collaborative approach led to the exciting rediscovery of three wooden boxes from Tutankhamun's collection. The work team succeeded in the assembly of more than 96 wooden pieces (like puzzles), most surprisingly discovering that these broken parts were originally two wooden boxes. Moreover, the work team succeeded in rediscovering and assembling a complete wooden box belonging to the royal family of King Tutankhamun inscribed with the names of Akhenaton and Smenkh-ka-re, which came to light for the first time after many years of keeping its parts separately in different places.

The protocols and decision-making procedures during the collaboration of conservators, curators, and scientists were successfully effective not only in rediscovering and assembling three wooden boxes but also in their display method inside Tut Gallery at the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM).

Since its introduction to the field of heritage conservation by Stephen Koob in 1986, Acryloid B-72 has been used extensively for coating, consolidating, and adhering a wide range of materials. Revisited in 2018 for the AIC Objects Specialty Group, the recommended formulations of Acryloid B-72 include small amounts (0.1 weight % or 1 teaspoon) of hydrophobic fumed silica. This addition is stated to improve rheological and working properties, such as flow, film formation, and evaporation rate. Fumed silica is a commercially produced, low density, high surface area particulate agglomerate of silica nanoparticles. The resin and fumed silica mixture is, therefore, a polymer-nanoparticle composite. Since the mid-1990’s research in polymer physics has demonstrated how adding tiny amounts of nanoparticles can cause large improvements in polymer properties resulting from the high interfacial area between polymer and nanoparticles. One of the characteristic features of polymer-nanoparticle composites is the increased strength imparted by very small amounts of nanoparticles. Research undertaken by the Physics Department and Carlos Museum at Emory University quantified the increase in strength relative to the amount of fumed silica in Acryloid B-72 mixtures.   Recalling Koob’s original tests with glass slides, we built an apparatus to measure the weight tolerance of joins made to glass rods with different formulations of Acryloid B-72 and fumed silica. The resulting data demonstrate the appreciable increase in strength, a near doubling, accomplished by adding fumed silica to the resin and suggest an optimal percentage for maximum strength. Further testing evaluated the sheer strength of joined ceramic sherds, comparing neat resin, Koob’s mixture, and the optimal percentage derived from strength testing. Practical application reflects the capacity to use lower resin concentrations, allowing better penetration into cracks and voids, while still accomplishing joint strength due to the behavior of the polymer-nanoparticle composite.

In addition to summarizing the strength testing results for B-72 and fumed silica mixtures, this presentation considers the collaboration between student, professor, and conservators that enabled the research. An undergraduate physics major undertook the strength testing as an honors thesis project. The research of the faculty advisor focuses on soft matter physics, including how interfaces between components in polymer systems affect the physical properties and system dynamics. Her research group of graduate and undergraduate students develops experimental methods to understand the behavior of polymers and study the effects of temperature, mechanical forces, and other influences, such as particle interfaces. Conservators at Emory University’s Michael C. Carlos Museum provided insight into field practice and offered input on experimental design. Conservators also evaluated the experimental results for their practical impact on application and use of the polymer-nanoparticle composites, conducting trials with mock-ups and artifacts. This sort of fundamental characterization of treatment materials can be difficult to accomplish in small conservation labs that are principally tasked with preventive collections care and exhibition-driven object interventions. Recognizing the opportunity of collaboration and developing the research as a student project are productive strategies. This project was also useful preparation for the student, who went on to pursue graduate work in materials science.

The degradation mechanisms of natural rubber have been studied extensively. At present, there is no known protocol for reversing, or even stopping, the degradation. This problematic material is prevalent throughout the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum’s (NASM) collection. One collection subset of concern is the foam rubber face pads on aviator goggles, dating from the 1910’s to the 1970’s. NASM has over 80 artifacts that fall into this subset. As foam rubber ages, it frequently requires intervention if loss of original material is to be avoided. Such interventions typically require introducing adhesives but the long-term impacts of using adhesives on degraded rubber are underexplored. This research project was designed to investigate the impacts of consolidating degraded natural rubber. The first phase of the project establishes a working definition of “natural rubber” and “consolidation” based on an extensive literature review. The second phase of the project includes testing of a variety of consolidants on foamed rubber samples. Currently, tests are being conducted to determine the efficacy of mixtures of isinglass and methylcellulose for use as a consolidant in both liquid and foam applications. The final phase of this project will include treatment of foam rubber face pads from multiple pairs of NASM’s aviator goggles. While exploratory, the treatment is backed by extensive research and testing and aims to offer a viable protocol for consolidation of degraded rubber.

Bulked B-72 fills are a popular choice for conservators working with objects made of stone, ceramics, and plaster. Depending on the concentration of resin, choice of bulking agent, and working methods, bulked B-72 fills provide versatility of purpose that can range from structural to aesthetic. However, many conservators struggle with the material. This practical talk will cover long-refined methods for making the adhesive resin, provide suggestions for bulking materials, and show how to mix, knead, lay the material into the loss, and shape the fills. Making fills for dark stones as well as translucent marble will be illustrated with the use of detailed videos.

The Linklater/Warren canoe is considered to be the last indigenous object related to Isle Royale National Park. The canoe is an interesting style; mixing traditional Ojibwe birchbark canoe techniques with the early 20th century trend of canvas covered canoes. The canoe was built by John and Tchi-Ki-Wis Linklater, “the last Native Americans to live and work on Isle Royale” before the park designation. John Linklater worked as a guide for Frank Warren, a mining engineer from Minneapolis who was a champion of establishing Isle Royale as a national park in the 1920s. It is unclear if the canoe was made on the island for the specific use of guiding the Warrens, or if it was brought from Minnesota, and later purchased by Frank Warren. It is a “long-nose Ojibwe” canoe, which was common for border lakes Anishinaabeg. However, instead of traditional pitched edges to the bark, the entire canoe was wrapped in a green canvas that was nailed under the gunnels. Wood and canvas canoes were common in the 1910s and 1920s, suggesting an active aesthetic choice in the material, possibly made by the Warrens.

The canoe was given to the National Park Service in 1971. It was described when cataloged in 1983 in similar condition to that prior to treatment, with heavily soiled peeling canvas, the lack of two black ash thwarts, and damage to lashings and birchbark structure.   

To ensure work was undertaken with the respect for the object’s indigenous history, we conducted an outreach session with Ojibwe representatives from Grand Portage. 

We treated the canoe to reduce the embedded soiling throughout the canoe, and to stabilize loose components, preventing future loss. Furthermore, discussions with current canoe builders were undertaken in order to ensure the further stabilization of the canoe by creating replacement thwarts. Following input from park staff to determine interpretation needs, we performed additional treatment to compensate for losses and create a visually cohesive canoe, retaining signs of use as part of the park’s overall history. 

The techniques used to compensate for losses in the canvas were pulled from those used by paintings conservators: spun bond polyester and BEVA 371 linings, and  book and paper conservators: textured Japanese paper fills, in which a silicone mold is made of a similarly textured surface and acrylic paint is used to create a cast of texture, which can then be easily applied to Japanese paper, or used without as a thin film which can be heat set into place. 

The combination of these techniques allowed for a cohesive appearance for the canoe, whilst still retaining reversibility as a core tenement, and provides an additional tool in the object conservator’s toolbox for mimicking original surfaces.

Founded in 1975, the Minneapolis American Indian Center is one of the oldest urban American Indian community centers in the country, providing educational and social services for a large and tribally diverse Native American community in the metropolitan area. As the building was being constructed, artist George Morrison (Grand Portage Ojibwe) was commissioned to design a mural for the south side of the building: the monumental artwork has remained an integral part of the Minneapolis American Indian Center façade for nearly 50 years. Primarily composed of over 800 Western Red Cedar boards of various lengths, the boards are assembled to create a repeating chevron and morning star motif.  Never officially given a title, Morrison once suggested calling the mural “Turning the Feather Around: A Mural for the Indian”.

In fall 2022, the Center began a major renovation to upgrade and expand the facility, which reopened to the public in May 2024. As part of the expansion, Midwest Art Conservation Center (MACC) was contracted to remove, conserve, and reinstall the mural in a new location on the renovated building façade, a location that was both more visible to the community and more exposed to weathering and wet/dry cycling. This was not a project MACC would (or should) take on alone. Collaboration was essential to make the project successful.

MACC partnered with Wolf Magritte, a design, fabrication and installation firm for complex works of art, to carry out the project. Project technicians were hired from the local community of Native artists to work alongside MACC and Wolf Magritte. The technicians were a great asset to the team, as they shared stories and history of the local Native community and acted as ambassadors of the project within the neighborhood. Most importantly however, was the collaboration and communication between the Executive Director of the Center, Mary LaGarde (White Earth Nation), architectural design teams, led by Sam Olbekson (White Earth Nation), Loeffler Construction, and other stakeholders that was crucial to inform complex decisions about the mural’s new location and proposed preservation methods. This paper will provide an overview of the Mural’s conservation, with an emphasis on creative design solutions for reinstallation and treatment decisions based on sustainable long-term care.

X-radiography has been used since its invention to study works of art. X-rays of complex three-dimensional objects, such as sculpture, are notoriously difficult to interpret because the X-ray ‘flattens’ the object into two dimensions and there is no easy way to tell if an observed feature is near the front, middle, or back.

The advent of direct digital radiography (DR) has allowed x-ray images to be acquired more rapidly and efficiently than ever before. The availability of relatively inexpensive computer-controlled turntables for the photography market has precise and repeatable rotation of artworks in the X-ray studio. By placing sculptures on a turntable and making a series of high-resolution radiographs at pre-set intervals (typically 72 images at 5° intervals), we allow researchers and other viewers to see the entire sequence of images and freely ‘spin’ the objects in X-ray view. This helps tremendously in understanding complex internal structures. After radiography is complete, a digital camera can placed in the position of the X-ray source and photographs can be made at precisely the same intervals as the radiographs. This image set can be overlaid or placed side by side with the radiographs to further assist with interpretation of the radiographs.

Many sculptures or other 3D works of art are larger than a typical DR detector (14"x14" or 11"x17") We have designed and built a flexible and low-cost aluminum easel that allows the detector to be repositioned after each 360° rotation of the turntable. With the X-ray tube in the same position, the detector can be placed in an array of positions so that the entire object can be imaged in overlapping frames. For each detector position, the turntable rotates the subject through exactly the same series of positions, capturing an image at each. This process is easily automated using a two-monitor configuration for the control computer and simple task automation software. The resulting image sequences can be merged efficiently using movie editing software such as Adobe After Effects, yielding a single sequence of full-sized, high-resolution radiographs at regular angular increments.

Viewing and disseminating these radiography-in-the-round image sets presents certain challenges. Some product photography software can generate an interactive, browser-based viewer that allows the viewer to spin the image set and switch between X-ray and visible views but zooming can be awkward and slow refresh rate can be frustrating, particularly with large composite radiographs. A customized and optimized web-based viewer has been developed to overcome these obstacles and allow streamlined dissemination of radiography-in-the-round image sets.

Taken together, these developments should allow any museum radiography studio with a DR detector and an affordable automated turntable to capture, format, and disseminate their own radiography-in-the-round.

Jack Nelson was an artist and educator who was part of the Experimental Studios in the College of Art at Syracuse University in New York. Although he was known primarily for his kinetic sculptural assemblages, as a teacher Nelson inspired a generation of multi-media artists including celebrated time-based media artist Bill Viola, to whom he served as an advisor. 

Jack Nelson’s Minneapolis Sculpture Clock was fabricated in 1967, and installed in 1968 on Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis’ downtown pedestrian shopping street.  An early example of integrated public art, the Sculpture Clock is the last remaining element of the respected historic design from the 1960s Mall, created by visionary landscape architect, Lawrence Halprin in an effort to keep downtown vibrant in the era of burgeoning suburban shopping malls. 

From the start, this timepiece and artwork was engaging and distinctive, quickly becoming a well-known and beloved landmark. It is both a street clock, with 4 large dials in the upper cabinets of the case; and it is also a kinetic sculpture, or as the artist called it, a “Perpetual Motion Stabile.” A 16’ glass and steel case encloses a complex grouping of more than 830 copper alloy moving parts. After installation, the kinetic sculpture ran for 34 years, receiving minimal maintenance and occasional minor repairs and modifications by city workers to keep it running.  However, by 2002, only the clock elements were still working. The kinetic artwork had ground to a halt. The motors were beyond repair; the metal was heavily tarnished; and there were many missing and broken elements. 

A large-scale renovation of Nicollet Mall began in 2015. In preparation, the City of Minneapolis conducted research within the community about the existing collection of public art on the mall. The results showed that Minneapolitans felt the Sculpture Clock contributed to the community, provided continuity with the Mall’s past, and was the work of art that the public most hoped would return after the redesign. 

Between 2015 and 2017, KCI Conservation undertook the complex, collaborative conservation treatment of Jack Nelson’s perpetual motion sculpture and clock. A team was assembled consisting of KCI conservators and interns, clock experts, metal artists and fabricators, electricians, engineers, and Minneapolis’ public art administrators. After discovering a remarkable trove of historic documentation, KCI was able to repair and restore the intricate kinetic sculpture, replacing motors and re-creating missing elements, re-engineering hidden functional components for longevity, as well as repairing and returning the clock case and clock dials to their intended appearances. 

Since the full conservation treatment, KCI continues to work with members of the treatment team to carry out regular inspections and maintenance on the Sculpture Clock, thanks to an ongoing commitment to its upkeep by the City of Minneapolis and the Minneapolis Downtown Improvement District. In 2024, the clock received another conservation treatment after an incident of vandalism which shattered the glass on one of the case doors. This paper explores the history, treatment, and continuing work it has taken to conserve this extraordinary example of public art.

To be strong and powerful, a woman must be monstrous, dangerous, other. That has for centuries been the take-away message behind the Medusa myth. To label a woman a Medusa or Gorgon has been to rationalize or demean her power by making her threatening, inhuman, and therefore deserving of attack and ridicule. This was true in 2016 when Presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton was called Medusa in media, is still true eight years later, and was very much true when Harriet Hosmer carved Medusa in 1854. 

In November 2020, as the newly arrived Mellon Fellow in Objects Conservation at the Detroit Institute of Arts, I hiked up to the American Neoclassical gallery to examine this prized piece earmarked for cleaning and fill adjustment. I found a typical neoclassical ideal bust, which showcased many of the skills that earned Hosmer her contemporary reputation as one of the great sculptors of the period—her anatomical modeling, thoughtful composition, and attention to subtle textural detail. Through the subsequent weeks of treatment, including the removal of a visitor’s unsanctioned lipstick kiss, I became fascinated by the reflection this carved-marble piece presented of the difficult social lines Hosmer walked in her own life as an independent artist, expat, and queer woman defying gender stereotypes even within the medium she chose to sculpt. 

When the Medusa was deinstalled to the conservation lab, she arrived plastered to her pedestal top, covered in discolored wax fills and irregular surface dirt, holding remnants of previous cleanings and coatings in the recesses, and sporting a red-brown lipstick print on her proper left cheek. The subtle textures for which Hosmer is known were disturbed by fine abrasion, areas of unsaturated opacity, and now yellowed oil application. Additional examination under ultraviolet radiation revealed an interesting handling history. I tested various poultice applications and experimented with fill materials to replace the aged wax, ultimately settling on a combination of mechanical action and buffered solutions to even the appearance. I also grew to understand the Medusa with every step of the process. 

In context, this piece is a commentary on the status of women in the period of change leading into the American Civil War and a subtle juxtaposition of mythological and artistic tropes that empowers women through the subversion of both. Hosmer placed the Medusa and her message as the subject of a sculpture style that marketed woman’s bodily suffering and subservience to faith and man as feminine virtues. In so doing, strength and power are shown as regalia a woman may carry with grace and pride, if not freedom. The 1850’s were an early time of change toward a more modern valuation of women’s education and societal contribution; however, American women were still second-class citizens stuck largely in traditional roles without legal autonomy—a contradiction exposed in Hosmer’s Medusa. In this regard, the kiss strikes me as a sign of Hosmer’s success—a crowned Medusa is shown approachable, sympathetic, her innocence returned and blessing conferred all wrapped in a blatant act of violation.

The focus of this presentation is the investigation and treatment of a tian-tsui headdress from the collection of the Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA). This project was completed in an advanced graduate course at the Conservation Center of the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, under the supervision of Judith Praska Distinguished Visiting Professor in Conservation Pamela Hatchfield. The course was designed in collaboration between Hatchfield, MOCA Director of Collections Yue Ma, and private conservators from A.M. Art Conservation, LLC: Rachael Perkins Arenstein, Anne Léculier King, and Eugenie Milroy. 

MOCA was founded in 1980 and began as a grassroots organization with community-driven collecting practices and the guiding aim of preserving and sharing the diverse tangible heritage, oral histories, and cultural experiences of people of Chinese descent in the United States. Some of its earliest accessioned objects were brought in by museum staff, donated by Chinatown residents, or even collected from the curb; as such, there is limited or nonexistent provenance for many items in the collection, the tian-tsui headdress included. MOCA is in the process of recovery and new growth after a devastating fire in 2020, and the headdress is among the objects that sustained damage related to this event. A driving goal of this project was thus to research and prepare the headdress to go on display alongside other conserved MOCA objects when the renovated museum reopens in 2025. 

The headdress is skillfully constructed in the style of a dianzi, an ornate, horseshoe-shaped headdress worn by wealthy Manchu women in the Qing Dynasty (1636–1912 CE) for festive occasions. A woven framework of black silk-wrapped rattan cane supports dozens of gilt copper openwork and filigree ornaments set on wires and springs that allow them to tremble with the movement of the wearer, a style that can be traced back to the buyao (“step-shake”) hair ornaments of the Han Dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE). The ornaments are further decorated with tian-tsui (or diancui, literally “dotting with kingfishers”), an ancient Chinese decorative tradition related to cloisonné that utilizes the cut feathers of kingfishers to create striking inlaid motifs in various shades of blue.

Prior to treatment, the aesthetic value of the headdress was diminished by physical deformation that suppressed the stylistically essential trembling movement of the gilt copper ornaments. The headdress was further disfigured by delamination, detachment, and loss of the tian-tsui decoration resulting from failure of the original water-soluble adhesive used to secure the kingfisher feathers to the metal ornaments. In collaboration with MOCA and A.M. Art Conservation, a holistic understanding of the context and manufacture of the headdress was produced through in-depth research and instrumental analysis. With respect to tian-tsui craft tradition, sustainability principles, and the priorities of MOCA staff, a complex but appropriate structural and cosmetic treatment methodology was devised and executed: the conservation intervention involved stabilizing the tian-tsui inlay, reshaping the crushed buyao ornaments, and developing an innovative approach to kingfisher feather inlay loss compensation. This presentation will describe the pitfalls and successes therein.

This year, the Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts (CCAHA) developed and piloted an in-school educational program for students in grades 6-12 in the Philadelphia school district titled “Art Conservation in the Classroom: Science, History, and Creativity”.  Through outreach visits to classrooms, and pre- and post-visit lesson plans that teachers can adapt to their curricula, this program introduces students to the fields of cultural heritage conservation and preservation, applies transferrable skills from these fields to other areas in their lives, and empowers them to care for the meaningful heirlooms in their families and communities. 

This program has arisen from the regular meeting of a CCAHA staff committee devoted to the development of K-12 educational programming.  This committee was formed in response to the goals of FAIC’s Held in Trust report about the need to build awareness among young people, particularly from BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, lower income, and disabled communities about the conservation field and the careers within it. In addition to making students aware of conservation as a possible career path, Art Conservation in the Classroom also aims to demonstrate how conservation links to other subjects such as chemistry, biology, art, and history.  By utilizing original artworks and historical documents from CCAHA’s study collection, the program also reinforces the importance of primary sources, what can be learned from physical examination of them, and the need to care for them for future generations.   

Recognizing the importance of co-creating these lessons with teachers who hold the expertise in their student’s needs, we kicked off the program with an Educator Open House designed to introduce educators to the kinds of things that we could do in their classrooms with the idea of sparking a conversation about how to adapt these ideas to their curricula. Following this, lesson plans will be developed in conjunction with a paid advisory committee composed of local teachers as well as education/writing consultant Lori Litchman, who is herself a former high school teacher.

In this presentation, CCAHA Education Program Manager, Greg Stuart, will share lessons learned from this program in the midst of its first year with an eye towards how you can implement K-12 programming at your own institution. 

 “Art Conservation in the Classroom: Science, History, and Creativity” is generously supported by the FAIC’s Holly Maxson Conservation Grant.

Letters to a Pre-Scientist is a free, accessible, and easy avenue for conservation outreach. Letters to a Pre-Scientist is a program that connects 5th-10th grade science students in low-income communities across the US to an international network of STEM professionals. Each student, or “pre-scientist”, is paired with a STEM professional and over the course of a school year, they correspond through eight letters. The letters discuss higher education pathways, career journeys, and overcoming obstacles. After you’re accepted to be a pen pal, you complete a training module to prepare you for writing to an audience you might not generally interact with. The training modules teach you how to tell compelling stories in STEM and adapt complex or abstract ideas to middle school reading levels. The resources available through the training portal dive into the systematic challenges around inequitable STEM education in the US and how to close the gap in communities. The goal of LPS is to broaden students’ awareness of what STEM professionals look like, demystify STEM career pathways, and inspire their curiosity about a future in STEM. 




      Students are matched with scientists based on their interests, allowing students who are interested in art to be paired with a conservator. In my first year as a pen pal, I was assigned to a 12-year-old girl who was interested in art but was not excited about STEM. Through images, diagrams, and compelling storytelling, I was able to discuss current work I was doing and how it combined art with science. I related aspects of my work, such as corrosion on metal objects, to what the student was learning in her science class. The Letters to a Pre-Scientist program also allows you to send class activities to the science teacher, enabling conservators to pass along hands-on conservation workshops such as testing pH on old paper. I was able to talk to my pen pal about my own academic struggles in chemistry and how I overcame them.  We were able to form a relationship on a personal level by discussing her friends, music interests, and our pets. Doing so humanized me as a STEM professional. Not only was the program fulfilling on a personal level, but the training also empowered me to learn more about systematic barriers within the cultural heritage field. The program has also challenged me to explain my work in a new way and has made me more confident speaking to intergenerational audiences. Letters to a Pre-Scientist is ideal for all conservators looking to make a difference, including emerging professionals who want to become more involved in outreach or private practice conservators who don’t have access to institutional outreach programs.

This year, we piloted a new program at the Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts, titled Our Stuff, Our Stories, which functions as a community-driven preservation pop-up. Designed to launch in full as part of the Philadelphia 250th commemoration of the Declaration of Independence in 2026, we seek to reach communities who have been left out of the promises of the Declaration, and indeed, they are often the same people for whom preservation of cultural heritage can feel out of reach.

In developing this program which offers a mix of preservation services, conservation consultation, digitization, and oral storytelling, we wanted to create something flexible and adaptable to the needs of the community organizations involved. To do so, we presented this program as a menu of options of what we might do, not what we should do, thereby taking a backseat to each organization’s goals and priorities to function more in a support role. While each iteration of Our Stuff, Our Stories will look unique, we will offer lessons learned so far, as well as tips on community-driven programming and how you can create something similar at your organization.

In recent years, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art Department for Conservation and Scientific Research (CSR) has increased efforts to make its work known to the public. This includes the development of resources and public programs, including in-gallery cart talks and Art & Me family workshops. The success of these efforts and interest in furthering them led to the creation of the position that I now hold: an outreach specialist, with a background in education and outreach, who could develop new ways to introduce conservation to diverse audiences. This presentation will discuss the opportunities and challenges associated with establishing a conservation outreach position in our museum.

This position is unusual in several ways and required creativity in establishing standard practice. First, given the position did not require a background in conservation, initial months were focused on observation and inquiry. This period was also spent exploring existing content, which could be applied in new ways without the need to borrow excessive time from colleagues. Additionally, the whole department needed to adapt to an increase in outreach output. Conservators and scientists learned to share their work methods and identify projects that could tell conservation stories.

The establishment of this position also redefined the CSR department’s relationship with other departments, particularly Marketing and Communications (MAC) and Education. Given that CSR could begin producing programs and materials with greater independence, it was important to configure these activities into the greater fabric of the museum. Furthermore, as these departments were peers in terms of their roles in the museum, they were ideal collaborators for projects requiring more than one outreach or education staff member. Although there had been some previous collaboration with family programs, more regular channels of communication were established between CSR and other relevant departments. Through these channels, significant opportunities for collaboration took shape.

The establishment of this position has been a shared effort, making possible a number of opportunities. CSR now contributes more content to social media, resulting in regular in-depth posts about conservation. In March 2024, this led to the most popular post in museum history, with over one million views, which featured one of our paper conservators. CSR also designs and facilitates a hands-on conservation workshop for visiting students. In its first year, the program reached over one thousand sixth grade students from Fairfax County Public Schools, the ninth largest school division in the U.S. It is expected to reach a similar number of students this school year. CSR also expanded its conservation family workshops so that they now reach children ages 3-11 and occur twice as often. While the establishment of an outreach specialist position in CSR required a great deal of creativity and effort, it has not only expanded awareness of our work, but also increased our connectedness to other departments in our museum.

Objects tell stories of craft, use and care, from their creation to their preservation. Preservation is showcased in museums in various capacities but is usually not directly noticeable. At times, conservation is undertaken in the public view, whether it is on a site or as part of a visible lab. In the latter case, it might often be in a temporary or small space. 

The Carnegie Museum of Natural History (CMNH) has gone further. The Stories We Keep: Conserving Objects from Ancient Egypt exhibit is directly focusing on conservation, while displaying Ancient Egyptian artefacts. Resources are dedicated to sharing behind the scenes activities with the public and putting conservation in the spotlight. It invites visitors to reflect on “things” that have value to them, then to see how the museum cares for objects through different methods and tools, that are part of a conservation approach. A third part of the exhibit is a functional large size visible conservation lab.  

The development of the exhibit was possible thanks to the renovation of the Ancient Egypt exhibit, put in place in 1990. The style very much reflected on the design aesthetics and education style of the time, involving human remains on view. The advanced deterioration of a large 4,000-year-old Dahshur boat initiated a reflection on the renovation of the exhibit. It was coordinated nicely with the approval of the new CMNH’S Human Remains policy in 2023, defining how human remains in general are to be handled, displayed, and returned. The policy went into effect immediately, therefore the three mummified people on display, and the coffins and grave goods associated with them, had to be removed from public view.  

To better care for the human remains and the boat, the exhibition closed in 2023, with the goal of reinterpreting the collection and the space with updated knowledge on the Ancient Egyptian artefacts and new policies on human remains. Knowing that the public was very attached to the Ancient Egyptian exhibit and collection, CMNH decided to create this temporary and transitional exhibit, focusing on the way collections are cared for and on conservation in general, and allowing the public to witness the preservation of artefacts in progress. The public also has the opportunity to speak with the conservation team through an open window on a regular basis to learn about conservation work, how an institution works, and discuss various museum related topics. Besides, this has allowed to expose/inspire a career to the general public and students at the nearby colleges and high schools, as well as to recruit interns and volunteers. Educational outreach is central to the project. 

The exhibition is a great example of a collaboration between the departments of Conservation, Anthropology, Exhibits and Education, with full support of the museum’s director. They were involved in the development of the idea, the building of the space and the lab, as well as the efficient running of the exhibition and associated educational programs. Aspects of collection care, safe storage, mounting, and integrated pest management, among others, are additionally presented and addressed in this space. General collection care is a central theme of the exhibition and of the work in the conservation lab. 

The visible lab was a long-term dream of Gretchen Anderson, the Head of Conservation at CMNH, after working in a similar lab at the Science Museum in Minneapolis. Conservators and conservation technician, interns and volunteers are currently working on the preparation of Ancient Egyptian artefacts for the new exhibit called Egypt on the Nile, planned to open in the fall 2026. Aside from this focus project, the team supports all the museum’s departments with their specific conservation needs.  

The Stories We Keep visible conservation lab in the middle of an exhibit is a hub, a place of collaboration with other departments, such as Ornithology, Herpetology and Paleontology, and has been a great educational tool to share with the public and build communities, and a connector between the public and the museum professionals.  

This paper will present the genesis of the project and the evolution into a spotlight on conservation.  It will describe the conservation lab, the collaborations across the museum, and all the exchanges that the project has fostered. The paper will express successes and challenges of such a space, and future evolutions of the exhibition.

People of all ages dream of superpowers that allow them to play doctor with X-ray vision, detective with ultraviolet lights, or artist with powdered pigments. The exhibition Concealed Layers: Uncovering Expressionist Paintings invited audiences to share in these roles through the process of technical imaging and analysis. This project highlighted new discoveries made during a three-year study of the Saint Louis Art Museum’s world-class collection of German Expressionist paintings. The two-gallery show explored eleven paintings through methods ranging from physical examination to diagnostic imaging with radiography, infrared, and ultraviolet light–all designed to help identify the artist’s materials and techniques. Developed by a conservation-curatorial team, this research was then embraced by departments across the museum (e.g. learning and engagement, design, digital interpretation, marketing, development, and information technology) to create an experimental, education-focused exhibition with “behind-the-scenes” sneak peeks. Originally set to run from March until August 2024, the exhibition dates were extended through that October to capitalize on the fruitful STEAM opportunities.  

This presentation will take a candid approach to sharing how Concealed Layers matured from concept to installation–challenges, triumphs, and missteps included. Full immersion into the science-laden world of technical analysis, a new venture for the museum, demanded expansion of its interpretative strategies. What are the most effective ways to display an internal layer of a painting, hidden to the naked eye? Internal debates tackled everything from cost efficiency to display safety (e.g. is an X-ray emitting device perceived as safe?). Shared goals danced between engaging multigenerational visitors with artists’ techniques and materials without overwhelming them with dense science lessons. Colleagues in digital assets developed interactive content for media consoles plus evergreen web content, and educators flexed STEAM outreach programming (K-12 plus universities). The exhibition occupied two galleries that are typically installed with the permanent, non-rotating collection and intersected with multiple doorways. Therefore, the museum used trackers to measure “hot zones” to map preferred pathways as visitors navigated the space. Additionally, summer interns in education conducted comprehensive visitor interaction surveys of the exhibition. Their collective data on visitor engagement has offered invaluable encouragement of successes and, critically, areas for improvement. 

Conservation-based content is not always easy for museum professionals to display. Concerns surrounding appropriate content (i.e. image rights, oversharing of condition concerns, etcetera) is often uncomfortable for stakeholders, and museum educators still face apprehension of didactic interpretation that is, by nature, science dense. Sharing a transparent view of an exhibition’s variable triumphs and challenges in educational programming and public reception may promote traction for similar projects.

Embedding Community Conservators in Public Libraries: Conservation as a Public Service is a new program being launched by the presenters. Community conservators will be library employees empowered by the remit to provide free, readily available, and in-person preservation services to individuals, groups, and institutions that don’t have the capacity to hire conservators and/or wish to be more hands-on in the care of their collections. They will:

* offer individual and group consultations on the care of personal and institutional items that can be transported to the library

* make “house” calls to provide guidance regarding the care of entire collections and objects that cannot be moved to the library

* offer disaster preparedness and response training, and guidance during disaster recovery

* hold workshops to teach material treatment skills and storage techniques to people of all ages, in the form of single workshops, series, summer camps and more

* provide open studio time when individuals and groups can work on conserving their objects with assistance from the community conservator

* facilitate events and discussions centered around the celebration of and/or mourning the loss of cultural heritage



This project builds on programs and workshops the project directors have already run, and a wide variety of work carried out by regional centers, field services programs, statewide heritage organizations and others. Our program will take the exciting, and as yet uncharted, path to providing the free exchange of knowledge and skills the public needs to preserve their personal and community cultural heritage, out of the heritage institution setting and into public libraries. 




Personal scrapbooks, quilts, photographs, journals, painted murals on the building next door, art in a local restaurant, archives of local religious institutions and historical societies and community organization are important to people and play crucial roles in maintaining a sense of identity, developing a sense of belonging, and acknowledging individual and collective cultural value. When people preserve these things they are uplifted and empowered, and their social well-being improves. 




Conservators hold valuable, specialized knowledge about the care and repair of cultural heritage and disaster preparedness and response that can help preserve these things. Accessing this knowledge outside the institutions and art galleries that typically employ these conservators is challenging, due primarily to cost and availability barriers, but also societal prioritization. Institutional structures and systems in the United States are more commonly organized to place conservators in cultural institutions and prestigious art galleries, responsible for the care and preservation of collections they hold. Many have tried to overcome these barriers by providing free conservation consultations to members of the public and hosting conservation resources on institutional websites, but this is resource intensive and hard to maintain. 




The community conservator project has a vision to launch programs in public libraries across the country in order to establish conservation as an accessible public service. It will also build new training paths for people to become community conservators, creating a new sector of the field for practitioners.

The Local History Services team at the Minnesota Historical Society (MNHS) was founded in 1916. For over a century it has supported smaller organizations across the state of Minnesota to interpret and preserve the history of their community. The Minnesota Alliance of Local History Museums (MALHM) was formed in 1991 with the goal of local history organizations helping their peers, including with emergency response. MNHS and MALHM are partners in supporting local history across the state including with emergency planning, preparedness, and response for collections.


Minnesota is home to a thriving art, culture, and heritage community. As an example, there are an estimated 500+ historical organizations in the state, ranging from tiny all-volunteer area history museums to the Minnesota Historical Society. Minnesota is susceptible to natural disasters including tornados, flooding, fires, and winter storms that threaten the long-term preservation of cultural heritage.


This presentation will discuss Local History Services’ and MALHM’s roles in emergency preparedness and response and how they have evolved to become more collaborative over time. The role of field services will be explored in examples ranging from in-person response, establishing a network of emergency response caches, disaster plan writing workshops and mutual assistance networks and the Minnesota Alliance for Heritage Response. Finally, the crucial elements of partnership and respectful cooperation in our work will be highlighted.

The nearly 30,000 artifacts at the 9/11 Memorial & Museum serve to bear witness to the terrorist attacks and commemorate and honor the stories of the 2,983 victims of September 2001 and February 1993 and all those who are affected in their aftermath. The museum’s nascent collection was the result of immediate action taken by local cultural heritage workers in collaboration with law enforcement and recovery organizations along with donations from survivors, victims’ families and friends, and local and global communities. These objects are in service to the people they represent and provide individual voices to a universal tragic experience.  Consultation and relationship-building with 9/11-community members and donors is integral to the Museum’s mission, and community input is considered in exhibition development. In this memorial context, the ability of an object to telegraph parts of a narrative may take priority over its material “authentic” state. 

Conservators at the Museum put great thought into when, how, and whether to provide conservation intervention, recognizing that any treatment can alter interpretation of objects that hold great personal significance. In instances of Ground Zero-recovered artifacts, they may be all that remains of someone who died that day. Generally, interventive treatment is limited to changes identified as occurring after a particular moment such as the day of attacks or the moment of acquisition. Even then, the decision to not treat is given heavier weight than it may at traditional cultural institutions; damage is often integral to the significance of an artifact. However, there are circumstances in which these principles accede to storytelling that represents or honors the community. This presentation discusses instances when intervention resulted in a visibly changed artifact, where the after-treatment condition is not only of greater physical stability, but also of greater accessibility and emotional power. 

Case studies include artifacts that have images of victims or other deeply personal associations where restoration of imagery such as faces was conducted even if the damage was part of the object’s “authentic” historical narrative. Another example is the consideration of the toxic dust that coated everything in lower Manhattan following the collapse of the buildings. Leaving the encrusted dust in place, the way the object was recovered, might be the most “accurate” method of display, but issues of toxicity and available resources introduced discussion of when it is appropriate to remove or consolidate dust. Decisions to abate dust may allow for highlighting one narrative (the impact of crumpled steel or the emblazoned logo of a particular FDNY Ladder company) over another (the pervasiveness of toxic dust), resulting in some of the institution’s most impactful visitor experiences. Consolidation of dust, on the other hand, which alters the chemical composition central to its toxicity narrative, may allow for an object to safely travel and experienced by a broader audience. For trauma heritage collections, we must acknowledge that loss of an object’s traumatic context may be inevitable. This means that decision-making around preservation and treatment can diverge from traditional methodologies.