NEH Announces Grants for Sustainable Preservation Strategies

Just want to alert potential U.S. nonprofit museums, libraries, and archives about new guidelines and some changes for the Sustaining Cultural Heritage Collections grant program, offered by the National Endowment for the Humanities.  Grants will be available to plan and implement preventive conservation projects in ways that are cost effective, energy efficient, and environmentally sensitive and that aim to mitigate greatest risks rather than to meet prescriptive targets. Preventive conservation measures may encompass managing relative humidity, temperature, light and pollutants in collection spaces; providing protective storage enclosures and systems for collections; and safeguarding collections from theft and from natural and man-made disasters.

Planning grants of up to $40,000 and implementation grants of up to

$350,000 will be available.

New This Year:  To enhance the outcomes of planning grants and to encourage incremental improvements in the care of collections, applicants for planning projects may request up to an additional

$10,000 to carry out one or more recommendations made by the interdisciplinary planning team during the course of the project.

Such work could help demonstrate the benefits of sustainable preservation strategies or lead to new information or changes in conditions that would influence “next steps.” For such planning projects, the maximum award would be $50,000.

The deadline will be December 1, 2011. The new guidelines should be posted by mid-September, 2011 and will contain a more detailed description of planning projects and the range of activities that are eligible for support.  We will send out a second announcement when the guidelines are posted. Please feel free to contact the division for more information by emailing preservation [at] neh__gov or calling 202-606-8570.

Make Sure IMLS Includes Conservation Priorities in their Five-Year Strategic Plan

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) is working to create a five-year strategic plan, and would like ideas from museum and library professionals on how best to carry out its responsibility to support these institutions. Please take the time to share your ideas and help IMLS realize how important conservation is to the museum and library fields. Go to imls.ideascale.com.

AIC PhotoDocumentation Targets (AIC PhD Targets) on Sale!

AIC is pleased to announce the sale of AIC PhotoDocumentation Targets (AIC PhD Targets), designed by Dan Kushel, Jiuan-Jiuan Chen, and Luisa Casella, and produced by Robin Myers Imaging. The AIC PhD Targets provide an easy and efficient way to include photographic reference standards as well as image and artifact identification information. Lightweight and of robust construction, each target is fully assembled and ready for use. Targets are provided with instructional information and with online resources, which include a printing template for slip-in labels for the medium and small targets. For more information, visit www.conservation-us.org/PhDtargets.

2nd Edition of the AIC Guide to Digital Photography and Conservation Documentation Now Available!

AIC has published the long-awaited second edition of the AIC Guide to Digital Photography and Conservation Documentation. This book is a comprehensive guide to digital photographic equipment, software, and processing tailored to the needs of conservation professionals. Authors Franziska Frey, Dawn Heller, Dan Kushel, Timothy Vitale, Jeffrey Warda (editor), and Gawain Weaver have more than doubled the size of the first edition, which includes major extensions and updates to the text and is fully illustrated with over 120 color figures. This second edition also has a wraparound internal spiral binding, allowing the book to lay flat—a request made by many readers of the first edition. For more information, visit www.conservation-us.org/digitalguide.

AIC-Member Research Trip to Cuba: Only a Few Spaces Left

Also, there is still space available in AIC’s upcoming research trip to Cuba. For nine days explore conservation, preservation, cultural, and humanitarian activities in Cuba, focusing on the UNESCO World Heritage cities of Havana, Cienfuegos, Trinidad de Cuba, and the countryside between those cultural centers. The trip will be led by AIC member, Rosa Lowinger and Cuba Tours and Travel. The trip is open to Associate, PA, and Fellow members who are full-time conservators. Visit our website for more information, to view a draft itinerary, and to sign-up for the trip. The trip is limited to 30 Members, so register today to reserve your spot. For more information and to register, visit www.conservation-us.org/cuba.

AIC Releases Statement on the 10th Anniversary of the Adoption of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage

August 26, 2011

Mr. John L. Nua, III, Chairman
Advisory Council on Historic Preservation
Old Post Office Building
1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 809
Washington, DC 20004

Dear Mr. Nau,

The UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage was adopted by the 31st general conference of UNESCO in November 2001. The Convention provides a guideline for managing activities related to underwater cultural heritage.  Included in the Convention are the Annex Rules that outline best practices for responsible underwater archaeology and provide guides for research, documentation and responsible artifact care.  The National Park Service and NOAA participated in the development of the Convention and Annex Rules.  While there was not complete agreement about the Convention, all parties agreed that the Annex Rules provide an excellent international standard for the practice of underwater archaeology and stewardship of submerges sites.

The Board of the American Institute for Conservation of Artistic and Historic Works (AIC) urges you to endorse the Annex Rules as a requirement for the practice of underwater archaeology and submerged heritage management.  Celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2011, AIC supports historic preservation and the 3500 professional conservators practicing in the US.  Preservation does not just mean saving the physical object for display in a museum but, in many cases more importantly, preservation means saving information about the object – where it came from, who owned and used it, when it was made or used, and how it came to be in an underwater site.  This information tells the story of our past; the story brings history to life for the public.  Preserving and making the stories accessible to the public provides an educational resource and heritage tourism venue.  Conservators of archaeological artifacts can preserve the individual objects but need your assistance to encourage responsible and professional excavation, documentation, research and management of underwater cultural heritage sites.  Please support and incorporate the Annex Rules, some of which are already practiced by Federal agency archaeologists, into the Council’s guidelines and strategies.

The Convention and Annex Rules are available on the UNESCO web site at http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001260/126065e.pdf.  Please let me know if you would like additional information or have questions about the Annex Rules or AIC conservators.  Thank you.

Sincerely,

Meg Loew Craft
AIC, President
Senior Objects Conservator
Walters Art Museum
600 North Charles St.
Baltimore, MD 21201
mcraft@thewalters.org
410-547-9000 x629

Some private collectors have emergency plans

According to the Wall Street Journal (“Collectors Evacuate Artworks” ,by Erica Ogden, Saturday-Sunday August 27-28, 2011), some art collectors whose summer homes in the Hamptons are in the path of Hurricane Irene had their art works shipped to safer locations well in advance of the storm’s arrival. Other collectors were scrambling around on Friday to find an art mover that was not completely booked. Have many AIC members been asked by private clients to develop emergency/disaster plans for their collections?

For Hurricanes Season, Remember AIC-CERT is Here to Help

WASHINGTON, D.C.— With the peak of hurricane season approaching, museums, historic sites, libraries, and archives in coastal regions will be at risk.  The American Institute for Conservation (AIC), the national association of conservation professionals, is offering free emergency response assistance to cultural organizations.  Please help make sure that staff members of collecting institutions know to contact AIC-CERT when a disaster—flooding, hurricane, earthquake, fire—has damaged collections.

•    Call AIC’s 24-hour assistance number at 202.661.8068 for advice by phone.

•    Call 202.661.8068 to arrange for a team to come to the site to complete damage assessments and help with salvage organization.

AIC-CERT volunteers have provided advice to dozens of museums, libraries, and archives, most recently to sites in Minot, North Dakota affected by flooding.  AIC-CERT teams were on the ground following the Midwest floods in 2008 and in the Galveston area following Hurricane Ike later that year. AIC-CERT members and other AIC conservators are currently in Haiti assisting with recovery of cultural materials damaged in the 2010 earthquake.

AIC-CERT is supported and managed by the Foundation of the American Institute for Conservation (FAIC).  In 2007 and again in 2010, FAIC received funding from the Institute of Museum & Library Services to support an advanced training program for conservators and other museum professionals that resulted in a force of 107 “rapid responders” trained to assess damage and initiate salvage of cultural collections after a disaster has occurred.  They are ready to assist.

Resources and information on disaster recovery and salvage can be found on AIC’s website at www.conservation-us.org/disaster .  The public can also call AIC-CERT at 202.661.8068.

Join the ECPN Committee

EXTENDED SUBMISSION DEADLINE, please see details below…

The Emerging Conservation Professionals Network seeks three new committee members:

Chair, Vice-Chair, and Outreach Coordinator

The Emerging Conservation Professionals Network (ECPN) works with various AIC committees to address the needs of conservation professionals with fewer than 7 years of experience. This includes pre-program students, graduate students, and recent graduates. The committee seeks to increase participation in AIC amongst emerging conservators.

The chair position coordinates monthly conference calls, writes agendas for these calls, oversees projects like: the mentoring program, the student research repository, and is responsible for editing all published material about the group. The chair represents the committee to the board of directors and at the Internal Advisory Group meeting, and collaborates on projects with other AIC committees and with representatives from conservation graduate programs. This position holds a term of two years.

The vice-chair is a new position that will oversee all of the ECPN activities at the AIC annual meeting (ECPN informational meeting, happy hour, portfolio session, and any new activities) and the yearly ANAGPIC meeting (there is a speaker each year from the ECPN who attends the ANAGPIC meeting). The vice-chair will also be a logical candidate for taking over the chair position after their one-year term.

The outreach coordinator is in charge of all social media communication including the ECPN blog, Facebook page, Flickr site, and other projects that involve outreach and communications. The outreach coordinator works closely with the communications coordinator, currently Amy Brost. The outreach coordinator may also take over the chair position after completion of a one-year term.

The ECPN communicates primarily via email correspondence and monthly conference calls. The committee meets in-person annually at the AIC meeting.

Please submit a brief statement of interest and your resume to Rose Cull, Chair, AIC-ECPN, (roseemilycull@gmail.com) by September 1, 2011.

Questions about committee activities can be directed to Rose, or ECPN’s current outreach coordinator: Heather Brown (hnmbrown@yahoo.com)

For more information about the ECPN see: www.conservation-us.org/emerging.