Month: February 2012

ECPN seeks regional liaisons

Looking for a chance to get more involved with ECPN? Consider becoming a regional liaison!

ECPN is appointing individuals who are interested in organizing and promoting events to encourage and involve emerging conservators in their regions. These regional liaisons will keep ECPN up-to-date on events through email, our Facebook page and on the AIC blog. In return, they will benefit from access to the dedicated network of emerging and established conservation professionals that ECPN has developed. Some activities the regional liaison may consider hosting or reporting on are:

  • Regional conservation events/meetings
  • Local conservation lab tours
  • Lectures delivered by local conservators
  • Visiting a private conservator’s studio
  • Meet and Mingles (Happy Hour, dinner, etc)
  • Portfolio workshops
  • Local conservation projects

We expect this to be a flexible position that is not a major time commitment. While hosting events is most welcome, we are also interested in liaisons announcing and reporting on regional events, and updating ECPN regularly.

We have already identified several liaisons, but we are looking for more, particularly in these areas:

  • Gulf Coast (Texas area)
  • Midwest
  • South

If you’re interested in being a regional liaison, please send Anisha Gupta (gupta16@illinois.edu) or Megan Salazar-Walsh (salazar.walsh@gmail.com) an email!  Also, expect to start seeing updates and announcements from our new liaisons on the ECPN Facebook page.

 

Member News from Club Quarters, Winter 2012

New Club Quarters Opens in London on March 18, 2012. Now Accepting Reservations.
Club Quarters, Lincoln’s Inn Fields is located in the heart of London at Kingsway near Holborn and Chancery Lane – with the hotel entrance facing Lincoln’s Inn Fields. Convenient to London’s financial and legal institutions, Club Quarters, Lincoln’s Inn Fields is also within walking distance of the London School of Economics, Covent Garden and the Theatre District. The hotel will feature London’s newest guest rooms and in- room technology, a Club Living Room with social networking area and meeting rooms. The large terrace at the entrance of the hotel faces a 17th century square flanked by period buildings and will offer seasonal dining and cocktails. Low member rates* are now available via Member Services, www.clubquarters.com and through all GDS tools. *To enquire about remaining membership opportunities at Club Quarters, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, please contact your Membership Manager or email memberships@clubquarters.com. *Information and availability for Olympic Season reservations will be forthcoming.

Low Fixed Rates for Small to Medium‐Sized Meeting Rooms
All 15 Club Quarters have small to medium sized meeting rooms, which can be reserved at low fixed rates. Many locations have unique venues, including World Trade Center and opposite Rockefeller Center in New York, both with year round indoor/outdoor dining and event space with stunning views. Central Loop and Wacker at Michigan in Chicago offer brand new Club Living Rooms which contain glass enclosed board rooms. Trafalgar Square in London, offering two grand ballrooms and elegant small meeting spaces, is the most comprehensive meeting and event space in the West End.

Meeting Length Rate*
1 to 2 hours $100/£100
Half Day $200/£200
Full Day $350/£350

Meeting room rental fees also include an audio/visual package of flip chart and markers, projector and screen. To check availability, please call the Club Quarters Meetings Specialist at +1.203.905.2122 or +44 (0)20 7451 5902 or email meetings@clubquarters.com.

* Rates are based on small meeting rooms and some restrictions apply. Larger spaces are available at many locations at special rates.

“Night on the House” Program
The “Night on the House” program is continuing in 2012 with more dates available at all Club Quarters. It is fast and simple for a guest to earn and redeem a “Night on the House”.

  • Member guests will earn one certificate each business stay which can be validated on the next stay at any Club Quarters
  • Once validated, the member guest is entitled to a standard room for two on one of the weekend and holiday dates set aside for the program
  • Certificates are combined and/or stays may be extended at your low member rate
  • Reservations: call Member Services at +1.203.905.2100 (US) or +44.020.7451.5800 (UK). The program is based on availability and must be requested at the time of reservation. Reservations are subject to a $25/£15 service charge
  • Additional details can be found at www.clubquarters.com/NightOnTheHouse.php.

Weekend & Holiday Rates for Employees, Family and Friends
Family and friends, in addition to employees, of member organizations, can request weekend and holiday rates at all Club Quarters, with the strongest availability being through the end of March. Even without a “Night on the House” certificate, member guests can enjoy subsidized rates starting at $62 in Philadelphia, Chicago and Houston, $72 in Boston, Washington, DC and San Francisco, $126 in New York and £67 in London. Member guests must request these rates by calling Member Services at +1.203.905.2100 or +44 (0)20 7451 5800.

York Consortium for Conservation and Craftsmanship Bursaries and Grants

Grants and Bursaries for the Training of Craftsmen and Conservators York Foundation for Conservation and Craftsmanship

Applications are invited by the York Foundation for Conservation and Craftsmanship for bursaries to assist the training of craftsmen and conservators. Bursaries of up to UKP1500 each are available to further the knowledge and skills of craftsmen and conservators at various stages of their careers. This can include CPD courses. Bursaries of up to UKP3000 are offered to encourage and assist established craftsmen and conservators to take on a new apprentice/trainee.

The total sum available is UKP11,000, made up of UKP7000 from the Foundation’s own Bursary Fund, and UKP4,000 funded by three organisations which support the Foundation’s aims: the York Company of Merchant Taylors, the Provincial Grand Lodge of the Freemasons, and the Historic Houses Association (Yorkshire Region). While these latter awards are restricted to people with links to York and
Yorkshire (UK), the other awards have no such restriction (though if all other things prove equal, preference will be given to an applicant living, training or employed in the Yorkshire Region).

Applications will be judged on merit and need, and there are no restrictions on who may apply. Employers may apply on behalf of employees. Bursaries will not generally be awarded to assist the funding of a student’s undergraduate degree or equivalent course. In the case of individual applications preference will be given to those seeking advanced skills or training in crafts/specialities in
short supply.

The Trustees are particularly keen to facilitate the taking on of new trainees/apprentices. This would include someone starting out or part way through a three year apprenticeship, or a person not yet
in the trade/profession but who, having had some basic skills training or relevant experience, needs further skills training to qualify. Applications for such bursaries would normally be expected
from the potential employer, and could be used in a variety of ways to reduce the employer’s costs, e.g. those costs related to the introductory training demanded by legal requirements. That should
not preclude applications from employers for other purposes, nor from potential trainees who have identified a committed potential employer.

In 2011 eight awards were made ranging in value from UKP500 to UKP3000. The winners included a roofing contractor, a stonemason, a silversmith, and two MA students in stained glass conservation. A
full list of 2011 and previous year’s winners can be found at www.conservationyork.org.uk

Application forms and Guidance Notes may be obtained from the Secretary of the Foundation by email to conservationyork [at] hotmail__com

or by post:

The Merchant Adventurers’ Hall
Fossgate
York YO1 9XD
UK

The closing date for receipt of applications is Saturday 31 March 2012.

Apply for the Rathgen Heritage Science Scholarship 2012 by February 12th

Rathgen Heritage Science Scholarship 2012
Friends of Rathgen (Farderkreis des Rathgen-Forschungslabors e.V)

The Rathgen Research Laboratory is
the leading institution for conservation science, art technology and
archaeometry at the National Museums in Berlin. It carries out
investigations on a broad variety of materials within the museum
environment and focuses its research on scientific issues concerning
the care of monuments and archaeological sites.

It carries forward the tradition of the world ‘s oldest scientific
museum laboratory, the Chemical Laboratory of the Royal Museums in
Berlin, which was founded on April 1, 1888 and bears the name of its
first director, Friedrich Rathgen.

It is the mission of the Friends of Rathgen (Farderkreis des
Rathgen-Forschungslabors e.V.) to support the work of the Rathgen
Research Laboratory in various ways, among others by supporting
research projects of young professionals in heritage science.

To this end, the Rathgen Heritage Science Scholarships have been
established in 2009 and are awarded annually.

The Rathgen Heritage Science Scholarship enables young professionals
to undertake a project at the laboratory within 1-3 month duration.
The topic is proposed by the applicant. Successful applicants will
receive a scholarship for Post-Graduate Scholarship of 900 Euro per
month and Post-doc Scholarship 1200 Euro per month.

The application consists of:

1-2 pages explaining the research proposal, the required
resources and the envisaged time frame, including preliminary
work accomplished and short bibliography

CV including list of publications

2 reference letters of support

Deadline for 2012 applications is February 12, 2012.

Please submit your application electronically to
rf-info [at] smb__spk-berlin__de or by mail to

Rathgen-Forschungslabor
Schlossstrasse 1 A
14059 Berlin, Germany

Prof. Dr. Stefan Simon
Rathgen-Forschungslabor
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
+49 30 326749 0
Fax: +49 30 326749 12

Presentations from Anoxia and Microfading: The impact on Collection Care (12-13 September 2011) are now available online

Presentations from Anoxia and Microfading: The impact on Collection Care (12-13 September 2011) are now available online and can be
found at http://channel.tate.org.uk/media/1240387754001#media:/media/1240387754001/1240462743001&context:/channel/most-popular

Presentations include:

Keynote Speaker: Dr David Grattan
Former Manager of Conservation Research at Canadian Conservation
Institute, Ottawa
“Anoxia and Microfading: The Impact on Collection Care,
Context and Challenge”

Stephen Hackney
Senior Consultant for Conservation Science, Tate, London
“The Benefits of Sealed Enclosures for Works on Paper”

Zane Cunningham
Project Manager and Product Developer, Tate, London
“Designing Low Oxygen Frames”

Dr. Shin Maekawa
Senior Scientist, The Getty Conservation Institute, Los Angeles
“Getty’s Oxygen-Free Display and Storage Cases”

Dr. Matija Strlic
Senior Lecturer
Centre for Sustainable Heritage, University College London
“Hypoxic Storage of Organic Materials: Paper, Ink, Parchment,
Photographs, Canvas”

Jacob Thomas
Research Assistant, Kinetics of Heterogeneous Reactions Group,
Jagiellonian University, Krakow
“Early 20th Century Pastel Drawings: An Anoxic Case?”

David Thickett
Senior Conservation Scientist, English Heritage, London and
Salome Guggenheimer, Haute Ecole Suisse, Switzerland
“Oxygen and Archaeological Iron”

Chris Collins
Head of Conservation, Palaeontology Department, Natural History
Museum, London
“Reduced Oxygen Enclosures and Natural History and
Anthropological Materials”

Luisa Casella
Photograph Conservator, Harry Ransom Center, The University of
Texas at Austin
“Display of Original Autochrome Plates in Low-Oxygen
Enclosures at the Metropolitan Museum of Art”

Dr. Yvonne Shashoua
Senior Researcher, Department of Conservation, National Museum
of Denmark, Copenhagen
“Anoxic Storage of Polymers”

Bruce Ford,
Consultant Conservator and Scientist, Tate, London
“Microfading and Anoxic Enclosures”

Nicki Smith
Deputy Manager, Conservation, National Museum of Australia,
Canberra (with video from Guy Hanson, Senior Curator Guy Hanson,
National Museum of Australia)
“Into the Light: Lighting Guidelines at the National Museum
of Australia”

Dr. Mark Underhill
Analyst, Tate, London
“Oxygen Measurement”

Dr. Bertrand Lavedrine
Director, Centre de Recherche sur la Conservation des
Collections (CRCC-CNRS), Paris
“Development of Microfading Testing for Transmission
Measurement on Colour Transparencies”

Dr. Haida Liang
Reader in Physics, Nottingham Trent University
“Latest Developments on Portable Microfading Spectrometry at
Nottingham Trent University”

Dr. Julio M. del Hoyo-Melendez
Scientist, National Museum of Krakow
“Microfade Testing: A Promising Tool for Evaluating the Light
Fastness of Coloured Fabrics and the Impacts on Lighting
Policy”

Dr. Eric Hagan
Conservation Scientist, The Canadian Conservation Institute,
Ottawa
“An Overview of Current Light-Fastness Testing at the
Canadian Conservation Institute”

Plus:

A group discussion with Dr Shin Maekawa, Senior Scientist, The
Getty Conservation Institute, Los Angeles; Deborah Potter, Head
of Conservation, Collection, Tate, London and Nicki Smith,
Deputy Manager, Conservation, National Museum of Australia,
Canberra.

Roundtable discussion with panel: Bruce Ford, Consultant
Conservator and Scientist, Tate, London; Dr Eric Hagan,
Conservation Scientist, The Canadian Conservation Institute,
Ottawa; Dr Julio M del Hoyo-Melendez, Scientist, Laboratory of
Analysis and Nondestructive Investigation of Heritage Objects,
National Museum of Krakow; Dr Haida Liang, Reader in Physics,
Nottingham Trent University; Dr Bertrand Lavedrine, Director,
Centre de Recherche sur la Conservation des Collections
(CRCC-CNRS), Paris; Dr Han Neevel, Senior Conservation
Scientist, Netherlands Cultural Heritage Agency, Amersfoort;
Boris Pretzel, Principal Scientist, Victoria and Albert Museum,
London.

A working session with George Gawlinski, Planning Together
Associates to build collaborations and explore the research
agenda.

The conference coincided with the culmination of a five-year Tate
research project funded by the Department for Business, Innovation
and Skills (BIS) Public Sector Research Exploitation Fund.

Dr. Pip Laurenson
Head of Collection Care Research
Tate
Millbank
London SW1P 4RG
+44 207887 8776
+44 796606 2962

Call for Papers: “‘The Real Thing?’: The Value of Authenticity and Replication for Investigation and Conservation:

The University of Glasgow
Research Network for Textile Conservation, Dress and Textile History
and Technical Art History.
December 6-7, 2012

Clarification: we welcome papers and posters on any aspect of
authenticity and replication. The paper or poster does not have to
be on the topic of textiles.

We look forward to welcoming you to the conference. Booking details
will be available in early 2012. The call for papers can also be
found, along with more information about the Research Network, at

http://tinyurl.com/3t3typr

Frances Lennard
Senior Lecturer, Textile Conservation
+44 141 330 7607/4097
Fax: +44 141 330 3513
Centre for Textile Conservation and Technical Art History
School of Culture and Creative Arts
University of Glasgow
8 University Gardens
Glasgow G12 8QH
United Kingdom

Call for papers and Posters: 10th Interim Meeting of the ICOM-CC Leather and Related Materials Working Group

10th Interim Meeting of the ICOM-CC Leather and Related Materials Working Group
Offenbach, Germany
29-31 August 2012

The 10th Interim Meeting of the ICOM-CC Leather and Related
Materials Working Group will be held in Offenbach, Germany. The
Deutsches Ledermuseum Schuhmuseum last welcomed our group in 1989.
It is a new opportunity to see the collections and the new
exhibition rooms. There will also be an opening (together with the
reception on Aug 29, 2012 of a small exhibition at the DLM: “Leather
Conservation” (Aug 29, 2012 – Jan 12, 2013)

The 2 day conference (plus 1 day excursion) shall provide a forum
for leather conservators to discuss issues and challenges of
interest to the field of leather conservation in general, ranging
from rawhide and semi-tanned skins to leathers, including wall
hangings, upholstery, bookbindings, ethnographic art, archaeological
artefacts, etc.

This meeting will focus on presenting an overview of the current
state of research, practice and progress in the field of
conservation and restoration of leather and related materials.

Abstracts of no more than 500 words should include the title,
authors’ names, profession, institution, e-mail and address of the
corresponding author. They should be submitted to the Working Group
Coordinator, Celine Bonnot-Diconne, by March 16, 2012. Preference
will be given to ICOM members.

Papers may be presented in either English or French. No simultaneous
translation shall be provided. We kindly request all submissions be
proof-read by a native English or French speaker

Coordinator: cbonnotdiconne [at] aol__com

Celine Bonnot-Diconne
Coordinator ICOM-CC Leather and Related Materials Working Group
Pensionnaire a la Villa Medicis
Academie de France a Rome
Villa Medici
Viale Trinita dei Monti 1
00187 Roma, Italia

Upcoming programs of interest from the C2C Online Community

Heritage Preservation, along with the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and the American Association for State and Local History (AASLH), is pleased to announce the schedule for the C2C Online Community’s next seven live chat events. Resources and further information on the following programs will appear in the Featured Resource section approximately a week before the event.  Don’t forget to mark your calendar for these upcoming chats:

  • “Objects on the Move:  Packing and Transporting Collections“ – Wednesday, February 8 at 2:30 pm Eastern.  Join Wendy Jessup, conservator in private practice, and Tova Brandt, Curator of Exhibitions at the Danish Immigrant Museum to ask questions and learn tips and tricks for packing and transporting your collections.  Even if you are contemplating a move or just relocating objects within existing storage, this Webinar will be useful to you.
  • “Making the Most of the Storage You Have” – Thursday, Feburary 23 at 1:00 pm Eastern.  Featuring Laura Hortz Stanton, Director of Preservation Services at the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts (CCAHA) and Julia Clark, Curator of Collections, Abbe Museum
  • “Choosing the Datalogger That Is Right for You” – Tuesday, March 6 at 1:00 pm Eastern.  Rachael Arenstein, Partner, A.M. Art Conservation, Inc.
  • “Applying to NEH’s Preservation Assistance Grant” – Monday, March 12 at 1:00 pm Eastern.  Elizabeth Joffrion, Senior Program Officer, Division of Preservation and Access, National Endowment for the Humanitites (NEH)
  • “Introduction to LED Lighting” – Thursday, March 29 at 1:00 pm Eastern.  Richard L. Kerschner, Director of Preservation and Conservation and Nancie Ravenel, Object Conservator, both at the Shelburne Museum
  • “Outsourcing Digitization” – Wednesday, April 4 at 1:00 pm Eastern.  Robin Dale, Director of Digital & Preservation Services, LYRASIS
  • “MayDay! Create a Game Plan” – Wednesday, April 18 at 1:00 pm Eastern.  Lori Foley, Vice President for Emergency Programs, Heritage Preservation

We hope you can join us live to share your experiences and ask your questions directly of our experts (and win great door prizes!) Your participation is key to the success of these events. However, we do post recordings of each live chat event if you are unable to attend the sessions live. Those recordings can be found here.

Please feel free to forward this email to your colleagues who you think would benefit from joining our community!  We are over 900 members strong at this point.  This community has been built and is being moderated as a service to you.  please contact Elsa Huxley, Director of Communications
Heritage Preservation, ehuxley@heritagepreservation.org, ph:  202.233.0800 with suggestions or ideas.  Your advocacy and input is appreciated.

Hope to see you in the virtual meeting room soon!
Heritage Preservation is a national non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the cultural heritage of the United States. By identifying risks, developing innovative programs, and providing broad public access to expert advice, Heritage Preservation assists museums, libraries, archives, historic preservation and other organizations, as well as individuals, in caring for our endangered heritage.

Take a Look at ECPN at AIC’s 40th Annual Meeting in 2012

When was the last time you looked at ECPN?  The Emerging Conservation Professionals Network (ECPN) committee has continued its growth and has exciting initiatives underway. The group is looking forward to a productive and enjoyable week at the  AIC’s 40th Annual Meeting in Albuquerque (May 8-13, 2012), with a slate of social and professional networking events.

Come to the ECPN Informational Meeting (Tuesday, May 8, 5 pm) to hear more about ongoing and proposed initiatives:

–       Enhancements to the Mentoring Program

–       Creation of a new Regional Liaison Program

–       Proposal for a Student Research Repository

–       Proposal for ECPN-wide “Forum Calls” on timely topics

The Informational Meeting will be immediately followed by a Happy Hour (6 pm – 10 pm).  Both events are free and open to anyone.

Last year’s Portfolio Review Session was a hit with attendees and presenters alike.  At this session, which will take place during the breaks at 10 am and 4 pm on Thursday, May 10, students and alumni from the various conservation training programs will show their pre-program, graduate-level, and recent graduate portfolios, and discuss their portfolios with attendees. A variety of specializations will be represented. All are encouraged to attend to see examples of emerging conservator work first-hand.

Be sure to stop by the ECPN poster, or visit with someone from ECPN at the Poster Session on Thursday at 4 pm.  ECPN is developing a poster on this year’s outreach and advocacy theme.  It’s called Creative Endeavors and Expressive Ideas: Emerging Conservators Engaging through Outreach and Public Scholarship. The poster will highlight several case studies of emerging conservators using outreach to connect with public audiences, allied professionals, and other conservators.

ECPN hopes to see you at some, or all, of this year’s events.

FAIC Collaborative Workshop ‘The Treatment of Pressure-Sensitive Tapes and Tape Stains on Photographs’

In Nov/Dec 2011 I attended this 5-day workshop, held at the National Conservation Training Center in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. The two main instructors, Elissa O’Loughlin and Linda Stiber Morenus, have an incredible wealth of knowledge, buoyed by their ongoing research and, it seems, genuine fascination for the topic. Barbara Lemmen and Douglas Nishimura were also on hand to provide the necessary expertise to give the paper-focussed workshop model a photographic slant. With only 14 participants and 4 instructors it was a fairly intimate group with plenty of opportunities for one-on-one or small group tuition which was really beneficial. We began by learning the basics of adhesion and then the specifics of rubber-based and synthetic polymer-based pressure-sensitive tapes, including their invention and evolution and the degradation of their components. By the end of the first day we were sorting through mounds of different tapes, trying to identify their type and degree of degradation (see Image 1). By the second day we had moved on to mechanical carrier and adhesive removal, focussing initially on heat and erasers, then on to Gore-Tex, poultices, solvent gels and immersion. The use of an eye dropper and micro-capillary tube for delivering solvent on the suction table was remarkably successful on albumen prints (see Image 2). Processes such as salted paper and albumen were found to be quite responsive to a variety of techniques for adhesive removal, such as poulticing with Fuller’s Earth and suction table work, however there was concern about the possible effects on a microscopic level. Naturally, problems were encountered with chromogenic prints, with colour shifts occurring beneath tape and the sensitivity of the dye layers being an issue.

I found the workshop worthwhile for a number of reasons. I learnt new techniques and about equipment and tools of which I’d never heard or thought to use in this way (a bassoon reed for lifting tape carriers was particularly novel). I think everyone appreciated the lecture on the Teas chart, which was a brief but effective introduction to the use of solvents as an aid to tape and tape stain removal. There was discussion about the lack of research into the effects of solvents and local treatment on photographic materials, with difficulties related to the reproducibility of manufactured objects and the compartmentalised and secretive nature of the photographic industry cited as huge obstacles.

The location of the workshop was superb. The area is beautiful and serene and the Center is equipped with excellent facilities (see Image 3). I found it the perfect setting for intensive learning. My attendance at the workshop was made possible by contributions from my employer, The Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation and University of Melbourne Commercial. I was also granted a scholarship from the FAIC/NEH. The support was much appreciated and I hope to make good use of the information and skills learnt.