Participants will learn to differentiate the major black & white photographic processes, both prints and negatives – everything from daguerreotypes to gelatin developed-out photographs, from paper negatives to nitrate film. We will do this by reviewing the history of photography, understanding how photographs deteriorate, and examining lots of images.

Process identification will become the key to determining how best to preserve photographs. While discussing proper storage materials and the best environments, we’ll delineate the special needs of each process. Can they be exhibited safely? Are they prone to abrasion? Are special storage enclosures ever recommended? Which processes require freezer storage to survive? Participants are encouraged to ask questions and to bring items for discussion.

Gary Albright has been consulting, treating, and teaching about photographs for over 40 years. For the past 15 years he has been an art conservator in private practice. Before that he was conservator at the George Eastman House, Rochester, NY and senior paper and photograph conservator at the Northeast Document Conservation Center, Andover, MA. During his career he has treated a diverse array of objects, including the Emancipation Proclamation, a Honus Wagner baseball card, Ansel Adams’ photographs, and working drafts of the Constitution of the United States. Since 2003, Albright has been the guest professor of photograph conservation at the State University at Buffalo. In 2017 he received the American Institute for Conservation’s Sheldon & Caroline Keck Award in recognition of a sustained record of excellence in the education and training of conservation professionals. Albright lives and works in Honeoye Falls, New York.

This intensive hands-on course teaches participants practical skills and provides experience designing mounts, evaluating and using archival materials, making coated brass and stainless steel pin mounts, fabric wrapping Ethafoam and acrylic forms, working with Vivak, cutting, heat bending, and polishing acrylic, and silver brazing brass mounts. In addition, each participant will be encouraged to share mount-making challenges they are currently or will soon be working on at their jobs. Participants are welcome to bring an object for mount making, but let the instructor know what you’re bringing in advance. The Center for Collections Care, including the instructors, does not bear responsibility for items participants bring to the course.

At the request of previous participants, this class has been expanded to five days! The fifth day will provide additional time and opportunity to experiment with the guidance of master mount makers. 

Pam Gaible is the mount shop supervisor at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. She has over 20 years of experience designing and fabricating archival mounts. She has made mounts for a large variety of objects including; dinosaur fossils, Egyptian mummies, Pacific island ceremonial objects, African textiles, Native American clothing, animal skeletons, and meteorites. Major exhibits at the Field Museum which Pam has worked on include “Kremlin Gold: 1000 Years of Russian Gems and Jewels”, “Cleopatra of Egypt”, “Cartier - 1900 to 1939”, “Scrolls from the Dead Sea”, “Inside Ancient Egypt”, “Traveling the Pacific”, “Africa”, “Life over Time”, and “What is an Animal?”. She has a Master of Fine Arts degree in Sculpture from the University of Nebraska in Lincoln.

Earl Lock is a mount maker, exhibit designer, and fabricator in private practice in Chicago. Earl has over 20 years of experience designing and fabricating exhibit components for natural history museums, art museums, and planetariums. He holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, and has made archival mount for major exhibits at The Field Museum, The Adler Planetarium, The Art Institute of Chicago, The Lincoln Museum in Fort Wayne, Indiana, the Speed Art Museum, and the Frazier Museum in Louisville, Kentucky, The Chicago History Museum, the Logan Museum of Anthropology at Beloit College, and for private collectors across the country.

This course is a comprehensive introduction to museum storage solutions, from facility design to safe and effective object support construction. Participants will gain an understanding of the needs of different object material types and methods of mitigating agents of deterioration in storage. The course addresses storage principles, storage furniture, archival materials, and mount-making guidelines.

Participants will gain extensive hands-on experience constructing at least six different types of storage enclosures, containers, and mounts. Participants will leave with these samples, which will serve as an important reference collection for future mount making. Participants will also construct sample boards of a diverse array of archival quality materials and gain a deeper understanding of what archival products are best suited to different materials and for the construction of different enclosures and mounts.

And finally, given the cost of high-quality archival materials and storage solutions, participants will also leave with an understanding of how to better maximize their resources to make more effective, safe, and efficient storage spaces and mounts.

At the request of previous participants, this class has been expanded to four days!

Christa Deacy-Quinn is the Collections Manager at the University of Illinois Spurlock Museum overseeing collections care and preservation, artifact storage, packaging, transport, as well as exhibit design and installation. She is a strong advocate for low-chemical, low-cost Integrated Pest Management (IPM) systems. Christa holds a M.A. in Anthropology from the University of Illinois, is a Certified Technician for General Use Pesticides in Illinois, a Certified Mold Remediation Worker, and her IPM program at the Spurlock has earned Green Shield Certification. She teaches museum collection preservation at the University of Illinois, serves as a faculty associate of Ontario’s Willowbank School of Restoration Arts, and as a peer reviewer for the Museum Assessment Program for the American Alliance of Museums.

This hands-on class focuses on practices used to mat and frame works of art on paper. With an emphasis on methods and materials and hands-on practice, participants will learn everything from basic 4-ply storage mats to elaborate deep bevel mats. Permanent yet reversible and non-permanent means of attaching artwork to mats as well as framing criteria for works on paper will be covered. The role that media and support play in the decision-making process will be discussed throughout the class. Students will leave with examples from each of the exercises that will serve as a visual glossary of the various approaches to matting works on paper.

At the request of previous participants, this class has been expanded to five days. Given the hands-on intensive nature of this course, the course size is limited to eight participants so register early!

Christine Conniff-O’Shea graduated with a BA in Studio Art from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She furthered her studies at the Tamarind Institute of Lithography in Albuquerque, New Mexico and The Smithsonian Institute’s American Museum of Art in Washington, D.C. Christine recently retired from her position as the Associate Conservator for Preparation and Framing in the Department of Paper Conservation at the Art Institute of Chicago, a position she has held for over 35 years. She was responsible for the preparation of all works on paper for exhibition, loan, and storage.

Are you an experienced museum, federal, or Tribal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) practitioner aiming to elevate your expertise? This course, tailored for professionals with a background in implementing NAGPRA, offers advanced training in strategic planning, institutional advocacy, working collaboratively with Indigenous communities, and navigating complex decision-making and repatriation and disposition scenarios.

Some of the most experienced NAGPRA practitioners in the country will share their decades of experience successfully facilitating the repatriation and dispositions of Ancestral human remains and cultural items. You will be guided through strategic approaches, problem-solving sessions, and leadership techniques in NAGPRA practice. Although the “NAGPRA in Practice” course is not a prerequisite, it is recommended for those without multiple years of experience in NAGPRA implementation.

This intensive four-day in-person course will employ a mix of lectures, case studies, interactive discussions, and group activities. Participants are encouraged to bring real-world scenarios for problem-solving sessions.

After completing this course participants will:

• Understand the importance of and develop a NAGPRA strategic plan.
• Gain skills in relationship building.
• Know how to implement the collections provision based on a case’s unique circumstances.
• Tribal practitioners will refine skills in working with and developing collaborative partnerships with museums and federal agencies.
• Be better equipped to navigate sensitive or contentious issues that may arise during the repatriation or disposition process.
• Expand existing NAGPRA resources and practitioner contacts.
• Know how to gain institutional support and sustain institutional commitment.
• Gain skills navigating media and publicly requests.
• Know how to develop successful NAGPRA grant proposals.

The impact of colonialism on museums and Indigenous communities and Indigenous collections care practices are covered in the Culturally Informed Collections Stewardship course.

Jan Bernstein helped lay the groundwork for the repatriation of thousands of Native American individuals and cultural items under the control of the State of California in the 1980s. Recognizing that this was human rights work, Jan found her calling. In 1989, six months before NAGPRA’s passage, Jan helped prepare Colorado museums to comply with NAGPRA. After earning an M.S. in Museum and Field Studies from the University of Colorado, Boulder, Jan served as the University of Denver Museum of Anthropology NAGPRA coordinator and collections manager for eight years. She also taught courses in the University of Denver and University of Colorado Museum Studies graduate programs. In 2003, Jan founded Bernstein & Associates NAGPRA Consultants to facilitate respectful repatriation through meaningful consultation. Since 2010, Jan has served on the faculty of the National Preservation Institute, teaches NAGPRA webinars for the National NAGPRA Program, and develops on-demand training for the National NAGPRA Program, which administers NAGPRA for the Secretary of the Interior. Jan also has a B.A. in Art History and Studio Art from California State University Sacramento.

Jane Richardson joined Bernstein & Associates in 2019 and since then has facilitated the repatriation of thousands of ancestors and cultural items. She is on the National Preservation Institute faculty and has developed on-demand trainings for the National NAGPRA Program. Jane has worked with archaeology and ethnographic collections in numerous museum settings whose institutional philosophies incorporate the perspectives of Indigenous peoples. She has also worked with multiple institutions and federal agencies in preparing their collections for NAGPRA compliance. Jane holds a B.A. in Anthropology from Florida Atlantic University and an M.S. in Museum and Field Studies from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Jackie Veninger-Robert is a NAGPRA practitioner and archaeologist committed to community-informed research and social justice. Before joining Bernstein & Associates Jackie worked in heritage management for tribal governments, museums, academia, and federal agencies where she gained considerable expertise in diverse roles including NAGPRA coordinator, collections manager, researcher and educator. Jackie received her PhD in archaeology from the University of Exeter (UK), focusing on contested landscapes, conflict and heritage of historically marginalized populations. She has taught courses on the decolonization of museum anthropology and cultural heritage law.

This course is an introduction to caring for and preserving paper-based collections. Participants will learn the history of paper manufacture and the factors affecting its deterioration; the basics of caring for a storing paper collections; as well as learn basic hands-on treatments for repairing paper collection materials including humidification and flattening, dry cleaning, mending, and filling losses. Students will learn about the benefits of washing and deacidification as well as better understand when such treatments may be inadvisable. Each student is encouraged to bring paper artifacts of their own for treatment where they will apply what they learned under the guidance of the instructor.

Jennifer Hain Teper serves as the Velde Preservation Librarian at the University of Illinois Libraries overseeing conservation, collections care, digital preservation, and the digitization services throughout the library system. She previously served as the head of conservation at the University of Illinois libraries from 2001-2008. Jennifer graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with an MLIS and Certificate of Advanced Study in the Conservation and Preservation of Library and Archival Materials. She teaches several preservation and conservation courses in the Graduate School of Information Science at the University of Illinois. She is a Fellow of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works, where she serves as the Chair of the Equity and Inclusion Working Group. 

Proper packing of cultural heritage collections is essential to prevent damage while items are in transit. In this hands-on course, participants learn about the various threats associated with moving objects and professional strategies for balancing safety and resources. Participants will learn how to evaluate the individual needs of their collections to ensure they are selecting the correct level of protection and will gain an understanding of how shock, vibration, and relative humidity can impact objects moving by land, sea, or air freight. In-person demonstrations and hands-on experience building a crate will convey how these threats can be mitigated with careful planning and proper materials.

By the end of the course, participants will be able to identify the materials and hardware used in building a crate and internal packing materials. They will also be able to communicate the protection needs of objects with colleagues and vendors. This course is an excellent option for anyone involved with moving collections between storage facilities or those who pack and ship pieces for museum loans.

Rita Gomez served as the Lead Preparator of packing and crating at the J. Paul Getty Museum until her retirement in 2024. Specializing in packing and crating since 1986, Rita developed the packing systems in use today at the Getty and has lent her expertise to many projects including developing packing techniques for Tutankhamen’s Tomb with the Getty Conservation Institute and St. Catherine’s Monastery in the Sinai Peninsula for the packing and movement of manuscript and icon collections for exhibition. Prior to the Getty, Rita was the warehouse manager for Cooke’s Crating from 1982 to 1986. Rita is a California native and hispanoamerican.

This four-day course will start with an overview of historic materials commonly used in western painting traditions and look at ways artists produced and manipulated those materials to achieve artistic goals. Supported by a close study of paintings from Beloit’s Wright Museum of Art, we will begin to train the eye to discern characteristics of solid and textile supports; the influence of ground and preparation layers on color effects; the characteristic blending of various paint media and the influence of varnish and unvarnished finishes. During this process of examination, we will learn the basics of handling framed and unframed paintings and how to manipulate task lighting, magnification, and ultraviolet lighting to reveal evidence of the artist’s technique and later restoration. We will employ these tools in the writing of examination and condition reports.

We will review how materials age and change and how to spot the resulting visual alterations from flaking paint to discolored varnishes. We will learn about traditional approaches to the care of paintings that have resulted in treatments such as lining, varnish removals and retouching and examine ways in which contemporary approaches have changed. We will explore minimally invasive but effective ways in which collections care professionals can employ preventive measures in the storage, exhibition, and movement of paintings to help avoid unnecessary interventive treatments. We will learn how to properly install a painting in its frame and when it is safe to dust painted surfaces and frames. Finally, we will discuss when a conservation professional needs to be contacted and how to work with them effectively. 

Participants are welcome to bring a painting that they would like to learn more about. Beloit College, including the instructor, does not bear responsibility for items that participants bring to the class.

Heather Galloway is the conservator and owner of Galloway Art Conservation, located in Cleveland, OH. She has over 25 years of experience in conservation. She is a Fellow of the American Institute for Conservation and served for six years on an advisory committee for its educational outreach platform Connecting to Collections Care. As an educator she has taught conservation related courses for the undergraduate audience at Oberlin College as well as graduate students in art history at Case Western Reserve University and in conservation at the University of Oslo in Norway. Her teaching focuses on the unique knowledge that practicing
bench conservators can bring to our understanding of cultural heritage along with its care and handling.

She completed her graduate studies in conservation at New York University’s Institute for Fine Arts and holds an MA in Art History from Williams College. She has worked at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Cleveland Museum of Art. She opened her private practice in 2015 after working at the ICA Art Conservation of Cleveland for 16 years.

We’re excited to offer a SECOND session of Mount Making for Exhibits given demand. This is the same course as the first session, just different dates.

This intensive hands-on course teaches participants practical skills and provides experience designing mounts, evaluating and using archival materials, making coated brass and stainless steel pin mounts, fabric wrapping Ethafoam and acrylic forms, working with Vivak, cutting, heat bending, and polishing acrylic, and silver brazing brass mounts. In addition, each participant will be encouraged to share mount-making challenges they are currently or will soon be working on at their jobs. Participants are welcome to bring an object for mount making, but let the instructor know what you’re bringing in advance. The Center for Collections Care, including the instructors, does not bear responsibility for items participants bring to the course.

At the request of previous participants, this class has been expanded to five days! The fifth day will provide additional time and opportunity to experiment with the guidance of master mount makers.

Earl Lock is a mount maker, exhibit designer, and fabricator in private practice in Chicago. Earl has over 20 years of experience designing and fabricating exhibit components for natural history museums, art museums, and planetariums. He holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, and has made archival mount for major exhibits at The Field Museum, The Adler Planetarium, The Art Institute of Chicago, The Lincoln Museum in Fort Wayne, Indiana, the Speed Art Museum, and the Frazier Museum in Louisville, Kentucky, The Chicago History Museum, the Logan Museum of Anthropology at Beloit College, and for private collectors across the country.

Peter Rosen is an Exhibits Specialist/Mountmaker at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC. Peter is an object and material specialist with professional experience spanning object conservation, mount fabrication, and component replication. He worked within modern and contemporary art museums, specifically focusing on underrepresented artists or artists working outside the mainstream – however, he transitioned to natural history, working first for the Field Museum and now the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

This course will provide essential skills needed for all collections-care specialists to handle, assess, maintain, and safely house historic clothing and textiles.

Beginning with the basic chemical building blocks of textile fibers, students will learn how fabrics’ microscopic characteristics impact the preservation, treatment, and interpretation of textile objects. Environmental and practical considerations for the care and display of textiles will be presented along with case studies in successful and problematic conservation solutions.

Working with study collection pieces from Logan Museum of Anthropology, students will learn hands-on skills such as condition reporting, surface cleaning, custom storage mounts, packing, and photography. Participants are encouraged to bring a laptop and a downloadable camera/phone. Sewing skills are not required.

Beth McLaughlin is Senior Textile Conservator the Midwest Art Conservation Center in Minneapolis, MN and has been with the MACC since 2005. She was a conservator in private practice and prior Chief Textile Conservator at Biltmore House in Asheville, North Carolina. She has significant training and experience in the conservation of historic and contemporary textiles and the preservation, care and re-housing of three-dimensional objects. Ms. McLaughlin received a Masters of Fine Arts and a Bachelor of Fine Arts summa cum laude from Ohio University. Ms. McLaughlin is a Professional Associate of the American Institute for Conservation, Textile Specialty Group, and a member of the Textile Society of America, Maya Society of Minnesota, and a variety of textile arts guilds.

This course is an introduction to the technology, history, and care of ceramics for collections care specialists and pre-program conservation students. We will discuss the manufacturing process for earthenware, stoneware, and porcelain vessels, including the socio-historical development of the craft across the world. Working with study collection pieces from Logan Museum of Anthropology, students will learn hands-on skills such as identifying areas and causes of deterioration, writing condition reports, and fabricating storage mounts. We will look at the history of ceramics treatment methodologies, experimenting with practical repair and surface cleaning techniques.

Katrina Posner is an objects conservator in private practice in Arlington, Massachusetts. With over twenty-five years of experience, she has held positions at the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Rijksmuseum, the Straus Center/Harvard Art Museums, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Katrina holds an M.A. in the Conservation of Art and Cultural Heritage from Buffalo State College.

Essential skills for textile conservation are explored in this interactive, advanced class. Common hand stitches and sewing materials suitable to a variety of historic costume and textiles will familiarize participants with appropriate levels of intervention for given situations. Each student will be allowed access to study collection artifacts for immersive practice of stitched repairs, sheer overlays, and patching.

Participants will take away everyday problem-solving skills, proficiency in a range of treatment options, and awareness of optimal materials. Basic sewing ability is preferred but not required.

Camille Myers Breeze began her conservation career in 1989 at the Textile Conservation Workshop in South Salem, New York. After earning a BA in Art History from Oberlin College. Camille received an MA in Museum Studies: Costume and Textiles Conservation from the Fashion Institute of Technology. She spent five years in the Textile Conservation Laboratory at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City before moving to the Textile Conservation Center at the American Textile History Museum, in Lowell, Massachusetts. Camille founded Museum Textile Services in 1999 as a full-service textile conservation studio serving museums, historical societies, and private collectors. In 2015 she co-founded the Andover Figures® line of custom museum forms for conservators and collections specialists.

Displaying historic costume and textiles is one of the most challenging aspects of exhibit preparation. Meeting the needs of the artifacts while also maintaining exhibit priorities requires research, creative use of archival supplies, and time spent hands-on with the items.

In this four-day class, participants will learn how to determine the best way to display flat textiles and three-dimensional garments, including passive, pinned, stitched, Velcro, and magnetic hanging systems. Participants will then construct custom mannequins using both build-out and carve-away methods. Skills for retrofitting a variety of pre-fabricated mannequins for safe use on museum garments will also be discussed. Basic sewing ability is preferred but not required.

Camille Myers Breeze began her conservation career in 1989 at the Textile Conservation Workshop in South Salem, New York. After earning a BA in Art History from Oberlin College. Camille received an MA in Museum Studies: Costume and Textiles Conservation from the Fashion Institute of Technology. She spent five years in the Textile Conservation Laboratory at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City before moving to the Textile Conservation Center at the American Textile History Museum, in Lowell, Massachusetts. Camille founded Museum Textile Services in 1999 as a full-service textile conservation studio serving museums, historical societies, and private collectors. In 2015 she co-founded the Andover Figures® line of custom museum forms for conservators and collections specialists.