Collections care encompasses museum-wide activities that require an understanding of the factors that cause deterioration and the actions that can slow the rate of deterioration and prevent damage. This course provides the foundational preservation knowledge necessary to care for museum, library, and archive collections. Course topics include:

• Developing a community of practice in collections care
• Culturally sensitive stewardship
• Hazardous materials in collections
• Agents of deterioration
• Mitigation of the agents of deterioration
• Archival materials
• Preventive care and exhibits
• Care of organic objects (e.g., textiles, paper, keratin and collagen-based materials)
• Care of inorganic objects (e.g., metals, glass, ceramics, stone, bone, antler, ivory)

This four week course uses a blended learning format. The class meets synchronously two hours per week via video conferencing, along with asynchronous discussions, readings, and hands-on activities to be completed each week. Participants build community through small group activities during synchronous class, online discussions, and virtual gatherings. Live sessions will be held on Thursdays from 3:00-5:00 pm CST.

The course fee includes all course materials, shipping, and Center for Collections Care swag. Hands-on kits and instructions are mailed to participants before the start of class. Hands-on kits and interactives include:

• Archival materials kit
• Light fading kit
• IPM monitoring kit
• Fiber Identification kit

This class is part of a two-part beginner-level series that serves as a gateway to more advanced hands-on conservation courses. The other segment of this series, Fundamentals of Collections Management is offered annually. These courses need not be taken in sequence. Maximum number of participants: 20.

Christa Deacy-Quinn is the Collections Manager at the University of Illinois Spurlock Museum where she has managed collections care and preservation, artifact storage, packaging, transport, as well as exhibit design and installation since 1991. Christa holds a M.A. in Anthropology from the University of Illinois and a B.A. in Anthropology and Museum Studies from SUNY-Oswego. In addition, she teaches museum collection preservation at the University of Illinois, serves as a faculty associate of Ontario’s Willowbank School of Restoration Arts, and is a peer reviewer for the Museum Assessment Program for the American Alliance of Museums. Christa is author of FUNdamentals of Museum IPM, accessible for free download.

Are you familiar with the basics of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) and want to deepen your understanding? If so, this course is for you. Some of the most experienced NAGPRA practitioners in the country will share their knowledge and practical tips during this course. What you learn in this course will build confidence in implementing NAGPRA and is applicable to working for and with Indian Tribes, Native Hawaiian organizations, museums (as the term is defined in NAGPRA), and Federal agencies. This course is part of a two-part NAGPRA series and is limited to 20 participants. The Advanced NAGPRA In Practice in-person class will be taught March 18-April 8, 2026. This course is not a prerequisite for the Advanced course.

This four-week course uses a blended learning format of synchronous and asynchronous learning. We will meet synchronously two hours per week via video conferencing, along with asynchronous discussions, readings, and activities to be completed each week. Live meetings will be on Wednesdays from 3:00-5:00 PM CST. Participants will build a community of practice through group activities during synchronous sessions, online discussions, and virtual gatherings.

After completing this course participants will:

• Be confident in their understanding and implementation of the law and regulations.
• Learn how to identify Indian Tribes who may have an interest in participating in meaningful consultation that may lead to cultural affiliation determinations, repatriations, and dispositions.
• Know how to respectfully plan, facilitate, and document individual and intertribal consultations.
• Know how to conduct aboriginal land research.
• Learn how to develop NAGPRA Notices, Disposition Agreements, Transfer documents, Memorandums of Understanding/Care and Trust Agreements, and draft concise and considerate correspondence.
• Understand the provisions of the new NAGPRA regulation and expectations of museums and federal agencies.
• Understand the importance of and develop a NAGPRA needs assessment.
• Build or expand existing NAGPRA resources and practitioner contacts.

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.

Collaboration and consultation with originating communities and the adoption of culturally informed stewardship are emerging as best practices for museum collections. Culturally informed stewardship, or cultural care, takes a holistic and culturally inclusive approach to preservation, access, and use of cultural items, records, and images. Instructors will discuss colonial collection histories, provide select readings that offer diverse perspectives on collections care, and emphasize the importance of collaboration and consultation in all facets of collections care. Students will learn about the topics below from instructors, guest speakers, case studies, and hands-on activities.

Course topics include:

• The impact of colonialism on museums and Indigenous communities
• Implementation of respectful terminology
• Collaboration and consultation principles and practice
• Policy and procedure related to cultural care, access, and use
• Culturally appropriate storage materials and methods (hands-on kit provided!)

This four-week course uses a blended learning format. The class meets synchronously two hours per week via video conferencing, along with asynchronous discussions, readings, and hands-on activities. Participants build community through small group activities during synchronous class, online discussions, and virtual gatherings. Live sessions will be held on Wednesdays from 2:00-4:00 pm CST.

The course fee includes course materials, shipping, and Center for Collections Care swag. One hands-on kit and instructions will be mailed to participants before the start of class.

This class is a beginner-level course that serves as an important companion to all collections related courses, including Fundamentals of Collections Care which is offered annually. These courses need not be taken in sequence.

Jessie Ryker-Crawford (White Earth Chippewa, or Anishinaabe) is the recently retired Director of the MFA Cultural Administration Department at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) and teaches as a full professor in the Museum Studies Program. She is an alumni of IAIA, receiving an AFA in both Studio Arts and Museum Studies. She received her MA in Cultural Anthropology – with a minor in American Indian Studies –and PhD in Sociocultural Anthropology from the University of Washington (UW) focusing on the Indigenization of the museum field. Dr. Ryker-Crawford acts as a tribal advisor and has presented material on her studies at various conferences including the Association for Tribal Archives, Libraries and Museums, the National Congress of the American Indian, and the International World Archaeological Congress; she has published numerous articles and book chapters on Native American art and Indigenous models of exhibition and collections care.

Dr. Jennifer Shannon is on leave from her position as Curator & Associate Professor of Cultural Anthropology, University of Colorado, Boulder to serve as Manager of the new Outreach & Engagement Planning Office at the National Museum of the American Indian. She practices collaborative anthropology and her classes and work center Native Nations’ perspectives on museum collections. As a consultant prior to her current position, Dr. Shannon evaluated and provided training on documenting cultural care for the NMAI.

Collections management is everything that is done to preserve, develop, and make collections accessible for use. Preservation principles are covered in Fundamentals of Collections Care. Fundamentals of Collections Management takes as its focus a basic introduction to the development of and access to collection. Development encompasses acquisition, legal and ethical issues, policy, planning, and relevance to mission and access refers to both intellectual and physical accessibility. Intellectual accessibility is how we make associated data about collections available. Physical accessibility involves access in storage and management of the different ways collections are physically used and the information that results from that usage (i.e., loans, exhibits, publications, cultural use, research, destructive testing, and educational programs, etc.).

Course topics include:

• Developing a community of practice in collections management
• Principles of collections stewardship
• Benchmarks to meet national standards
• Value of collections to mission and stakeholders
• Collections management policy and plans
• Acquisition and accession criteria and processes
• Deaccession criteria and disposal
• Manual and electronic documentation systems
• Condition reporting (hands-on kit provided!)
• Labeling objects (hands-on kit provided!)
• Legal and ethical issues impacting acquisition, deaccession,and use

This four week course uses a blended learning format. The class meets synchronously two hours per week via video conferencing, along with asynchronous discussions, readings, and hands-on activities. Participants build community through small group activities during synchronous class, online discussions, and virtual gatherings. Live sessions will be held on Thursdays from 3:00-5:00 pm CST.

The course fee includes course materials, shipping, and Center for Collections Care swag. One hands-on kit and instructions will be mailed to participants before the start of class.

This class is part of a two-part beginner-level series that serves as a gateway to more advanced hands-on conservation courses. The other segment of this series, Fundamentals of Collections Care is offered annually. These courses need not be taken in sequence. Maximum number of participants: 20.

Christa Deacy-Quinn is the Collections Manager at the University of Illinois Spurlock Museum where she has managed collections care and preservation, artifact storage, packaging, transport, as well as exhibit design and installation since 1991. Christa holds a M.A. in Anthropology from the University of Illinois and a B.A. in Anthropology and Museum Studies from SUNY-Oswego. In addition, she teaches museum collection preservation at the University of Illinois, serves as a faculty associate of Ontario’s Willowbank School of Restoration Arts, and is a peer reviewer for the Museum Assessment Program for the American Alliance of Museums. Christa is author of FUNdamentals of Museum IPM, accessible for free download.

This online course presents half a millennium of European picture framing by discussing the history of frame styles in connection to architecture, painting, and the decorative arts. In five afternoon sessions, we review the history of picture frames: from the international Gothic style to the Italian and Northern Renaissance, via the Dutch Golden Age and the French frame styles into 19^th and 20^th-century framing. The participants will be shown tools for distinguishing styles and periods of frame manufacture. This online course serves first-time learners and professionals needing to refresh their knowledge.

Tuesday, September 22, 2026

Late Medieval picture framing was influenced by architecture and illuminated manuscripts. Paintings and frames formed designed units, often emphasized by extending the pictorial space with trompe l’oeil painting on frames. The interplays between Gothic and Renaissance influences resulted in gradual transitions of frame shapes and profiles until the Iconoclasms finally ended the medieval frame styles.

Thursday, September 24, 2026

Italian art and architecture led to European frame designs during the 16th and 17th centuries. Renaissance frame profiles evolved in the Lowlands and eventually became more refined by embellishing with highly polished ebony, fruitwood, and even whalebone veneers, sometimes combined with Southern German ripple molding techniques.

Tuesday, September 29, 2026

The flamboyant Italian influences on woodcarving continued in 17^th-century Europe, particularly in France and Holland. The Dutch Golden Age produced baroque frames and cartouches, including classicist, trophy, and auricular-style frames. The post-1685 Huguenot exodus from France paradoxically increased the French influence on the European decorative arts, including picture frames.

Thursday, October 1, 2026

The French decorative arts were renowned for their exceptional aesthetic and technical refinements during the reigns of Louis XIII, Louis XIV, Louis XV, and Louis XVI. Mold-made ornamentation began in Paris during the early 1700s, which would eventually lead to industrialized frame-making. French frame styles influenced frame styles for three centuries in England, Europe, and North America.

Tuesday, October 6, 2026

Empire frames with purely mold-made ornaments were followed by a dazzling variety of 19th-century neo-styles frames, like Biedermeier, Neo-Rococo, Neo-Gothic, Neo-Classical, Eclectic, and Barbizon frames. Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau frames were contrasted to industrialization, while 20th-century Art Deco and Minimalist framing echoed modernism. During the 20^th and 21^st centuries, museum re-framing has changed from less informed approaches to studying original framing.

PRACTICAL INFORMATION

Target audience: Students and beginning/advanced professionals in art history or the conservation of paintings and picture frames.

Participants: Maximum of 20. 

Times (in daylight savings time):

• San Francisco 10:00am-12:00 noon
• Chicago 12:00 noon-2:00 pm
• New York 1:00-3:00 pm
• London 6:00-8:00 pm
• Amsterdam 7:00-9:00 pm

Hubert Baija is a specialist in gilding conservation, historical technology, and picture frame history who taught and trained many conservation students and mid-career professionals. After three decades as a senior conservator at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, he continues practical restoration work, serves as a consultant with institutions and collectors worldwide, and does Ph.D. research at the University of Amsterdam.