Preserving the history of conservators and conservation

Did you know that the upcoming AIC Annual Meeting will celebrate the 40th anniversary of AIC?  At such a milestone it is important to ensure that we are preserving our own history.  As part of the January AIC wiki Edit-A-Thon month we have launched a new section on the wiki to record information on the History of Conservation and Conservators.  This is just a start in developing a template for entries but we hope that people will be interested in adding information on colleagues who are no longer with us, their own practices and labs to record for posterity.  Thanks go out to AIC member Rebecca Rushfield for pushing this project forward.  If you are interested in participating or adding information on the wiki please use the Email AIC’s e-Editor contact form at the bottom of this blog page.

Information on other important contributors to our field is available in other areas as well. You can access information on the FAIC Oral History Project on the AIC website.

In other news, conservator Jean Portell is working on a biography of Sheldon and Carolyn Keck and is hoping to receive recollections and comments  from colleagues.  Take a look at the piece she wrote for the Brooklyn Daily Eagle  Heights Couple Who Made Art Shine Like New and to learn more about two of the field’s pioneers.