June 2016 – Page 4 – AIC Blog Archives: Conservators Converse

44th Annual Meeting – General Session, May 15, “When disaster mitigation is a priority: Evidence from risk analysis of rare events” by Irene Karsten and Stefan Michalski

In this talk, Irene Karsten presented a method that CCI has established to quantitatively evaluate risk assessment for an institution. CCI has been using this method, called the ABC method, to conduct risk assessment for heritage institutions. The probability of a certain incident is estimated by answering the following questions:

How often will the event occur?
How much value will be lost?
How much of the heritage asset will be affected?

A score of 5 points is generated for A, B, and C, for a total magnitude risk out of 15 points. A total of 5 points or lower is considered negligible risk and 15 points is catastrophic and unacceptable.

Score	Risk	Loss to collection
5 or lower	Negligible
9 or lower	Medium to negligible	Damage takes millennia. May agree that level of care is adequate and improvements possible but wait till higher risks are reduced.
10-11	Medium – high	Maybe negotiable. Standard of care may be okay but improvements highly recommended
12-13	High	Lost in 100 years, may be unacceptable
15	Catastrophic	Unacceptable. All value lost in decades. Such risks are rare.

In this talk, Karsten is paying particularly attention to level 10-13 risks. Also, this is a logarithmic scale, which allows the authors to graph a lot of risks on each graph and compare them easily. Karsten went through a number of examples, including two historic houses, art gallery, provincial archives, and science and technology museum, highlighting the various risks and how they were evaluated. For all five institutions, disaster risks in high or extreme categories were fire. CCI did not just assess the risks, but also looked at mitigation of risk. For fire, CCI recommends an automatic fire suppression system. This does not eliminate fire risk but substantially reduces the risk of spread. In terms of cost-effectiveness, options that reduce large risks tend to have a better cost-effectiveness, too. When assessing if your collection is at a serious risk of loss, it has to impact storage.

Karsten then went through five types of weather disasters and explained how an institution would be assessed to be at an extreme or high risk for that threat.
For a flood, an institution is at extreme risk if storage is below flood grade or even below grade near the old water main or faulty storm sewers. An institution is at high risk if it is on grade on a flood plain or below grade.
For a fire, an institution is at extreme or high risk if it is a combustible building structure, there is lack of compartmentation, the region is at risk of wild fire, or there is a lack of automatic fire suppression. 1 in 5 fires is expected to spread to the whole structure.
For an earthquake, an institution is at extreme risk if the building is lacking seismic protection and there is a risk of violent earthquakes (7 or higher on the Richter scale). An institution is at high risk if storage is lacking seismic protection and there is a risk of very strong to violent earthquakes (6.5 or higher on the Richter scale).
For a tornado, an extreme risk is EF4 or EF5 tornados in US and high risk of EF4-5 in Canada, depending on the frequency of tornados in the area.
For a hurricane, an extreme risk is if the building is in a region at risk of major hurricanes (category 3-5) and the building is not designed to resist high winds. In Canada, only category 2 hurricanes really occur, and the damage is rarely extensive to be high or extreme risk.

44th Annual Meeting – Electronic Media Group Session, May 15, "Matters in Media Art III: Sustaining Digital Video Art" by Martina Haidvogl and Peter Oleksik

This talk announced the completion of the latest phase of the Matters in Media Art project focusing on digital preservation and assessment of digital video, and marked the official re-launch of the project’s website, mattersinmediaart.org. The website is the product of a collaborative effort over many years by teams of staff members from Tate, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the New Art Trust. In this talk, Peter Oleksik and Martina Haidvogl, media conservators at MoMA and SFMOMA respectively, provided a background and history of the Matters in Media Art project and walked the audience through the new website.

The New Art Trust was founded in 1997 by Pamela and Richard Kramlich, pioneering collectors of media art. In 2003 they approached the three museums with some funds to gather the four institutions together to discuss emerging practices in the care of media art, and the “Matters in Media Art” project was born. The first phase focused on lending and was launched in 2005. The second phase launched in 2008 and focused on acquisitions, and the third phase began in 2011. The scope of the third phase was originally going to be sustaining digital art; however, this proved too broad, as it could have included all digital art (software-based art, web-based/net art, graphics, and more). The effort was instead fine-tuned to focus on digital preservation and assessment of digital video. The speakers explained that the length of the third phase exceeded the other two not only because the original scope was too broad, but because the field was evolving so rapidly that material they were creating ended up in a constant state of revision. To address this, the group made two decisions: first, to launch a new website encompassing all phases of the project at this AIC Annual Meeting (to provide a much-needed deadline), and second, to create a dynamic resource that could evolve with ongoing input from the wider conservation community. They felt that the project should be a resource for multiple audiences and provide a framework for ongoing collaboration, rather than represent a single perspective and a static endpoint.

The new Matters in Media Art website is hosted on Github, situating the content in an open-source environment where anyone can make suggestions for revisions and additions. The group felt that moving away from closed platforms and static white papers would enable these resources to stay current despite the dynamic pace of change in the field generally. The text of the website was written by teams at the partner institutions and collaboratively edited during bi-weekly virtual meetings. The design team created mock-ups and design tests, coordinated user trials, and solicited and consolidated pre-launch feedback from users within and outside the conservation community. All the work on the third phase was done as a volunteer staff effort with no grant or other project-specific funding.

The speakers then walked the audience through the site in real time. They explained that materials from the first two phases required only minimal updates. The teams worked to ensure there is no outdated information from the first two phases on the site. The new “Documentation” section includes cataloging, condition reports, and assessing digital video. The new section on “Sustaining Digital Art” describes how to store digital works successfully. This section is framed by a survey as a first step that guides the reader through the rest of the section, enabling the reader to develop a plan specific to their needs.

The new material speaks to all audiences: individual, collector, and institution. Some in the audience remarked that this made the recommendations less focused and the site text-heavy. The speakers agreed that it was ambitious and emphasized that the teams want, invite, and need feedback to make refinements and speak to multiple audiences even more effectively.

Contribution guidelines were recently finalized on the website and include ways for users to provide feedback via Github or in a simple online survey. The speakers urged the audience to visit the site and provide their opinions. The project was also announced with a flyer provided to all conference attendees, to encourage anyone dealing with media conservation at their institution to consult this valuable new resource.

44th Annual Meeting – Electronic Media Group Session, May 15, "Videotape Deterioration Mechanisms and Conservation Remedies: A Primer" by Erik Piil

Erik’s talk provided a survey of deterioration mechanisms and the evolution of corresponding treatment literature, as well as some novel approaches to condition assessment and treatment.

He opened with a discussion of “sticky shed” syndrome, in which a hydrolysis reaction in an environment with high RH causes the binder layer on magnetic tape to become unstable. During playback, this softened binder leaves a residue on the playback heads, which can damage the tape and clog the heads. While waveform monitors and vectorscopes can’t help diagnose this condition, a less common scope, tracking RF (the unmodulated RF signal put into waveform) can give a kind of “EKG” of the video signal. Erik showed normal vs. abnormal RF envelopes — the abnormal one indicates head-clogging due to sticky shed. This causes loss of signal and eventually complete loss of image. RF monitoring can help differentiate between sticky shed and other issues, such as a transfer done with an overstretched tape, poor head alignment, and deterioration due to tape wear. For instance, abrasive wear (such as that caused by a particulate scraped down the tape) can cause a ripple in the RF but looks very different on the scope from the abnormal RF envelope caused by sticky shed.

Erik also described the damage that could be caused by abrasive wear. He described various surface cleaning methods that can be employed to remove particles that could cause abrasive damage during playback. These include cleaning open-reel videotape by wrapping dusting paper around the playback heads; however, some tapes have a carbon black back-coating that is susceptible to sticky shed, so it is important to verify that neither the magnetic binder nor the back coating are compromised before cleaning. Other cleaning methods have included using isopropyl alcohol to clean the tape during playback, and using Pellon on both the oxide layer and carbon black back-coating to trap loose oxide particles, along with a vacuum to draw those particles away. Surface cleaning machines integrating these methods can be purchased off-the-shelf (such as Bow Systems 432 open-reel videotape cleaner for enterprise-level use). Alternatively, Erik showed a prototype for a cleaning machine that he is presently testing with Video Data Bank (VDB). It uses open-source circuitry (Arduino-based), approximately $1,200 in parts, and custom spindles. The design is available on GitHub: epiil open-cleaner.

Erik discussed the history of thinking on the baking of tapes exhibiting sticky shed. While this may temporarily restore binder integrity to enable transfer of the content, it does not cure the condition, and is controversial. Some maintain that baking damages the behavior of oxide particles, as well as the mechanical behavior of the pack, while others see it as necessary in order to rescue content from deteriorating sources.

In terms of condition assessment, several research projects are underway to advance scientific understanding of deterioration mechanisms. Among these is the University of South Carolina’s development of a non-invasive test for sticky shed using ATR-FTIR. Not only does this kind of scientific research enable the field to develop best practices based on data rather than anecdotal evidence, it also gives practitioners much-needed tools for non-invasive condition assessment. Presently, condition assessment is largely accomplished through observation of playback, which can cause damage before vulnerability can be ascertained.

Throughout the presentation, Erik shared resources to consult that show the evolution of approaches to condition assessment and treatment of magnetic tapes:

Bharat Bhutan, “Mechanics and Reliability of Flexible Magnetic Media” Springer; 2nd edition (May 31, 2000)
Walter Forsberg & Erik Piil, “Tune In, Turn On, Drop Out: Section 108(c) and Evaluating Deterioration in Commercially Produced VHS Collections” Annual Review of Cultural Heritage Informatics 2012-2013, Facet Publishing (July 2014)
Tony Conrad, “Open Reel Videotape Restoration” The Independent, AIVF, Volume 10, Issue 8, Number 8 (1987) – describes what was a pioneering treatment at the time for sticky shed
Charles Richardson, “The New “Non-Baking” Cure for Sticky Shed Tapes” ARSC Journal, Vol. 44, No. 2 (Fall 2013) – makes a case against baking; advocates for adoption of the cleaning machine developed by the author

Erik invited the audience to visit GitHub to follow the progress of his affordable, open-source open-reel videotape cleaner, and to contribute or comment. This is an exciting project that will make a quality cleaning machine feasible for institutions on limited budgets. The novel use of the tracking RF scope and the look at historic as well as contemporary treatment literature for videotape conservation were two other highlights of this talk.

44th Annual Meeting-General Session: Emergency Preparedness, May 16th, "Through Hell or High Water: Disaster Recovery Three Years after Alberta's Floods," by Emily Turgeon-Brunet and Amanda Oliver

In June 2013 the province of Alberta in Canada experienced a flood that affected over 25% of its area. A state of emergency was declared and over 100,000 Albertans were evacuated. The flood caused around $6 million in damage to artifacts and buildings.
Talk presenters Emily Turgeon-Brunet and Amanda Oliver, were tasked with helping archival institutions throughout the province with recovery and future disaster planning and preparedness nearly two years after the flood occurred. There were many things to deal with including mud, water damage, mold, frozen items, and things that were improperly packed prior to freezing.
Funding from the Government of Alberta allowed the dynamic duo to assess damage and help institutions throughout Alberta with recovery from the flood and to prepare for future disasters. This included site assessments, education, writing disaster plans, performing conservation treatment, and purchasing supplies like water detection systems, frost free freezers, boxes, shelves, and disaster response supplies. Full reports were made with work plans so the institutions could meet their current and future needs and goals. They were able to hire contractors, conservators, and archivists to help with recovery and treatment.
Emily and Amanda were not only out in the field visiting institutions and helping any way they could in person, but they were also working on the home front on multiple forms of outreach. This team is currently developing a loan program where supplies like books, wet/dry HEPA vacuums, and digitization equipment will soon be made available for institutions to use on a temporary basis. They are developing an app to connect archivists across Alberta with emergency contacts and recovery specialists, as well as to put archivists in contact with one another to assist with disaster remediation.
They also have a strong presence on the web. Emily and Amanda developed and performed in a series of six how-to disaster recovery videos! They are very clear, informative, and fun! I highly recommend everyone check those out! The disaster recovery how-to videos can be found here: http://archivesalberta.org/programs-and-services/flood-assistance/how-to-videos/ After you watch the how-to videos there is a lot more to see on the Alberta Flood Advisory Programme website that they developed which can be found here: http://archivesalberta.org/programs-and-services/flood-assistance/

Joint 44th AIC Annual Meeting & 42nd CAC-ACCR Annual Conference – “The Challenges of Conservation of Artifacts from Major Disasters: Titanic, Challenger, Columbia and the World Trade Center.” Speaker: Elizabeth Beesley, May 16

Major disasters in instances such as the NASA’s Challenger and Columbia, the RMS Titanic, and World Trade Center are usually caused as a result of mechanical or thermal stresses that the object was not built to withstand. Artifacts that result from these tragedies imbue an immense cultural reaction, especially when there is a large-scale loss of life. To honor the lives lost and provide closure for survivors, these artifacts are frequently memorialized. According to Conservation Solutions, Inc. (CSI): “working on these artifacts is complex as they have unique materials-related challenges and emotional and cultural importance.”¹

NASA’s space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after takeoff from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on January 28, 1986. After the explosion, pieces of the Challenger fell into and were later recovered from the Atlantic Ocean. One piece recovered from the shuttle’s left side panel patriotically displays an image of the U.S. flag. This panel contained a wide range of materials from fiber batting to ceramic tiles to stainless steel. Conservation issues addressed during treatment include chemical and mechanical damages from the explosion, stabilizing chemical damages from extended exposure to salt water, and removal of barnacles and other biological attachments.

In another space shuttle disaster, NASA’s Columbia disintegrated in Earth’s atmosphere minutes before its scheduled landing at Cape Canaveral on February 1, 2003. Unlike the Challenger, the Columbia debris was recovered from a Texas field and stored in a controlled museum climate. Frames that were recovered from the Columbia’s crew module windows were selected for conservation treatment and exhibition. CSI intentionally left scorch marks intact as well as soil and foliage embedded in the frames since these elements are significant to the history of the artifact. Conservation treatments for the Challenger and the Columbia were conducted in secrecy at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Due to the sensitivity and heightened security associated with these treatments, restrictions were placed on materials brought on base, treatment methods pursued, and waste produced and removed from the base. Once completed, the panel from the Challenger and frames from the Columbia went on display at the Kennedy Space Center in the summer of 2015 as part of a memorial exhibit titled Forever Remembered.

The RMS Titanic collided with an iceberg on April 14, 1912 and sank the following morning. Had there were a sufficient number of lifeboats on board, many deaths would have been prevented. Davits (image above) projecting over the side of the ship were manually operated to lower life boats into the water. One Davit arm conserved by CSI “tell[s] a poignant tale of the Titanic’s sinking as one side of the base shows the screw for the arm in its lowered position while the other is still raised, showing that one of the too few lifeboats that could have saved lives was not lowered.”²
The conserved Davit arm and base had spent decades underwater which severely impacted the iron, steel, and brass metal body and fixings. Because the structure had become quite fragile, the CSI team needed to first stabilize the Davit arm and base and then create an exhibition mount. The Davit arm and base were gently power washed to remove corrosion and the segments were sealed with wax. The mount was composed of an iron frame and steel base which provided additional support and is capable of being disassembled and reassembled for exhibition.

There were seven buildings that together formed the World Trade Center. The Twin Towers ascended high above the other buildings in the World Trade Center as well as the surrounding buildings in New York City. On the morning of September 11, 2001, two hijacked planes were flown into the towers. The towers collapsed about an hour later, destroying with them the other buildings in the World Trade Center complex.
Sections of “tridents” from the base of the World Trade Center remained intact after the collapse, and these architectural elements became an icon of durability and survival for both New Yorkers and Americans across the country. Each trident measured between 70-90 feet and weighed around 50 tons.³ They were removed by the FBI and transported from the site to an undisclosed location. The CSI team conducted treatment in 2015. The main focus of this treatment was to stabilize the paint rust and calcareous attachments, apply a protective coating, prevent water from pooling, and deter birds from nesting inside the trident. As with the Challenger and Columbia, the World Trade Center project was conducted in secret and the conservators had to abide by government restrictions during treatment. The FBI provided CSI with a camera, but conservators were not allowed to bring their own camera equipment or cellular phones onto the property. All before treatment, during treatment, and after treatment photographs were reviewed by the Bureau before being approved and released to the conservation team. Not all the photos that were released to the team were approved to show during Beesley’s presentation.

For each case that was discussed – NASA’s Challenger and Columbia, the RMS Titanic, and World Trade Center – the materials conserved exhibit the physical evidence and effects of disaster. The conservation processes varied from one project to another, but all of them had some degree of secrecy, communication restrictions, and logistics challenges. These objects carry significant cultural value and evoke extreme reactions of fear, anger, sadness, and other emotions from the public. This is especially relevant for objects of recent tragedies and required the CSI team to be diligent about balancing the complex, varied, and changing relationships that stakeholders had with the artifacts.

Bibliography
¹ Beesley, E., Sembrat, J., Rabinowitz, M., & Posluszny Bello, J. (2016). The Challenges of Conservation of Artifacts from Major Disasters: Titanic, Challenger, Columbia and the World Trade Center [Abstract]. American Institute for Conservation of Historic & Artistic Works 44(1) and Canadian Association for Conservation of Cultural Property 42(1), 11. Retrieved from http://www.conservation-us.org/docs/default-source/periodicals/am2016-abstractbook-web.pdf
² (N/A). RMS Titanic Davit Base and Davit Arm Conservation and Mounting. Conservation Solutions, Inc. Retrieved from https://conservationsolutionsinc.com/projects/view/306/rms-titanic-davit-base-and-davit-arm-conservation-and-mounting/
³ Dunlap, D. (2010, September 8). Two ‘Trees’ Return to the World Trade Center. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/08/two-trees-return-to-the-world-trade-center/?_r=0
Pruitt, S. (2015, August 3). NASA Displays Challenger and Columbia Wreckage. A&E Television Networks, LLC. Retrieved from http://www.history.com/news/nasa-displays-challenger-and-columbia-wreckage

Excerpts of authors’ backgrounds as listed on Conservation Solutions, Inc.
Elizabeth Beesley, Conservator & Project Manager
Elizabeth is a conservator with a background in conservation science and experience in collections management and historic preservation. She holds an MEng in Materials Science (2004) from the University of Oxford where she researched Bronze Age metalwork. While a graduate student in conservation at University College London, she conserved archaeological material at English Heritage and worked on historic aircraft at the Science Museum in London. Subsequently, Elizabeth investigated excavated lacquerware using spectroscopy at the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. More recently she managed a digitization program at College Park Aviation Museum where she also assisted with collections care. Before joining Conservation Solutions in 2012, Elizabeth worked as an assistant conservator at Aeon Preservation on archival research, construction management and condition assessments. For more information about Elizabeth, please visit: https://conservationsolutionsinc.com/staff/view/152/elizabeth-beesley

Joseph Sembrat, Senior Executive Vice President & Senior Conservator
Joseph Sembrat has been immersed in the conservation field for over twenty years. In 1999, together with his wife Julya, he founded Conservation Solutions, which has since developed into a leading, nationwide, historic preservation firm focusing on art, artifacts and architecture. Conservation Solutions has been recognized for and won numerous awards for its work over recent years . . . Joe is also an accomplished author and presenter of topical industry relevant issues. He continuously conducts research and publishes papers on topics in the preservation field with special emphasis on technology-sharing among various areas of industrial research and its applicability to conservation treatments. Joe holds an MS in Historic Preservation from Columbia School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (1993), and a BA in Art History from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (1990). For more information about Joe, please visit: https://conservationsolutionsinc.com/staff/view/79/joseph-sembrat

Mark Rabinowitz, Executive Vice President & Senior Conservator
Mark Rabinowitz is Executive Vice President, Senior Conservator. He has been part of the senior management team of Conservation Solutions since 2003. He brings over 25 years of experience as a conservator to the leadership team of the firm. Mark served as Deputy Chief of Operations for Preservation at the Central Park Conservancy throughout the 1990s, during which time he initiated and directed their monuments conservation and historic preservation programs. In 1997 Mark was named Chief Consulting Conservator for the New York City Parks Department where he started up a similar program to treat monuments throughout New York City . . . Mark has presented papers, published articles, lectured and taught at national and international conferences and institutions including APT, AIC, ICOMOS US, SFIIC (France), Tulane University, Columbia University, New York University Conservation Center, University of Texas at San Antonio, Long Island University, Penland School of Crafts, and the Lacoste School of the Arts in France. His art has been exhibited in galleries in New York, Brussels, and Paris, and is represented in public and private collections in the US and Europe. For more information about Mark, please visit: https://conservationsolutionsinc.com/staff/view/78/mark-j-rabinowitz

Justine Posluszny Bello, Vice President of Operations & Senior Conservator
Justine joined Conservation Solutions in 2007. She operates as a project lead and Senior Conservator, applying her strong expertise in all aspects of conservation, including condition assessments, conservation treatments, materials testing and analysis, and construction management . . . Justine holds a MS in Historic Preservation from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, and a BA in Historic Preservation from the University of Mary Washington. For more information about Justine, please visit: https://conservationsolutionsinc.com/staff/view/76/justine-posluszny-bello

44th Annual Meeting – Book and Paper Session, May 16, “A Technical Exploration of a 19th century Qajar Artists’ Album”, by Penley Knipe

Attendees of the Book and Paper Business Meeting, and other early-morning risers, were rewarded with a technical investigation of a 19th century Persian album owned by the Harvard Art Museums, presented by Penley Knipe, the Philip and Lynn Straus Senior Conservator of Works of Art on Paper and Head of Paper Lab at the Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies.
An exhibition scheduled at the Harvard Art Museums in 2017 will feature the album and other Qajar period work, and Knipe used this opportunity to research and document the various papers, media and techniques. The album is a carefully arranged collection of 141 drawings on paper cut and adhered onto folios of colored paper. Included are, sketches, finished drawings, and design patterns. The album will be disassembled for the exhibition, and rebound after it comes off view, allowing Knipe to complete extensive documentation and research on each sheet. Thus far she has identified seventy-seven wove sheets and forty-seven laid sheets. Twenty-six sheets contained watermarks. Surprisingly, as the watermarks were identified, it was discovered that the majority were of European origin. Seventeen watermarks were Italian, including the Magnani paper mill (Cartiera Magnani, established in the early 15th-century), two were English, and seven watermarks were from the Islamic world. All the watermarks were documented using digital beta radiography. This imaging revealed matching partial watermarks, allowing certain sheets to be reassembled, and adding more clues to the use of the paper. The variety of papers in this album, and preponderance of European papers, provides evidence for the paper trade during this period, as well as the transfer of papermaking technologies between east and west. Knipe’s research will make significant contributions to future scholarship on the history and manufacture of these papers.
After Knipe presented her exploration of the paper in the album, she focused on the techniques employed on the sheets. Many of the drawings were used for transferring images to other objects, evidenced by their pounced or inscribed lines, rubbed media, and thin/transparent quality of the paper supports. As the album was examined, it became clear that the drawings were arranged according to degree of use, and many had not been used at all. Knipe linked some of the patterns to objects bearing very similar designs, and illustrated this by showing us a (transferred) drawing of a long floral pattern next to an image of a lacquered pen box.
Investigation of the various papers and transfer techniques became a teaching tool for a graduate seminar in the Materials Lab at Harvard Art Museums where, over multiple sessions, the materials’ fabrications and use were explored through hands-on activities. The author had an opportunity to visit the Materials Lab after the 44th Annual Meeting, which is stocked full of artists’ materials for a variety of techniques in all media: from screen printing, to ceramics, to gilding. The benefit of teaching with real materials, and practicing the methods firsthand, is clear; for example, sight nuances, such as the manner in which “red chalk” rubs into and stains thin paper is directly observed and becomes much more easily recognizable in actual drawings. Knipe expanded on these practical sessions by leading a graduate seminar later in the year that explored both the media and the papers comprising the album.
Knipe’s research will be incorporated into the upcoming exhibition, where the technical results will be shared online and through gallery talks. In the meantime, high-quality, digital images of the album pages are available to explore online: http://www.harvardartmuseums.org/search-results?q=1960.161.

44th Annual Meeting – General Session: Lead by Example, Models to Follow, Track E, May 16, “PRICE: Preparedness and Response in Collections Emergencies,” by Sarah Stauderman

The Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC has long dealt with collection emergencies. One of the first major disasters in their history was a construction fire that broke out on January 24, 1865 in the Smithsonian Institution Building, lovingly known as the Castle. This fire started between the ceiling and the roof of the main hall when workmen accidentally inserted a stove pipe into the brick lining of the building, instead of into a flue. In another unfortunate twist of fate, Secretary Joseph Henry (1797-1878) had established a winter-time fuel conservation program throughout the building, causing the water-filled fire buckets located in the hallways to freeze in the frigid temperatures. The library and many early collections, including the papers of James Smithson, were largely destroyed.

Fire in Smithsonian Institution Building, by Gardner, Alexander 1821-1882, January 24, 1865, Smithsonian Archives – History Div, 37082 or MAH-37082.

Now, one hundred and fifty years later, colleagues at the Smithsonian Institution have come together to discuss the roles they play in the prevention, preparation, and response to collections-related emergencies. While the Smithsonian currently maintains a robust disaster management program, it focuses primarily on human safety, which no one would argue comes first in any emergency. However, recognizing the need for planning for collections, staff has recently developed a concept for the Institution called PRICE, or Preparation and Response In Collections Emergencies.
The Smithsonian Institution policy on emergencies is encoded in Directives. Two directives that pertain to stewardship for collections in emergencies are: Smithsonian Directive (SD) 109 and SD 600. SD 109 sets requirements at both an institutional- and unit-level for emergency management pans. SD 600 establishes policies and standards for all aspects of collections management, which includes emergency management.
Two recent and notable emergencies sparked this reevaluation of collections emergency preparedness – the collapse of the Garber Facility in 2010 due to the weight of snow on the roof, and an earthquake in the DC region in 2011. Several areas for improvement were identified from these events:

Training for all staff. There is a need to effectively inform staff about proper lifesaving responses to specific emergencies (such as earthquakes), the Incident Command System, and procedures for access to affected facilities.

Training for collection emergency response staff. There is a need for training on safety, related to collection-based hazards, post-damage assessment methods, and salvage techniques for specific media types.

Quality control during installation and inspection of storage furniture.

Design of storage housing and exhibit mounts to minimize damage in the event of a future seismic event.

Collections spaces to tolerate risks, such as and earthquake or flood.

In the context of these recent emergencies, the Smithsonian has been approaching preventive conservation initiatives pan-institutionally. For example:

“Strengthening collections” is listed as part of the Institution’s strategic plan, as is broadening access

Through the National Collections Program (NCP), there are four leadership groups currently addressing collections stewardship: Collections Advisory Committee, Collections Space Committee, Digitization Program Office (DPO), and several media-specific initiatives.

The Collections Emergency Working Group, which formulated the PRICE initiative, brought together collections managers, conservators, physical security specialists, NCP staff, and facilities professionals.

The Collections Emergency Working Group recommended that in the event an emergency involves collections, the Emergency Operation Center and National Collections Program will have the PRICE team of collections responders to assist and activate response and recovery. Since the Smithsonian uses the Incident Command System (ICS) for emergencies, the PRICE team would fit seamlessly into its structure as one of the reporting groups to the incident commander. For more information about ICS in libraries, archives, and museums, check out David Carmichael’s book on the topic.
The PRICE committee structure will be that of six members and a chair. (Samantha Snell joined the NCP in March 2016 as the PRICE chair.) The team will follow the emergency life-cycle of preparedness, response, and recovery, and consists of three concentrations that must be addressed throughout an emergency – policy and procedures, training, and logistics.

PRICE Structure, Powerpoint, S. Stauderman.

Just remember that the PRICE initiative does NOT replace or duplicate emergency command centers (ECCs) or replace unit plans. However, it DOES enable ECCs, synthesize planning efforts, develop capacity, foster Smithsonian sharing, and take as models, the Alliance for Response and Cultural Recovery Center.
This concept is now in its initial implementation phase at the Smithsonian, so stay tuned for more exciting news about this initiative!

44th Annual Meeting – Paintings Session, 15 May 2016, "The Mellow Pad in layers, colors, and time: investigating the materials and technique of Stuart Davis," by Jessica Ford

For the last talk of the first PSG session, Jessica Ford (Andrew W. Mellon Fellow in paintings conservation, Brooklyn Museum) presented an in-depth look at the technique and legacy of Stuart Davis (1892-1964). This talk is timely considering the renewed interest in Davis – the retrospective Stuart Davis: In Full Swing is currently on view at the Whitney Museum of Art through September 25. A loan request prompted Jessica’s study of The Mellow Pad (1945-51), and a subsequent grant from the Bank of America Conservation Fund supported not only the pre-exhibition treatment, but also a technical study of the painting and some envy-inducing technology upgrades for the BKM conservation department.

Stuart Davis (American, 1892-1964). The Mellow Pad, 1945-1951. Oil on canvas, 26 1/4 x 42 1/8 in. (66.7 x 107 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Bequest of Edith and Milton Lowenthal, 1992.11.6

Davis’s art centers on his interaction with color and space, and was heavily influenced by American jazz. He approached his compositions in the same way jazz musicians of the time approached theirs, often riffing on a past theme to arrive at a new result. The Mellow Pad is a riff on a work he began more than a decade before – 1931’s House and Street. In her talk, Jessica illustrated the work’s origin and evolution, even finding old studio photos that showed previous iterations of the work, manipulating and overlaying them to understand how the layers were built up over the long period that Davis worked on this painting.
Jessica took the non-destructive technical study to new heights with the help of the BoA grant, acquiring for the museum a multi-spectral imaging (MSI) setup, reflectance transformation imaging (RTI) equipment, and a fiber optic reflectance spectroscopy (FORS) system. She also collaborated with Nottingham Trent University to bring optical coherence tomography (OCT) to the museum to elucidate questions of layering in the paint without removing a sample. The graphics showing a moving optical cross-section and the feature where you can essentially fall into the paint layer were especially enthralling to this OCT newbie.
The wax-lined painting in its pre-treatment state had significant interlayer cleavage with resulting lifting, due to interlayer chalk from the artist’s technique, zinc-containing pigments, interlayer dirt from the long period of creation, or unstable binding media – or, more likely, some fearsome combination thereof. Jessica performed an admirable feat of BEVA consolidation, captured in this time-lapse video, which I highly recommend you watch because it’s weirdly satisfying to see an immense consolidation job vanquished in 43 seconds. Another condition concern was the discoloration that seemed to only affect paints that were layered in a certain way – a magenta stripe fading only where layered over a certain type of black. This problem is still under study and Jessica included a call-for-commiseration to anyone who might have seen this phenomenon on another Davis painting.
Davis’s work has gone through cycles of interest, and it’s nice to see it’s on the uptick, though there is still significantly less known about his working method than many other American artists of his era. Jessica’s presentation contributed to the aim of increasing our knowledge of Davis’s technique while simultaneously serving as a reminder that there is a lot left to be learned from this artist. I hope this fascinating study spurs more interesting collaborations among the author, the BKM, and other conservators and art historians studying his work.

Job Posting: Associate Objects Conservator – Museum of Fine Arts (Boston, MA)

Associate Objects Conservator – Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, is an encyclopedic collection comprising more than 450,000 objects. Founded in 1870, the Museum’s collections include ancient archaeological materials, American and European sculpture and decorative arts, African, Oceanic and Asian objects and sculpture, as well as contemporary works.
Conservation and Collections Management is an integral part of the Museum’s stated purpose to hold its collections in trust for future generations. Members of the department promote the long-term preservation of artworks through development of conservation treatments, study of materials and techniques, scholarly research and documentation. The department follows internationally established standards to document and maintain the aesthetic and physical integrity of works of art through six conservation disciplines, an analytical facility, and a collections management division responsible for safe exhibition, storage, transport, as well as the collections database.
Founded in 1929, the Objects Conservation Laboratory upholds a long and distinguished tradition of excellence in the examination, treatment, and preservation of cultural heritage, supported by a full range of scientific resources.
The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston seeks to fill a full-time Associate Objects Conservator position beginning in the summer of 2016. The position may be renewed annually through current term end date of April 2019.
Under the direction of the Head of Objects Conservation or the Conservator, the Associate Conservator will be responsible for the conservation of works to be exhibited at the Museum’s sister museum, the Nagoya/Boston Museum of Fine Arts (N/BMFA), as well as objects to be loaned to other exhibition partners.
Essential Functions:

Survey artworks from all areas of the Museum’s encyclopedic collection to make recommendations relating to travel and exhibition.
Create budgets, schedule conservation treatments, and determine requirements for packing, installation, casework, and mountmaking.
Carry out treatments and perform all work in accordance with the Code of Ethics and Guidelines for Practice of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (AIC).
Fully document all work in writing and through photography, in accordance with AIC Code of Ethics and Guidelines for Practice and following departmental standards in MFA’s collections database system.
Work closely with curatorial and other staff at the MFA, N/BMFA, and other venues to plan installations.
Significant travel as a courier is expected.
Supervise other staff as directed.
Carry out research in support of treatments as needed.
Perform additional tasks in support of conservation activities in the Objects Lab as needed.

Qualifications:

Applicants must have a Master’s degree from a recognized conservation training program, or equivalent experience.
A minimum of seven years of post-training experience is required.
Familiarity with the treatment of a wide variety of materials is strongly preferred.
Excellent interpersonal skills.
Experience with digital photography, Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel.

Application materials must be received by July 8, 2016. For consideration, please submit your letter of interest, résumé, and two letters of recommendation to: resumes@mfa.org. You may also submit your materials via postal mail to: Human Resources Department, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 465 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115. Confirmation of receipt of complete applications will be sent via e-mail.
The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston is an Equal Opportunity Employer and seeks diversity in its workforce.

Job Posting: Chief Conservator – The Field Museum (Chicago, IL)

The Field Museum, Chicago, IL is seeking a Chief Conservator
– Location: Chicago, IL
The Chief Conservator will undertake conservation planning, programming, and implementation. The individual in this position will also be responsible for the management of conservation programs, facilities, and staff, as well as the examination, documentation, and treatment of objects and specimens in the Museum collections. The Chief Conservator will report to and strongly collaborate with the Head of Anthropology Collections and will consult with the appropriate Collections Administrative Teams. The Chief Conservator will initiate and support awareness and fundraising efforts for collection preservation and the Museum mission.
Duties and Responsibilities

Spearheads production and implementation of long range collection conservation planning. Develops and implements collections policies and procedures in collaboration with curators, collection managers, and registrars.
Surveys collections in collaboration with curators and collection managers to assess the condition of objects and specimens and determine preservation and treatment needs
Documents, examines, and performs conservation treatments and procedures on objects and specimens in the collections.
Provides conservation guidance to Collections, Exhibits, and other museum staff to establish, monitor, and maintain proper environmental conditions in storerooms, exhibits, and work areas as well as to prescribe, review, and upgrade methods and materials used for the storage and packing of objects and specimens
Coordinates exhibition conservation program. May perform conservation work for incoming, outgoing, and in-house exhibits including conditioning and overseeing installation
Assesses, recommends, and provides treatment of objects and specimens for outgoing loans to borrowing institutions for exhibitions and research. Provides guidance on exhibition mounts. May travel as courier to borrowing institutions to condition report and oversee installations and de-installations
Prepares conservation funding proposals
Performs research leading to improved methods, materials, and procedures for conservation, storage, and exhibit of specimens; disseminates results in publications and oral presentations
Participates in professional meetings, workshops, and other activities to keep current in the field of conservation and enhance professional knowledge and skills
Conducts tours and public presentations when needed
Supervises and manages all conservation staff as well as volunteers,
interns, and visitors as required
Responsible for managing the daily operation of the conservation
laboratories including the organization, maintenance and ordering of equipment and supplies
Performs other conservation and collections-related activities as
assigned

Qualifications

Degree in conservation from a recognized training program with a specialization in objects and ethnographic conservation
Demonstrated extensive conservation experience with management and supervisory responsibilities
Demonstrated working knowledge and practice of conservation ethics, theory, method, and literature
Working knowledge of lab equipment and chemicals
Strong manual skills and attention to detail
Demonstrated superb organizational skills
Proven verbal and written communication skills
Conservation grant writing experience
Leadership and interpersonal skills
Demonstrated ability to work independently and as a member of a team, to enlist the cooperation and involvement of others
Demonstrated experience in mentoring conservators, students, and
volunteers
Demonstrated experience in collection care policy, planning, and
implementation
Demonstrated experience in resource and project management
Skilled in negotiation and resolution of non-routine problems
Proven experience with standard digital conservation photography as well as computer proficiency with museum collections databases, Microsoft Word, and Microsoft Excel. Working knowledge of KE EMu highly desirable
Experience with natural history collections conservation desirable

Candidates without the requisite experience for Chief Conservator may be
considered for a conservation position focusing on ethnographic objects.
To apply, go online to https://www.fieldmuseum.org/about/careers and submit your application.