Author: Carmina Lamare-Bertrand

Historic Daniel Burnham House in Champaign, IL, to be demolished

In Champaign, IL, the very historic and majestic 1884 Burnham residence designed by Daniel Burnham and John Root is under imminent threat of demolition as the local School Board plans to demolish it within weeks to put up a parking lot.

As most of you likely know, Daniel Burnham is one of the most famous architects in the world. He largely developed the skyscraper and his great works include NYC’s iconic and much loved Flatiron Building, Wash DC’s Union Station and National Mall, the Field Museum, Chicago World’s Fair, CAs Mt Wilson Observatory + 300 more. He built skyscrapers and iconic buildings in almost 20 states all over the country, London and the Philippines.

Burnham designed very few residential homes and only 10 remain in the world. Champaign is very fortunate to have one. However, it is about to be demolished by the school board for a parking lot.

Multiple alternative options exist instead of demolishing the very historic, architecturally relevant and well maintained Burnham House, including finding another space for the annex lot, repurposing the Burnham for education, etc.

Very many are not aware of the very historic and immense architectural legacy that we are very fortunate to have in our community. Very viable, feasible alternatives exist that promote the High School expansion and do not involve demolition of the very Historic Burnham. We hope that our School Board could recognize the benefits of historic preservation and that its potential benefits to students and the community are far greater than providing some additional parking. With some creative thinking, a state of the art high school and the community and country’s historic and architectural legacy can go hand in hand.

Please sign the petition to save the historic Burnham house from demolition.  We ask that the historic Burnham House be preserved for the education and enjoyment of our children, our community, and well beyond.

Please read and sign the petition: Save The Historic Burnham House http://chn.ge/2lZCW5u.  Once it is gone, it is lost to all.
For more information and photos, please see SaveBurnham.weebly.com.

Book and Paper Conservation Internship (London, UK) – Passed Deadline

*** APPLICATION DEADLINE HAS PASSED – PLEASE DO NOT APPLY FOR THIS POSITION ***

THE BRITISH LIBRARY

  • Position: Intern, Conservation of Exhibitions and Loans
  • Full time: 36 hours per week
  • Fixed Term: 9 months
  • Salary: GBP10.20 per hour (London Living Wage)

The British Library is pleased to offer a 9 month internship in Conservation. The internship is available to conservators who have graduated in the last 2 years, have limited work experience in conservation, and who wish to develop their hands on book and paper-based conservation, and assessment skills. The successful candidates will need to have a book or paper conservation qualification(s) (an MA in conservation would be desirable).

The internship will focus on how Conservation enables the safe display of it’s mainly book and paper-based cultural material. On completion, it is expected that the intern will have enhanced their ability to make recommendations for the safe display of collection items and developed an appreciation of the history of items and the sensitivity to cultural and religious issues.

For further information on the internship and the candidate minimum essential requirements, please see the full Internship Profile, available on the Library’s website.

Please email Mark Browne, Conservation Manager at mark.browne@bl.uk attaching the following:

  1. A letter of interest, which should include how the internship will benefit you and what skills and experience that you will bring to British Library reflecting the list of criteria for the internship stated in the Internship Profile.
  2. An up to date CV.
  3. Two or three examples of treatment records from your portfolio for items you have worked on.
  4. Name and contact details of two referees.
  5. A statement indicating that you are able to work in the UK. Official documentation will be required if you are short listed for interview.
  • Closing date: Sunday, February 28, 2018 — *NB: Please note that applications received after this date will not be considered.
  • Interview date: Week February 12-16, 2018.

If your application is short listed, you will be expected to present a conservation portfolio. In the case of applicants who are not able to present their portfolio in person, Skype interviews, with the aid of an electronic version of the applicants work can be substituted, along with letters of recommendation.

Donald Peterson Student Travel Award

The Donald Peterson Student Travel Award Subcommittee invites applications from archival science students and recent graduates of archival programs.  The award subsidizes travel to the SAA Annual Meeting for students presenting research or actively participating in an SAA-sponsored committee, section, or roundtable.

Application details are below. The application deadline is February 28, 2018. Applications will only be accepted online.  If you have any questions regarding the award or the application process, please contact Veronica Denison, Donald Peterson Student Travel Award Committee Chair, at vdenison@alaska.edu.

Purpose and Criteria for Selection: Established in 2005, this award supports students and recent graduates from graduate archival programs within North America to attend SAA’s Annual Meeting. The goal of the scholarship is to stimulate greater participation in the activities of SAA by students and recent graduates. This participation must include either a presentation of research during the Annual Meeting or active participation in an SAA-sponsored committee, section, or roundtable.

Eligibility: Awarded to an SAA member in good standing who is currently enrolled in an archival education program or who graduated from an archival education program in the previous calendar year. Applications are evaluated based on the merits of the applicant’s essay and letters of recommendation.

Sponsor and Funding: The Society of American Archivists, in honor of Donald Peterson (1908-1999), New York lawyer and philatelist, whose deep appreciation of world history and preservation developed early through his stamp collecting and held true throughout his life.

Prize: Up to $1,000 in support of registration, travel, and accommodation expenses associated with the SAA Annual Meeting.

First Awarded: 2006

Application Information and Documentation: Click here to preview the application and/or to apply. All applications must be submitted online and include the following:

  1. A 500-word essay describing the applicant’s career goals and potential impact on the archival profession.
  2. Unofficial transcript to verify student status or copy of graduate diploma.
  3. Two letters of recommendation from individuals having definite knowledge of the applicant’s qualifications.

Application Deadline: February 28, 2018

FAIC Awarded $900,000 from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

9 January 2018

Contact: Eryl P. Wentworth
Phone: (202) 661-8060
E-mail:  ewentworth@conservation-us.org

Foundation of the American Institute for Conservation Awarded
$900,000 from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Foundation of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (FAIC) was recently awarded a grant of $900,000 from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support change and growth capital.

The Comprehensive Organizational Health Initiative (COHI) launched in 2014 by the Mellon Foundation, aims to build organizational resiliency within the national arts ecosystem by broadening access to resources in underserved regions, creating more equitable systems of support for artists and cultural organizations, and strengthening community participation. Working with the Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF), cohorts of organizations progress through a sequence of financial capacity-building strategies and receive infusions of capital, peer-to-peer learning opportunities, and individualized technical support. COHI grants in 2015 served six members of the National Performance Network/Visual Arts Network and eight American art conservation service organizations. Following two in-person meetings of Mellon, NFF, and cohort leadership representatives, participant organizations worked individually with NFF advisors to assess their business models and develop plans for sustainability.

With this award, over a three-year period, FAIC will engage in activities designed to increase capacity and ensure financial stability in a rapidly evolving world. “The Mellon Foundation’s commitment to support growth capital for arts organizations is groundbreaking,” notes FAIC Executive Director Eryl Wentworth, “and we are thrilled to be a part of an initiative designed to strengthen our organizations and increase their impact.” FAIC strategies will focus on increasing fundraising capacity, developing a “Friends” program for those interested in conservation but not professionally involved in caring for collections, and building a sponsorship program. A special reserve fund will be created to provide working capital for future opportunities and change. With the assistance of contractors, consultants, and an additional staff member, these new activities will be incorporated into existing FAIC programs and initiatives.

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About FAIC
FAIC, the Foundation of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic & Artistic Works, supports conservation education, research, and outreach activities that increase understanding of our global cultural heritage. Learn more at www.conservation-us.org/foundation.

About The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
Founded in 1969, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation endeavors to strengthen, promote, and, where necessary, defend the contributions of the humanities and the arts to human flourishing and to the well-being of diverse and democratic societies by supporting exemplary institutions of higher education and culture as they renew and provide access to an invaluable heritage of ambitious, path-breaking work. Additional information is available at mellon.org.

Call for Papers: JAIC Special Issue on “Reflectance Hyperspectral Imaging to Support Documentation and Conservation of 2D Artworks”

The Journal of American Institute for Conservation (JAIC) seeks submissions for a special issue on the topic of “Reflectance hyperspectral imaging to support documentation and conservation of 2D artworks.” Two-dimensional artworks include paintings, works on paper, tapestries, and photographic materials. The focus of this special issue is on hyperspectral systems that provide continuous reflectance spectra over the portion of the spectral range from the UV to the Mid-IR.  Specific areas of interest include:

  • Description of the best methodologies and acquisition parameters of workflows for operating hyperspectral imaging cameras under museum conditions or in non-controlled environments such as when studying outdoor frescoes or murals;
  • Hyperspectral image cube processing workflows to mine datasets for useful information such as pigment or binder maps, or visualizing compositional changes or revisions;
  • Defining, testing, implementing, and developing specific criteria for optimizing the format of acquired data and processing procedures for analysis, storage, usage, and dissemination of hyperspectral imaging data and results;
  • Case studies on the identification of artists’ materials using reflectance hyperspectral imaging, mapping distribution or improving visualization of compositional paint changes or revisions.

Authors are invited to submit an abstract and article outline to the special issue organizers by January 31, 2018. Complete article submissions are due April 30, 2018. JAIC guidelines and its style guide are found at www.conservation-us.org/jaic. Articles selected by the guest organizers should be submitted through our online portal at jac.edmgr.com. Datasets can be included as supplemental information.

You may send inquiries about the issue to Julio M. del Hoyo-Meléndez, JAIC Editor-in-Chief, at jdelhoyo@muzeum.krakow.pl.

Send proposals to special issue guest organizers by January 31, 2018:

  • John K. Delaney at j-delaney@nga.gov
    Senior Imaging Scientist, Scientific Research Department,
    National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
  • Marcello Picollo at picollo@ifac.cnr.it
    Research Scientist, Institute for Applied Physics “Nello Carrara” (IFAC)
    National Research Council (CNR), Florence, Italy

Andrew W. Mellon funded Opportunity for Diversity in Conservation

The UCLA/Getty Program in the Conservation of Archaeological and Ethnographic Materials has received a generous grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to help increase diversity in the study and practice of conservation of art and cultural collections. This grant supports outreach and summer opportunities for undergraduate students who are interested in learning more about cultural materials conservation and are underrepresented in the field, which is 87% non-Hispanic white.

Applications are currently available for students or recent degree holders to attend a fully funded, week-long summer workshop in Los Angeles, July 9-14, 2018, designed to introduce 15 participants to conservation and other collections work through tours, lab activities, lectures and presentations at the Getty Villa and regional museums.

Participants in the 2018 summer workshop are eligible to apply for a fully funded 8-10 week internship the following summer.

More information and the application, due March 9, 2018, is available at: http://conservation.ucla.edu/Mellon_diversity_opportunity.

Please distribute widely and encourage young people interested in art/science/social sciences to apply to learn about whether conservation is a field they would like to pursue.

For further information, feel free to contact: Laleña  Arenas Vellanoweth, Program Manager, Mellon Opportunity for Diversity in Conservation, lav256@g.ucla.edu; or Ellen Pearlstein, Professor, UCLA Information Studies, epearl@ucla.edu.

June Baker Trust Grant for Emerging Conservators

  • Deadline: January 31, 2018
The June Baker Trust was set up to promote and encourage the development and study of the arts and sciences of restoration and conservation of historical or artistic artefacts in Scotland.

To be eligible to apply you have to be a conservator and able to demonstrate a connection to Scotland through work, birth, living, education or other means.

The Emerging Conservators Grants Scheme gives funding of up to GBP1,000 to support conservators who are in the process of gaining their early workplace experience. Applicants must be within three years of qualifying as a conservator.  2018 will be the final year of this scheme. The funding is to support a learning plan of their own choosing, with activities which help them establish a career path. This learning plan can be on top of or instead of employment. The learning plan must meet the June Baker Trust’s objectives for the scheme which are for recently qualified conservation professionals to:

  • build professional networks;
  • gain practical and employability skills; and
  • widen sector understanding, with the overarching aim of increasing future employability.

Grants for Emerging Conservators

Please e-mail a completed application as an attachment and in time for the deadline to: junebakertrust@gmail.com.

Pre-program Summer 2018 Internship, Cleveland Museum of Art (Cleveland, OH, USA)

Isobel Rutherford pre-program conservation internship

Application deadline: March 2, 2018

The Cleveland Museum of Art is offering a summer internship opportunity for a pre-program student to work with the Objects Conservation department.

Projects will reflect the Museum’s upcoming programming in exhibitions, loans and acquisitions, including preparation and maintenance of the Yayoi Kusama “Infinity Mirrors” exhibition. The internship is for the duration of 8-10 weeks and is paid at $12/hour. Candidates should have completed their prerequisite coursework for admission into graduate programs, and should have previous experience working with conservators. Excellent written and verbal communication skills are required. Please submit a letter of interest and e-portfolio. Selected candidates will be interviewed by telephone or Skype, or if possible, in person at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Applications must be submitted by March 2, 2018.

The intern must be authorized to work in the United States and must provide acceptable verification of such eligibility in accordance with the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986.

Selected candidates will be invited for an interview, either in person of via Skype. A portfolio of conservation treatments and research should be presented by the candidate at the interview. At that time the candidate should be prepared to give a 20-minute PowerPoint presentation.

The Cleveland Museum of Art is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Please submit application here: https://recruiting.ultipro.com/CLE1004CMA/JobBoard/85cb4420-40e1-440b-9c73-ab703c4fa94d/OpportunityDetail?opportunityId=8f47525b-18c8-4f43-8244-5de20e2cd225.

Please email bedelstein@clevelandart.org with any questions.

Frederick Bearman Research Grant for book and paper conservation

The Institute of Conservation (Icon) Book & Paper Group are proud to announce that applications are now open for the Frederick Bearman Research Grant. We are delighted to be able to offer a 1000 GBP research bursary to support new research projects into to conservation of books, paper and related materials.

Frederick Bearman led a diverse international career as a distinguished conservator, educator and administrator in the field of rare books and archives. He worked for institutions in the UK and USA, including the Public Record Office, Camberwell College of Arts, Columbia University Libraries and University College London. He was loved and respected by friends and colleagues across our profession.

The Book and Paper Group will award one annual grant of up to 1000 GBP. Any Icon member can apply, and we welcome applications from members at all stages of their careers, either as individuals or collaborations. We are looking for interesting and informative projects such as preliminary investigations into old and new materials, tools and techniques, or a study of a particular collection or binding style. Perhaps there is something you have been meaning to explore but haven’t found the time or the funds? Or even research you have already started but haven’t had the support to finish? You may be a recent graduate who wants to expand on your MA research, or a seasoned conservator who needs funding to follow an idea.

Even small discoveries that you have made could have a big impact on the conservation community!

The recipient(s) of the grant will present their investigations as the keynote speaker(s) at the Frederick Bearman Memorial Lecture in December 2018 which will provide an exciting, informative and welcoming platform through which to share your investigations with the conservation community.

Applications are open from now until February 9, 2018. The winner will be selected by an expert panel and notified by the following month. For more information and further details on how to apply please visit the ICON website.

Last Chance to Support FAIC this Year

Dear Friends,

As 2017 comes to a close, we wanted to take the opportunity to thank those of you who have already supported our many endeavors, ranging from the Conservation DistList and Conservation OnLine (CoOL) resources to FAIC’s professional development programs, scholarships, Connecting to Collections Care webinars, and emergency programs.

Thanks to your support, we’ve managed to achieve a lot this past year. FAIC has awarded more than $300,000 in scholarships and grants; produced 25 professional development workshops and courses; provided 18 free collections care webinars viewed by more than 4,100 people from around the world; and supported 74 conservation assessments to help small and mid-size museums preserve their collections. The ConsDistList has a new look and reaches 10,000 international participants twice a week on a regular schedule. Our National Heritage Responders volunteers have been busy helping museums, libraries, and archives affected by this year’s hurricanes and wild fires. Two additional NHR teams will depart shortly to continue our assistance in Puerto Rico.

In order to provide these opportunities, events, and services, we need your support. We rely on donations from people like you so that we can keep these programs running. If you haven’t done so already, we hope that you’ll consider making a year-end donation to support the programs you use and love. You can write a check to FAIC and mail it to 727 15th Street, NW, Suite 500, Washington, DC 20005, USA, or make a contribution by credit card at www.conservation-us.org/donate.

Warm regards and many thanks for your ongoing support of FAIC!