–By Marianne Weldon, Objects Conservator and Collections Manager of the Art and Artifacts Collection, Bryn Mawr College
On Sunday, May 29, I attended the panel entitled Power to Preserve: Creating a Collection Care Culture moderated by Rebecca Fifield. This session was developed by AIC’s Collection Care Network (CCN) for the Collection Management track at the Annual Meeting of the American Alliance of Museums in Washington, D.C. The AAM Annual Meeting Theme for 2016 was Power, Influence, and Responsibility, encouraging exploration of “how the themes of power, influence and responsibility shape the work of museums in the U.S. and around the world”.
A goal of the presentation was to share influencing strategies to support development of collection care, as well as to highlight resources and partnerships available through AIC. The three presenters spoke of ways that they have been working at their institutions to foster relationships with partners within and outside their institution to better enable them to care for their collections. Maryanne McCubbin spoke to fostering aligned goals across an institution. She emphasized the importance in finding common ground among museum staff and that most people working in the museum are collections stewards in some way whether directly or indirectly. She outlined the importance of fostering that relationship with others that work in the museum in a variety of ways including:
Avoiding rhetoric and demystifying what collections staff are doing. Avoid terms that people won’t understand, such as agents of deterioration.
Being proactive and available so people don’t feel like they are bothering you or that you are too busy for them.
Provide frequent, regular, repeated communications on many levels and in many directions up and down the chain.
Make sure to demonstrate that you have the “big picture” in mind and that you understand and present things in an inter-disciplinary way.
Kathy Garrett-Cox spoke to the importance of working with community partners to enable smaller institutions to create a collection care culture beyond their institutions. At Maymont, an American estate in Richmond Virginia, the staff numbers 3 full-time and 3 part-time, which is small when considering the needs of institutions during emergency response. Garrett-Cox spoke about the formation of The Museum Emergency Support Team (MEST), which was formed by a group of small local organization in 2006 in response to Hurricane Katrina as an alliance for response to help to share resources, planning and training. She additionally outlined many specific examples of the way the group grew and changed over the years, introducing challenges associated with volunteer group continuity, what worked, and what didn’t. Patricia Silence works at Colonial Williamsburg Foundation where she manages the preventive conservation team of 20 members. She gave numerous examples of ways that demonstrated the power of communication strategies to strengthen staff partnerships in supporting collection care. Overall, these ideas helped create relationships where colleagues in other departments wanted to help further collection care. These strategies included:
Meeting with over 150 site interpreters and supervisors in small groups and explaining the reasons for temperature set points. This included a briefing on dew point and how they use temperature to reduce the possibility of having water in the walls. This has helped their facilities department get fewer calls regarding comfort issues.
Tracking the number of hours spent cleaning gum off of items and cleaning up soda spills in order to explain why these items should not be allowed in historic buildings with collections.
She emphasized the importance of expressing professional “needs and desires” in terms of value. Giving reasons beyond collections value when necessary and aligning the rationale with the goals of colleagues in other departments.
Additionally Patricia spoke of areas for improvement, where things haven’t gone as well as she would like. One specific example was in the area of excessive lighting, where additional buy-in by leadership and security staff is still needed.
As a result of all the panelists discussing both things that worked well and areas that needed improvement, discussion with the audience then centered around how we respond to hearing “NO” at our institutions and what are the most compelling arguments to win institutional support for preservation programs. Several members of the audience responded with ways that they build partnerships with allies within their institution or develop data to support their argument before again attempting to implement change.
The panelists presented a variety of examples, both successful and unsuccessful, to promote collection care cultures at their institutions. It contributed renewed energy to go back to our institutions to continue to forge stronger relationships to support collections care in a variety of creative ways.
Find out more information about the activities of AIC’s Collection Care Network.
SPEAKER BIOS:
Rebecca Fifield is Head of Collection Management for the Special Collections at the New York Public Library. She is a graduate of the George Washington University Museum Studies program and a Professional Associate of the American Institute for Conservation. A 25-year veteran of large and small art and history institutions, she is Chair of AIC’s Collection Care Network and an Advisory Council Member of the Association of Registrars and Collections Specialists.
Maryanne McCubbin is Head, Strategic Collection Management at Museum Victoria. Maryanne has worked in archives and museums for close to thirty years. An expert in history and care of heritage collections, her work has centered on the development, care and preservation, use and interpretation of collections. Her current position involves addressing the big, tough issues around managing a major, complex state collection.
Patty Silence is Director of Preventive Conservation at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, responsible for preservation in the historic area, museums, storage, and loans. Her focus is on site maintenance, environmental management, emergency preparedness, exhibit preparation, pest control, and safe transport of collections. Patty has over 30 years of experience in encouraging colleagues to gain and use expertise in collections care.Kathy Garrett-Cox is Collection Manager of the Preservation Society of Newport County, Rhode Island and formerly Manager of Historic Collections at Maymont in Richmond, Virginia, where she worked for 11 years. She currently serves as President of the Virginia Conservation Association and as Chair of the Richmond Area Museum Emergency Support Team. Kathy speaks frequently on coordination of conservation projects and writing disaster plans. She recently coordinated the Central Virginia Alliance for Response program.
October 15 is International Archaeology Day (IAD), which is sponsored by the Archaeological Institute of America and held each year on the third Saturday of October. AIC is registered as a Collaborating Organization for IAD this year and we are encouraging all AIC members to promote this event, archaeology, and how we as conservation professionals support archaeological projects and collections. You can do this in many ways, including by posting on the AIC andADG Facebook pages and on the AIC blog, with a tag for International Archaeology Day. The hashtag for social media is #IAD2016.
As ADG co-chair and conservator at the Penn Museum, I will take this opportunity to promote the Penn Museum Symposium, Engaging Conservation: Collaboration Across Disciplines, taking place this week in Philadelphia from 6-8 October 2016. This 3-day symposium is being held to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Penn Museum’s Conservation Department. Founded in 1966, it is thought to be the first archaeology and anthropology museum conservation lab in the United States to be staffed by professional conservators.
Penn Museum Conservation Lab in 1968 (above) and in 2016 (below)
The Symposium will feature 31 paper presentations by conservators, archaeologists, anthropologists, and specialists in related fields, which will address topics related to the conservation of archaeological and anthropological materials and the development of cross-disciplinary engagement over the past half century. The full schedule and abstracts can be found on the symposium website by following this link. Look for upcoming posts summarizing the events.
The Penn Museum will be hosting a variety of other events on October 15th in celebration of IAD, including offering behind-the-scenes tours of the Museum’s Center for the Analysis of Archaeological Materials (CAAM). CAAM opened in 2014, and encompasses teaching and research labs, staffed by specialists in ceramics, archaeobotany, archaeozoology, human skeletal analysis, archaeometallurgy, digital archaeology, and conservation.
CAAM teaching specialist Dr. Kate Moore working with students (left); view of one of the teaching labs (right)
We look forward to hearing about other ways in which our colleagues are involved in supporting archaeological projects and collections. Happy International Archaeology Day!
Credit: Sarah Stauderman
This pre-session was a joint meeting between conservation professionals and facilities engineers, architects, and administrators who belong to the International Association of Museum Facility Administrators. The topic of the day was how to foster a collegial and collaborative working relationship between conservation and facilities staff so together we can preserve collections with well-managed storage and exhibition facilities. The day was structured in three sections, each with a panel of experts and a tabletop exercise. The three of us attended, and agreed to blog together as the day was jam-packed with inspiration and useful tips. We were hoping to learn strategies for building relationships with our facilities managers, including developing common language, shared understanding of goals, and respecting each other’s areas of expertise.
The first session, Share the Risk: Collaborative approaches to facilities construction, renovation, and operation was moderated by Joelle Wickens, (Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library). Key takeaways from this session were that no one person owns a facilities problem, and monthly meetings, meaningful and well-planned monthly meetings, are a good strategy for building relationships that successfully address the inevitable problems. Out of work time is also important…sharing a beer with each other was mentioned throughout the day as a way to break down those silo walls. Image courtesy of P. Anderson
Panelists included Jack Plumb (National Library of Scotland), John Castle and Lois Price (Winterthur), Rob Waller (Protect Heritage Corp), and Deborah Potter (Tate). One of Jack’s tips was to build in an orientation for new contractors with collections care to explain the local policies and behavior expectations that might be different from one jobsite to another. Jack also has a very interesting program for doing temperature and humidity mapping research using students from Heriot Watt University doing their dissertations. I wanted to know more about this program, and how to find students that are interested in this work!
Lois Price and John Castle got an NEH Sustaining Cultural Heritage Collections grant to improve their wireless building management system, and in the process, found that the working relationships between conservation and facilities staff, and each assumptions made about each other, were not so productive. So they set about doing a qualitative survey of their peers across the world, and they reported the results to us. The data set is rich, with lots of variable possible including institutional budget, frequency of joint meetings, rate of success, and decision-making rights. Their conclusions, while not statistical, point toward the fact that nothing can substitute for a good team, and the meeting more frequently can cure a number of long-standing challenges. For the skeptic who says “More meetings? I ain’t going to no more stinkin’ meetings” one merely has to say, “Let’s get you into the right meetings!”
Rob Waller talked about prioritizing different risks to collections, focusing on clearly defined goals. He explained the importance of filtering what falls under facilities managers’ ability to control. He reiterated that in many cases, the 80/20 rule applies: 20% of the risks contribute to 80% or more of the total risk, so these should be prioritized if at all possible.
Deborah Potter shared Tate’s collaborative approach to facilities planning for six sites, 72,000 works of art and a million library and archive materials. In debriefs from system failures, they discuss the impact on the collection, and approach how to prevent it from happening again, also taking a risk-based approach to collections care. Their team includes registrars, collections,, communications, and facilities staff. With a “green vision” aiming to reduce carbon emissions by 15%, they are embarking on an ambitious but doable program including energy plant and HVAC controls replacement, LED lighting, solar panels. Other sustainability initiatives include waste management, recycling, up-cycling, a flower meadow, and beekeeping! They’re not the only ones keeping bees…we found these on the roof just outside the door of the pre-session room! Image courtesy of P. Anderson
This first session ended with a tabletop exercise in which temperature and humidity parameters for an incoming loan challenge our fictitious small institution, stemming from poorly written loan agreement, lack of historical data, and lack of communication between the director and the staff. Of course we sorted it all out in 15 minutes, but with the understanding that these problems are ongoing and are exacerbated by the fact that we have no industry standards for libraries, museums and archives. One group noted that such agreements can be used as leverage to make needed upgrades.
The second session, Share the Planning: Collaborative approaches to emergency management, was moderated by Rebecca Fifield, Chair, AIC Collections Care Network, and Head of Collection Management, Special Collections at New York Public Library Image courtesy of P. Anderson
Collection Emergency Plans at Museum Victoria
Maryanne McCubbin, head of Strategic Collection Management for the Museum Victoria, presented the approach they have to managing risks in the multiple museum buildings and storage facilities where they house over 17 million state collection items. Citing recent floods that have tested their plan and preparedness, she emphasized how crucial it is for collections staff to communicate accurately and often with facilities and provide a liaison with facilities as well as emergency (first) responders (fire, police, authorities). She also commented on an often overlooked approach to managing risks, or inherent dangers, within a collection, such as hazardous substances in collections.
She stressed that a plan should be thorough yet brief. It can have appendices that provide more specific and detailed outlined activities for departments. However the plan should be developed through extensive negotiations with facilities, conservation and security. She cited a couple pitfalls for any great plan: failure to regularly induct new hires to the plan, especially in departments with high-turnover such as facilities and security; keeping contact information for key personnel up to date; reviewing incident reports to improve your plan; and practice!
The Lone Responder: Building an Emergency team with limited resources
Laura Hortz Stanton, Executive director of Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts (CCAHA), discussed how crucial it is for small historic house museum, societies and municipal museums with limited staff and resources to connect with their local emergency management personnel. Reaching out to your local fire or police is important so they can become familiar with the building(s) as well as the contents, and key staff members. They can even review your emergency response plans and provide recommendations. Another key point was the importance of being prepared for the recovery after a disaster. “Who you gonna call?” A small museum that does not have a conservation and/or collections staff needs to keep an up-to-date contact list for local or regional collections professionals that can respond quickly to a call for assistance after a disaster of any size. She pointed out resources available online to help develop plans, including online templates and training, opportunities to benefit from mutual aid memberships in your state, local assistance networks, as well as AIC’s National Heritage Responders (NHR, formerly AIC-CERT). The majority of these links can be found on AIC’s website.
http://www.conservation-us.org/emergencies
NFPA Codes for Cultural Heritage Institutions
Nick Artim of Heritage Protection Group was not able to attend the session as scheduled. He did participate in the half day pre-conference session on Saturday titled Choosing and Implementing a Fire Suppression System for a Collecting Institution. (AIC Blog Link http://tinyurl.com/hhdtv6z) For more information regarding Codes and Standards for the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) see links provided at the end of this blog post.
The session concluded with a tabletop exercise titled An 88-year old dam and a hurricane on the way! Teams were tasked with emergency planning for the fictional Decoy Museum, a small museum located on the coast of Maryland with a history of flooding. The museum is down river from an 88 year old dam and a hurricane is quickly approaching. Teams were shown a photograph of the exterior of the building and it’s proximity to the water, history of the site as it has fared in previous storms, images of the interior and a description of the collection. We were also told that our emergency plan is out of date and the only copy stored on a computer. Using the expertise at our individual tables we were asked to review our emergency preparedness and how we would respond in our respective roles. As the clock counted down we were provided with updates on storm progress, a status report on rising flood waters, and given a 24 hour evacuation notice to see how circumstances would affect our strategies.
Although initial discussions were focused on collections, most teams concluded that the safety of the public and staff came first, followed by securing collection data (hard drives/ records), securing the building, and initiating organization for return and recovery. Two key takeaways from the exercise included a discussion around FEMA’s Incident Command Structure and the concept of “dead” building. ICS is a standardized approach to the command, control, and coordination of emergency response. ICS offers flexibility to respond to small to large incidents, defining key roles to be filled rather than strictly identifying individuals. “Dead” building is a term used by facilities professionals to describe a full building shutdown and disconnection from utilities. As part of your plan it is important to know how long it will take to shut down your building as well as bring it back online.
The third session, Share the Responsibility: Collaborative approaches to selecting appropriate environmental guidelines, was moderated by Patricia Silence, Director of Preventive Conservation, Colonial Williamsburg. Image courtesy of P. Anderson
Select Guidelines and Standards
Selecting guidelines and standards can’t be boiled down to just a number because it depends on factors such as the building envelope, outside air temperatures, HVAC equipment, climate, etc. and how well their interaction matches capability of building and environment. The speakers discussed using guidelines and not standards as a basis for procedures and policies, and how to maintain the notion that the indoor environment is a fundamental component to preservation of collection. Other key points made by this panel included:
Consistent monitoring leads to meaningful conversations
Environmental control includes lighting, ventilation, and pest control in addition to temperature and RH
Customized specifications should be developed for each institution and collection, looking for “parameters in lieu of more science” and reinforcing the point that “70/50 is no longer an appropriate, practical, sustainable, or useful set-point.”
This panel, presenting on the response to the tsunami in Japan in 2011, was composed of Masashi Amano, Kazuko Hioki, Tomoko Yasuda Ishimaru and Daishi Yoshihara. Drs. Amano and Yoshihara are both historians, and Ms. Yasuda is a conservator in private practice in Tokyo. Ms. Hioki is a conservator in the United States, and special thanks goes to her for her excellent translation during the question and answer sessions. The presentations brought to light a number of interesting cultural differences that may be surprising to an audience from North America. The majority of public records (according to Dr. Yoshihara, the number may be as much as 90%) are held privately, rather than my public or governmental institution. This means that when a disaster occurs, it is often difficult to find out who is a stakeholder, what records are involved, or even where those records are. Often, historic sites contain records, but just as often records, historical and modern, can be found in attics and in community centers. This would include tax information, birth and death records and legal documents. The prevalence of natural disasters in Japan makes creates another important difference.it It si very difficult for insurance companies, a very conservative business in Japan, to provide coverage in the event of a natural disaster. This means that public institutions and private collections cannot rely on the insurance industry to pay for recovery companies, and as a result, recovery companies have a much reduced presence in Japan. The end result is that, when natural disasters occur, Japanese individuals and institutions cannot rely on the same emergency response structure that we in North America. The presenters spoke about their work helping disaster recovery after the 2011 tsunami, but much of their presentations focused on Shiryo-net (the Miyagi chapter which responded to the tsunami has an english language blog). Shiryo-net is a grassroots organization of historians and volunteers who respond to disasters specifically to deal with conservation issues, such as finding out where in a town records may be kept, rescuing those records, and performing triage treatment whenever possible. Shiryo-net formed after the Hanshin-Awaji earthquake in 1995, and has grown to 24 regional chapters across Japan. Since its inception, Shiryo-net has focused on saving those 90% of documents that are not in museums, libraries and archives. Its activities are entirely funded by membership dues and donations. The organization first came into contact with conservation on a more formal basis in the wake of a flood in Hyogo prefecture in 2004. During this disaster, they were able to work with conservators to develop first aid treatments that could be taught easily to volunteers, and the difficulties they encountered encouraged them to host workshops and become a center of volunteer training for conservation volunteers. When another flood occurred in Hyogo in 2009, the response was much quicker, and the level of care given to documents was much better. Shiryo-net is now an experienced organization, and focuses on leadership training and volunteer education as well as disaster response. The second major focus of the talks given by the presenters was on Shiryo-net’s response to the 2011 earthquake and Tsunami. The obvious difficulties of working in a disaster area were present, as were the difficulties of working with a large, non-professional force. Over the course of the recovery, Shiryo-net worked with over 5,000 volunteers, and had to develop techniques for training, supplying and managing such a large and ever-changing population. Because of the scale and scope of the disaster, salvage operations were ongoing as much as three years after the disaster. Since the tsunami, Shiryo-net has rescued more 70,000 items, with at least 50,00 items still in storage waiting to be treated.
The presentation was informative and engaging. It was interesting to hear about the different challenges faced in a different country, and how those challenges have been met or overcome. I would like to thank the presenters again for being so forthcoming with their talk materials as I prepared this post.
A range of grants is now available to assist practising conservation professionals and students to attend the IIC 2016 Los Angeles Congress. The Congress is on the intriguing and challenging topic of Saving the Now: Crossing Boundaries to Conserve Contemporary Works and will take place from the 12th to 16th September 2016. Please note that the deadline for application for all these grants is 31st May 2016.
The Getty Foundation
Thanks to the generosity of the Getty Foundation we are able to offer a limited number of grants to enable practising conservators to attend the Congress. These grants are not available to students nor to recipients of other IIC-managed grants related to attendance at the IIC 2016 Congress.
Application is open to individuals from any country not part of Western Europe, North America, Australasia or Japan, currently in employment in either a public or a private capacity. For this Congress, applications are particularly welcomed from south and central America and the Caribbean.
The Brommelle Memorial fund: help for Student Members of IIC
Applicants for these IIC grants are required to be enrolled in a full-time course of conservation training leading to a recognised academic qualification. Students may apply for this funding at any time during their course of study, including their final year or internship.
These grants are not available recipients of other IIC-managed grants related to attendance at the IIC 2016 Congress. As the fund can offer only limited support, it is not expected that these grants will cover the whole costs of attending the Congress and recipients should obtain additional funding from elsewhere.
Tru Vue
Thanks to the generosity of Tru Vue, we are able to offer several grants each of US$1,000 to assist practising conservators to attend the Congress.
These grants are not available to students nor to recipients of other IIC-managed grants related to attendance at the IIC 2016 Congress. Application is open to individuals from any part of the world currently in employment in heritage conservation in either a public or a private capacity.
The Gabo Trust
As with previous IIC Congresses, we are delighted to have the participation of the Gabo Trust in the 2016 Los Angeles Congress. The theme of the 2016 Congress Saving the Now: Crossing Boundaries to Conserve Contemporary Works is particularly relevant to the work of the Gabo Trust. Applications and further details
Instructions for applicants and more information can be found on the IIC Congress pages at https://www.iiconservation.org/congress/2016losangeles/grants.
This survey focuses on sustainable preservation methods that can create efficiency, environmental consciousness, and effective management to maintain libraries’ and archives’ collections. The Sustainable Preservation Survey is an effort to continue the conversation about sustainability and where preservation needs are most apparent within libraries and archives. Lindsay Schettler, Special Collections and Content Management Librarian and the 2016 ALCTS’ Jan Merrill-Oldham Professional Development Grant recipient, will present this survey data and illustrate holistic sustainable preservation practices at the 2016 ALA Annual Conference Poster Session.
As preservation standards and practices are crucially embedded in library and archival workflows, understanding all sustainability options is vital. This survey will assess current sustainable preservation practice and evaluate the future role of sustainability in library and archives preservation programs. General preservation topics are explored, focusing on basic sustainable preservation practices offering the library and archive community an idea of current practices.
Preservation is a core function in collection care and management, providing longevity and access for materials found in special collections and archives. Preservation practices include several steps during the physical processing of the material, including description, condition reports, stabilization, reformatting, and rehousing. Sustainable preservation initiatives derive from a holistic approach to collection care and management, providing a chance to understand the breadth of a preservation program, and find the areas that can be adjusted to incorporate sustainability, such as recycling, slow conservation, supply waste, climate control, processing strategies, reusable methods and material, local partnerships and programs, and community engagement.
The survey will take approximately 15 minutes to complete. Only one person from each institution is needed. Your feedback is vital. Participation is voluntary and the survey can be stopped at any time. Please send any questions to Lindsay Schettler.
This survey will close June 3, 2016. Sustainable Preservation Survey HERE!
PRESERVATION ASSISTANCE GRANTS FOR SMALLER INSTITUTIONS
GUIDELINES NOW AVAILABLE!
The National Endowment for the Humanities’ Division of Preservation and Access has offered Preservation Assistance Grants for Smaller Institutions for more than a decade. These grants help small and mid-sized cultural heritage institutions such as libraries, museums, historical societies, archival repositories, town and county records offices, and colleges and universities improve their ability to preserve and care for their humanities collections. Awards of up to $6,000 support preservation related collection assessments, consultations, purchase of preservation supplies and equipment, training and workshops, and institutional and collaborative disaster and emergency planning. Preservation Assistance Grants also support assessments of digital collections and education and training in standards and best practices for digital preservation, and the care and handling of collections during digitization. NEH does not fund digitization or the development of digital programs in this grant category.
All applications to the NEH must be submitted through Grants.gov. See the application guidelines for details.
The 2016 guidelines for Preservation Assistance Grants for Smaller Institutions are available at http://www.neh.gov/grants/preservation/preservation-assistance-grants-smaller-institutions. You will also find sample project descriptions, sample narratives, and a list of frequently asked questions. The deadline for applications is May 3, 2016.
See our feature article of PAG awards across the country, up on our Web site: http://www.neh.gov/divisions/preservation/featured-project/preservation-assistance-grants-smaller-institutions-guidelines-available
Small and mid-sized institutions that have never received an NEH grant are encouraged to apply. We also have a special encouragement for applications from presidentially designated institutions (Hispanic-serving institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and Tribal Colleges and Universities), and from Native American tribes with significant humanities collections.
This year, NEH is offering some special encouragements to address issues facing small institutions and the preservation field. To provide practical experience to emerging preservation professionals, we encourage consultants to work as mentors with advanced students or recent graduates from preservation programs who may assist in conducting preservation assessments, addressing specific preservation issues, and/or training of staff at the applicant institution. To employ environment-friendly practices and limit travel costs, applicants are encouraged, when possible, to secure the services of local or regional consultants. We also encourage consultants to consider preventive conservation strategies that pragmatically balance effectiveness, cost, and environmental impact.
And to address the risk to cultural heritage materials from natural disasters, theft, looting, civil unrest, and other types of destruction, NEH encourages applicants to engage in disaster planning and emergency preparedness through development of disaster plans and working collaboratively with local institutions for training in disaster preparedness and emergency response.
For more information, contact the staff of NEH’s Division of Preservation and Access at 202-606-8570 and preservation@neh.gov
Please excuse cross-postings.
The Philip M. Hamer and Elizabeth Hamer Kegan Award Subcommittee of the Society of American Archivists seeks nominations for the 2016 award.
This award recognizes an archivist, editor, group of individuals, or institution that has increased public awareness of a specific body of documents through compilation, transcription, exhibition, or public presentation of archives or manuscript materials for educational, instructional, or other public purpose. Archives may include photographs, films, and visual archives. Publication may be in hard copy, microfilm, digital, or other circulating medium.
Recent winners include:
2015: The Legacy Center, Drexel University College of Medicine, for Doctor or Doctress?
Eligibility:
Individual archivists and editors, groups of individuals, and organizations are eligible. Application Deadline:
All nominations shall be submitted to SAA by February 28 of each year. CLICK HERE to download the application form, which includes instructions for submission.
For more information on SAA awards and the nominations process, please go to http://www.archivists.org/recognition/index.asp.
Society of American Archivists The J. Franklin Jameson Archival Advocacy Award Subcommittee of the Society of American Archivists seeks nominations for the 2016 award. http://www2.archivists.org/governance/handbook/section12-jameson
Established in 1989, this award honors an individual, institution, or organization that promotes greater public awareness, appreciation, or support of archival activities or programs. The individual’s or institution’s contributions may take the form of advocacy, publicity, legislation, financial support, or a similar action that fosters archival work or raises public consciousness of the importance of archival work. Contributions should have broad, long-term impact at the regional level or beyond. Up to three awards may be given each year. Recent Winners: 2015: Adrena Ifill Blagburn 2014: LGBT Center of Central PA History Project
National History Day 2013: Dr. Warren Stewart 2012: Eve Kahn, Bebe Miller, Phillip Stewart 2011: “Who Do You Think You Are?” (NBC) 2010: The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation 2009: Ross King (Georgia Historical Records Advisory Board) 2008: Data-Intensive Cyber Environments (DICE) Eligibility:Nominees must be from outside the archives profession. Individuals directly involved in archival work, either as paid or volunteer staff, or institutions or organizations directly responsible for an archival program are not eligible for this award.
Mailed materials must be postmarked by February 28, 2016 and should be sent to:
Franklin Jameson Archival Advocacy Award Committee
Society of American Archivists
17 North State Street, Suite 1425
Chicago, IL 60602-4061
Nominations may be submitted electronically; please see the nomination form for details. For more information on SAA awards and the nominations process, please go to: http://www.archivists.org/recognition/index.asp
Applications for the 2016 – 2017 Fellowship are now open
DEADLINE TO SUBMIT AN APPLICATION IS JANUARY 18, 2016
The purpose of The Samuel H. Kress Foundation AAMC Affiliated Fellowship at the American Academy in Rome is to provide essential funding for curators to develop projects that require research in Italy. The program, launched in 2014, is intended to honor exceptional curatorial vision and help curators advance deserving projects.
“Establishing this Fellowship offers curators the ability to explore further important scholarly research by gaining access to sites and material within Rome.” said Max Marmor, President, of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation. “Support for travel research is more and more a rare opportunity for many curators, and we are honored to offer this opportunity, which supports our mission to promote the professional work of curators.”
“The AAMC is truly grateful to have partners, such as the Samuel H. Kress Foundation and American Academy in Rome, that share our organization’s mission, which includes a dedication to the curatorial field,” added former AAMC President (2013 – 2015) Emily Ballew Neff. “We are thrilled to present to our members, through the generous support of the Kress Foundation, such an outstanding and rewarding opportunity to advance their research.”
The AAMC is grateful to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation for its support.
Eligibility
Open to AAMC members in good standing, including full-time institutional curators, independent curators and adjunct members.
Research can be exhibition related or for written scholarly work, but should not be in conjunction with completing a dissertation.
Applicant is required to list preferred period of residency, indicating a first and second choice.
A letter of support from institution director, project director and/or host of project.
Priority will be given to those in institutions without funds to support research travel.
2014-2015 AFFILIATED FELLOW
Dr. Hilliard Todd Goldfarb, Associate Chief Curator and Curator of Old Masters, The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Dr. Goldfarb will utilize the Fellowship to further his research on Faith, Death and Eternal Life in the Art of Poussin (working title).
Download the 2014-2015 Affiliated Fellow Press Release
2015-2016 AFFILIATED FELLOW
Judith Mann, Curator, European Art to 1800 at the Saint Louis Art Museum to further her research for Painting on Stone, 1520-1800.
Download the 2015-2016 Affiliated Fellow Press Release About the Samuel H. Kress Foundation:
The mission of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation (est. 1929) is to sustain and carry out the original vision of founder, Samuel H. Kress (1863-1955). The Samuel H. Kress Foundation supports the work of individuals and institutions engaged with appreciation, interpretation, preservation, study and teaching of the history of European art and architecture from antiquity to the dawn of the modern era. About the AAR:
The American Academy in Rome (AAR) supports innovative artists, writers and scholars living and working together in a dynamic international community. The encounter with Rome represents now, as it has done since the Academy’s inception, something unique: a chance for American artists and scholars to spend significant time interacting and working in one of the oldest, most cosmopolitan cities in the world. The richness of Rome’s artistic and cultural legacy and its power to stimulate creative thinking served as the initial impetus for the Academy’s founding. Today, those tendencies live on, transformed as ever by the dynamism of the Academy’s constantly evolving community. The community includes Fellows, Residents, Visiting Artists and Scholars, and, come June, members of academic Summer Programs.
