Category: Specialty Sessions

Posts on talks that were presented as part of the specialty sessions at AIC’s Annual Meeting

Collection Care Network Program for Montreal

The Collection Care Network has been busy! We are highlighting the connections CCN has developed with some of our allied preservation professionals. We are delighted to team with the Canadian Association for Conservation/Association Canadienne pour la Conservation et la Restauration (CAC-ACCR) to bring you these collection care offerings.
This year we thought, why not start early, even before the meeting officially starts. Our colleagues at the International Association of Museum Facilities Administrators (IAMFA) thought this was a good idea too. AIC, CAC-ACCR and IAMFA have developed a dynamic and interactive pre-meeting seminar that focuses on some of the concerns we share.
Share the Care: Collaborative Preservation Approaches, Friday, May 13, 2016, 9:00 am – 5:30pm
This seminar delves into the concepts of shared risk and responsibility of allied preservation professionals. The following topics will be considered through this lens: interacting among the professional groups, reviewing institutional emergency plans, surveying the current state of environmental guidelines, considering the existing international environmental guideline standards.
Choosing and Implementing an Automatic Fire Suppression System for a Collecting Institution, Saturday, May 14, 2016, 10:00 am to 12:00 pm
This special half-day session is the second part of the pre-meeting session hosted by AIC, CAC-ACCR, and IAMFA. The program will introduce attendees to the different types of automatic fire suppression systems available, evaluation criteria for each system, and implementation guidelines and considerations for collecting institutions.
This pre-session has a separate registration from the national meeting. For registration details for this special pre-meeting session consult: http://aics44thannualmeeting2016.sched.org/event/4gp4/pre-conference-meeting-iamfa-meeting#
Another pre-conference offering continues our successful collaboration and expansion of the original content provided by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC). We’re hosting the third installment of:
STASH Flash, Saturday, May 14, 2016, 3:30pm – 5:30pm. This session is FREE with regular meeting registration.Join your fellow colleagues for a lightening round of storage tips. Submissions are being solicited around three topics:

  1. Building on this year’s program theme Emergency! Preparing for Disasters and Confronting the Unexpected in Conservation  the program will present storage solutions that were either specifically designed to mitigate against the threat of a disaster or inappropriate environment, or presentations that assess how rehousing solutions performed in protecting (or not protecting) collections in a disaster or emergency event.
  2. The second proposed theme focuses on multi-function supports serving more than one purpose, such as storage, storage, travel and/or exhibition purposes.
  3. General presentations on innovative storage solutions for individual or collection group. To read more about the session and how to submit an idea for a short five-minute tip presentation visit the STASH website.

Next, join us for the Collection Care sessions. The first installment is planned for Sunday, May 15, 2016 with the second Tuesday, May 17, 2016. This year’s program covers an extraordinary wide range of collection care topics whose solution is frequently rests in the cooperation and input from a diverse group of allied preservation professionals.
Collection Care Session I, Sunday, May 15, 2:00 pm – 5:30 pm
This session will cover topics that include: risk management, considering loss of value in a collection, facing institutional change while maintaining consistency, planning pitfalls during construction projects, considering art and noise, designing exhibition HVAC in historic buildings.
Collection Care Session II, Tuesday, May 17, 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Speakers in this session will discuss collaborative preservation training; unforeseen hazards of implementing emergency training, planning for emergencies at archaeological sites, and lessons learned creating emergency planning for international partners.
Consider meeting for lunch! There are two opportunities to hear about recent work in collection care while enjoying lunch. Advance registration and additional fees apply.
On Sunday, May 15, the Collection Care Network Lunch will focus on collection care issues that have arisen from content developed for the upcoming book, Preventive Conservation: Collection Storage, a partnership publication by AIC, SPNHC, Smithsonian Institution and George Washington University. Expected publication date, October 2016.
On Monday, May 16 IMLS staff will conduct a lunch presentation focusing on the 2014 Heritage Health Index. Tune in to hear about developments in IMLS’s continuing support of collections care and conservation. Hear about the launch of a new national conservation assessment program for collections care in small and medium-sized museums. And hear highlights of models, tools, and other resources recently developed by IMLS-funded Collections Stewardship projects.
The full conference schedule can be found at http://www.conservation-us.org/annual-meeting/meeting-schedule.
Meet me in Montreal!
Gretchen Guidess
AIC Collection Care Network

Call for Submissions – 2016 STASH Flash session on storage

STASH_logoDevising storage solutions that mitigate damage to collections from both threats small and expected, and large and catastrophic is a core task for preservation professionals. Doing so in a way that makes use of an institution’s human, financial and material resources makes this task an even bigger challenge.
The third annual STASH Flash session on storage solutions for all collection types has been scheduled as a late afternoon pre-session to the meeting Saturday, May 14.  The program will utilize a lightening round or “Tips” format as well as guided, audience participatory discussion.  We are calling for contributions of short (5 minute) tips on the following themes:

  • Building on the conference theme, presentations will be solicited on storage mounts or support systems that were either specifically designed to mitigate against the threat of a disaster or inappropriate environment, or presentations that assess how rehousing solutions performed in protecting (or not protecting) collections in a disaster or emergency event.
  • Building on a topic that came out of the 2015 STASH Flash discussion session and the TSG Tips session, the second proposed theme focuses on multi-function supports, with functions serving more than one purpose, such as storage, storage, travel and/or exhibition purposes.
  • Innovative storage solutions for individual or collection groups that do not conform to either theme will be accepted if space allows.

Presenters will be asked to show up with their solution in a ready format for uploading to the STASH website after the conference.
To submit your ideas please send a short abstract including the following information to Rachael Arenstein (rachael@amartconservation.com) by January 11, 2016.
Name:
Institution/Affiliation/Title:
Email:
Object/collection type:
And a description of approx. 150 words on the project

43rd Annual Meeting – Textile Session, May 30, "A Turkish Kilim: Analysis, Stabilization, and Loss Compensation” by Cathleen Zaret.

Cathy Zaret presented on the techniques and challenges she encountered during the conservation treatment of a large Kilim. The Kilim was a 6 x 8 ft fragment from a private collection. After the completion of her treatment, the fragment would be returned to the private collector where it would be displayed over the back of their sofa.
Cathy’s introduction to Kilims provided helpful terminology and historical context. Kilims are woven tapestries, hangings, or rugs. They have non vertical panels with slits in the weave, but the design is such that the slits are small. Kilims formed part of the dowry of women in Anatolia and were made for personal use. Women wove many different designs and motifs into their Kilims and the choice of design does not appear to be geographically associated. Cathy searched through the literature to find a Kilim that appeared similar to hers and could only find one other similar example.
The Kilim fragment had a number of distinct manufacturing and condition features. The yarn in the fragment exhibited color variation and the condition of the yarn seemed to relate to the color. For example, the brown weft was most susceptible to loss, possibly because it had been dyed with iron oxide, rendering it vulnerable to additional damage. There had been many previous campaigns of restoration, all of which were documented as part of this treatment.
The goals for this treatment were to stabilize the Kilim and perform loss compensation on the largest areas of loss while being aware of the future use of the item. Since the prior repairs were in good condition and part of the history of the object, they were left intact.

  • Cathy lined the fragment with net for structural support during cleaning and removed it after cleaning.
  • The kilim was cleaned with a surfactant and then rinsed repeatedly before rolling it in towels and laying it out to dry. This successfully removed most of the soiling from the tapestry.
  • The kilim was mounted on a saw horse tensioning frame for treatment.
  • Used a whip stitch to stabilize the lower edge.
  • Repaired or replaced warp with handspun singles. Introduced the new warp into an undamaged area near the loss and wove it through the area of loss and then moved the yard to an adjacent warp and wove it back across the loss.

Cathy overcame many challenges during this treatment related to the size of the object and its context. To keep track of her treatment on a fragment of this size (6 x 8 ft), Cathy divided the kilim into six sections and worked on one section at a time. She also learned how to manage her treatment when the cost of conservation is higher than the perceived value of the textile.
I primarily work on objects but have occasionally had the opportunity to work with a textile conservator on something that crosses the line between textile and object. Cathy’s talk was comprehensible to conservators well versed in textiles and applicable for those of us who work on the fringes of textile conservation. I look forward to using her conservation techniques and well-organized approach in the future.

43rd Annual Meeting, Joint ECPN/ CPIP Panel Session, May 13 “ Emerging Conservators in Private Practice”

This session was one of the major reasons I chose to attend AIC 2015 annual meeting. Speaking to a conservator who started a private practice within five years of graduating from a conservation program planted a strong seed for me. Megan Salazar-Walsh, session moderator, launched the event tapping into panelists’ hindsight “What you wish you knew starting out that you know now as a conservator in private practice?
During the panel session, four conservators in private practice across the spectrum from the fledgling to established practices of five and ten years shared insights on a variety of topics from workspaces to work/life balance and the challenges of being a business owner. The panelists were: Anna Alba, a paintings conservator in the Pittsburgh area, and proprietress of http://www.albaconservation.com/ established in 2014. Stephanie Hornbeck, a senior objects conservator who established Caryatid Conservation  in Miami in 2010. Lara Kaplan, founder of Lara Kaplan Conservation LLC, an objects conservation-focused firm in Baltimore in 2005. Cynthia Kuneij-Berry, senior paintings conservator in Chicago, who was in private practice for off and on for years and established her business in its current form, Kuneij-Berry Associates in 2005, and Emily MacDonald-Korth,a painting and architecture conservator with studios in Miami and Los Angeles for Longevity Art Preservation LLC and a second venture, Art Preservation Index.
The major benefits of private practice are the flexibility, whether in geography or time for raising children, and the independence combined with the satisfaction intrinsic to art conservation. The challenges of course are inherent to running any business such as marketing and educating clients and unpredictability in workload. After finishing her fellowship, unsolicited contract work started Laura Kaplan on the private practice path; after two years she wholeheartedly embraced private practice conservation.  Laura acknowledged and diffused some myths saying that going into private practice straight after training is completely doable. A conservator can have an equally rich and rewarding career in private practice as in a traditional museum position.
The panel overwhelmingly recommended interning in private practice during the pre-program and/or graduate school years to make a more informed decision. Anna Alba had worked with two private conservators before graduating and hence she had insight into the both the good and bad aspects of private practice life. One of the biggest challenges of private practice is that one never really gets to leave work at work. Also, as a business owner, a conservator is doing whatever needs to be done from being the cleaning lady to the accountant as well as scientists and art conservator. Other challenges cited by the panel included education clients, learning not to over-commit, and contact negotiations can drag on with institutions and approvals. Best summary quote about private practice from the panel was “No one thing is hard, but everything can be overwhelming.” The AIC online course for establishing a practice came highly recommended as a starting point for anyone considering private practice.
Collaboration Remains Key
 Collegiality and cooperation among conservators were mentioned repeatedly as essential to the successful private practice. When objects conservator Stephanie Hornbeck chose Miami to set up her conservation practice after leaving the Smithsonian, paintings conservator Rustin Levinson whohad  practiced in Florida for decades was extremely helpful in identifying people and organizations that could use object conservation services. Later, the two collaborated on the conservation of Louise Nevelson sculptures for the Perez Art Museum that was covered in a documentary. https://caryatidconservation.wordpress.com/ Laura Kaplan noted that the Baltimore area is a supportive and cooperative community despite hosting many objects conservators; often subcontracting for each other as needed on large contracts. Similarly, Emily MacDonald-Korth mentioned consulting with classmates and former supervisors when dealing with a technically challenging project.
Getting Started in Private Practice
The first step is speak to conservators in private practice and at institutions who are taking private work; it is an essential part of due diligence to understand how pricing is working in the regional market. The panelists also emphasized that being a good colleague also means charging fair market prices. The conservation field has problems with adequate compensation, so undercharging as a new conservator in private practice will exacerbate the issue, noted Laura Kaplan.  The rigorous experience and education associated with conservation graduate school means that a conservator fresh out of fellowship possesses the skills and professionalism to be a qualified, ethical conservator in private practice as well as at an institution, and to charge accordingly.
All the panelists had rented work spaces for their labs. Loft or converted industrial spaces that attract artists also work for conservators. Laura Kaplan noted it’s important to have a space that feels professional so clients can come and feel good about leaving their artworks. Two of the conservators had live/work spaces. Features like loading dock or 10 ft bay door become important given the potential size of art works. Anna Alba has opportunity within her building to rent extra space as needed. Recommendations for set-up include having everything on wheels for adaptability, using Ikea for cabinets and storage, creating work surfaces with trestle legs and hollow frame wood doors. The rented studio provides some psychological benefits, creating a clearer mental boundary and giving some structure to the business. A favorite tidbit regarding equipment investment comes from Emily MacDonald-Korth, always get a deposit for a treatment and use the deposit to buy needed equipment and supplies for that project. Hence one avoids the trap of spending on unnecessary expensive equipment just for the sake of buying it. Cynthia Kuneij-Berry as a painting conservator always had a solvent cabinet in her studio space.  She invested in a ventilation system in her current studio feeling a higher standard now that she has employees since regretfully she’s had conservation friends who died from cancers related to workplace hazards. She found consulting with engineers, insurance agents, and lawyers valuable in addressing safety needs. AIC has some upcoming online courses on lab safety and risk mitigation.
Trends
An exciting trend for private practice is there are some large underserved art markets in North America. Stephanie Hornbeck acknowledged market need was a major factor for establishing her practice in Miami, Florida. She wanted to stay on the East Coast overall, but a noncompete clause made it impractical to stay in Washington DC.  She recognized that Florida was underserved with numerous museums, a major art fair, and only three institutions had conservators. With her background at the Smithsonian, she saw a need and niche for a museum conservator for 3-D art and now works with fourteen museums in the state. With half of AIC membership being conservators in private practice and the movement toward outsourcing across the United States economy, private practice conservation will likely remain major professional trend for art conservators. A future trend mentioned by CIPP leadership is interest for senior conservators in private practice transitioning their businesses to the next generation of conservators.
It was clear for all panelists the rewards outweighed the challenges for private practice. The types of projects in private practice offer variety and broaden horizons and the opportunity to shape your practice and move professionally in directions of interest, such Stephanie Hornbeck’s work with art conservation in disaster areas. The happiness on clients’ faces when they see their artwork post-treatment is really memorable.  Another reward is spending most of your time in studio and on treatments instead of mundane meetings. Last but not least, the people in your professional life can be a major reward with the opportunity to pick your coworkers, and hosting pre-program and graduate interns who bring updates in technology and education to the studio, and continually meeting new people as clients.

AIC 2016 Call for Papers: Sustainability

AIC’s Sustainability Committee Session at the joint AIC and CAC-ACCR Annual Meeting
Montreal, Quebec
May 13-17, 2016
The Sustainability Committee of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (AIC) invites submissions for its session at the 44th AIC Annual Meeting, held jointly with the 42nd Annual Canadian Association for Conservation (CAC-ACCR) Conference, in Montreal, Canada from May 13-17, 2016.
The theme for the meeting is “Preparing for Disasters and Confronting the Unexpected in Conservation”.
Abstracts on the general topic of sustainability in conservation practice are welcome, as well as submissions related to the meeting’s theme of disaster preparedness, recovery, and unexpected challenges faced when approaching the conservation of cultural property from a sustainable perspective. The theme of the annual meeting is particularly relevant when considering the relationship between sustainable practices and climate change- induced environmental challenges. Submissions that inspire lively discussion are encouraged.
The deadline for submission of abstracts is Monday, September 14, 2015
Please submit abstracts online at: https://aic.secure-platform.com/a/
Please see the full submission guidelines at: http://www.conservation-us.org/annual-meeting/submit-an-abstract#.VbjIi_lViko

43rd Annual Meeting – Electronic Media Session, May 16, "Tackling obsolescence through virtualization: facing challenges and finding potentials” by Patricia Falcao, Annet Dekker, and Pip Laurenson

The presenters began by explaining that they had changed the title to reflect the emphasis of presentation. The new title became "An exploration of significance and dependency in the conservation of software-based artwork."

Based upon their research, the presenters decided to focus on dependencies rather than obsolesence per se. The project was related to PERICLES, a pan-European risk assessment project for preserving digital content. PERICLES was a four-year collaboration that included systems engineers and other specialists, modeling systems to predict change.

The presenters used two case studies from the Tate to examine key concepts of dependencies and significant properties. Significant properties were described as values defined by the artist. Dependency is the connection between different elements in a system, defined by the function of those elements, such as the speed of a processor. The research focused on works of art where software is the essential part of the art. The presenters explained that there were four categories of software-based artwork: contained, networked, user-dependent, and generative. The featured case studies were examples of contained and networked artworks. These categories were defined not only in terms of behavior, but also in terms of dependencies.

Michael Craig-Martin's Becoming was a contained artwork. The changing composition of images was comprised of animation of the artist’s drawings on LCD screen, using proprietary software. Playback speed is an example of an essential property that could be changed, if there were a future change in hardware, for example.

Jose Carlos Martinat Mendoza's Brutalism: Stereo Reality Environment 3 was the second case study discussed by the presenters. This work of art is organized around a visual pun, evoking the Brutalist architecture of the Peruvian “Pentagonito,” a government Ministry of Defense office associated with the human rights abuses of a brutal regime. Both the overall physical form of the installation, when viewed merely as sculpture, and the photographic image of the original structure reinforce the architectural message. A printer integrated into the exhibit conveys textual messages gleaned from internet searches of brutality. While the networked connection permitted a degree of randomness and spontaneity in the information flowing from the printer, there was a backup MySQL database to provide content, in the event of an interruption in the internet connection.

The presenters emphasized that the dependencies for software-based art were built around aesthetic considerations of function. A diagram was used to illustrate the connection between artwork-level dependencies. With "artwork" in the center, three spokes radiated outward toward knowledge, interface, and computation. An example of knowledge might be the use of a password to have administrative rights to access or modify the work. A joystick or a game controller would be examples of interfaces. In Brutalism, the printer is an interface. Computation refers to the capacity and processor speed of the computer itself.

Virtualization has been offered as an approach to preserving these essential relationships. It separates hardware from software, creating a single file out of many. It can act as a diagnostic tool and a preservation strategy that mitigates against hardware failure. The drawbacks were that it could mean copying unnecessary or undesirable files or that the virtual machine (and the x86 virtualization architecture) could become obsolete. Another concern is that virtualization may not capture all of the significant properties that give the artwork its unique character. A major advantage of virtualization is that it permits the testing of dependencies such as processor speed. It also facilitates version control and comparison of different versions.The authors did not really explain the difference between emulation and virtualization, perhaps assuming that the audience already knew the difference. Emulation uses software to replicate the original hardware environment to run different operating systems, whereas virtualization uses the existing underlying hardware to run different operating systems. The hardware emulation step decreases performance.

The presenters then explained the process that is used at the Tate. They create a copy of the hardware and software. A copy is kept on the Tate servers. Collections are maintained in a High Value Digital Asset Repository. The presenters also described the relationship of the artist's installation requirements to the dependencies and significant properties. For example, Becoming requires a monitor with a clean black frame of specific dimensions and aspect ratio. The software controls the timing and speed of image rotation and the randomness or image changes, as well as traditional artistic elements of color and scale. With Brutalism, the language (Spanish to English) is another essential factor, along with "liveness" of search.

During the question and answer period, the presenters explained that they were using VMware, because it was practical and readily available. An audience member asked an interesting question about the limitations of virtualization for the GPU (graphics processing unit). The current methodology at the Tate works for the CPU(central processing unit) only, not the graphics unit. The presenters indicated that they anticipated future support for the GPU.

This presentation emphasized the importance of curatorship of significant propeeties and documentation of dependencies in conserving software-based art. It was important to understand the artist's intent and to capture the essence of the artwork as it was meant to be presented, while recognizing that the artist’s hardware, operating system, applications, and hardware drivers could all become obsolete. It was clear from the presentation that a few unanswered questions remain, but virtualization appears to be a viable preservation strategy.

43rd Annual Meeting – Sustainability session – May 15, 2015 – "Achieving Competing Goals: Energy Efficient Cold Storage" by Shengyin Xu et al

This presentation provides a case study from the Minnesota Historical Society for a cold storage unit that is inefficient and could perhaps provide better conditions within its given parameters. One problem with specialty storage is the high cost of running specialized environmental systems. So, what can one do for optimal conditions for cold storage yet still save on energy cost?
In 2012, an NEH Sustainability Planning Grant was secure to investigate the possibilities available for improving their cold storage. It is hoped that the collaborative design process could achieve better preservation condition in the long term and use energy savings more efficiently and potentially see actual savings.
Currently, their cold storage unit ran at 62F and 40%RH and was a very small space: 2% of their overall storage space. Its current conditions provided a Preservation Index (PI) of approximately 100. It utilized 7% of the Historical Society’s annual energy use, but wasn’t providing the conditions it needed for good cold storage of audiovisual collections.
The Historical Society went through a variety of condition and compared PI numbers to see what various conditions could provide in terms of collection storage longevity. Beyond that, they also investigated capital costs associated with retrofitting the unit to provide those conditions. Lastly, they examined the costs associated with running the unit for the long term. They balanced all three of these factors in order to come to a solution that would be beneficial on all three levels: collections environment, capital costs, and sustainability.
I will admit that I had a hard time following the flow of this presentation, especially toward the end when gears were shifted from environmental conditions of cold storage to air quality examination. One of the frustrating points of the presentation were these air quality tables that were too small to be legible on the screen.Visual charts would have been helpful to demonstrate the different air quality levels that were present and what they were trying to achieve. I also didn’t fully understand what this part of the presentation had to do with the rest of the talk.
 

43rd Annual Meeting- Wooden Artifacts Session, May 15, “Bending over Backwards: Treatment of Four Chinese Export Bamboo and Rattan Chairs” by Michaela Neiro, Historic New England

Bamboo Settee, Historic New England Collection
Bamboo Settee, Historic New England Collection

Michaela Neiro spoke about a great treatment of bamboo furniture for exhibit at Quincy House, a historic home in Quincy Massachusetts built in 1790 (part of Historic New England).  http://www.historicnewengland.org/historic-properties/homes/quincy-house
Photographs from the 1880’s show bamboo chairs in the first floor hall, but they were subsequently lost.  Fortunately, acceptable substitutes could be selected from the Historic New England collections.
Rattan and bamboo are two light but sturdy construction materials that became popular in America as a result of trade with China and the East, and remain commonly available today. Furniture made from rattan is called wicker.
The HNE chairs were constructed by heat bending the bamboo into curves, and securing joints with wood dowels and wood pins. No adhesives or metal fasteners were used. The seats were caned, and many small pieces of bamboo were joined to create intricate decorative patterns in the back, sides and base.
In addition to dirt and failing coatings, some of the small rattan and bamboo pieces were missing. Luckily there was enough information from the small “pin” holes left in the frame to figure out the original pattern. All the losses were filled with new rattan, which can be ordered in various thicknesses. The rattan was shaped by bending lengths around nail and board jigs while it was wet and pliable; when it dried it maintained the shape of the jig.  The new rattan fills were toned to match the original bamboo and rattan using dilute acrylics before they were attached.
You can read more about the conservation project here:
http://www.historicnewengland.org/about-us/whats-new/inside-the-conservation-lab-adventures-in-bamboo-and-rattan

43rd Annual Meeting, Collection Care Session, May 14, “Pathways for Implementing a Successful Passive RH microclimate” by Steven Weintraub”

Relative being the key word in this talk, Steven Weintraub of Art Preservation Services, Inc., presented a checklist of critical thinking when making decisions about relative humidity (RH) microclimates for collections.
Question the accuracy of your RH measurement
Weintraub points out it’s really easy to be 5% off  on measuring RH for a myriad of reasons including sensor locations relative vent locations, drift in the measuring equipment. While 40% to 60% is the usual goal, a conservator has to ponder how comfortable are you with 35% to 65%?  Weintraub admitted those extremes make him less confident for preventive conservation; microclimates can be the answer when an object requires tighter control.
The talk ended on this accuracy theme as well. While technology has come to RH measuring systems such as blue tooth systems so the case no longer has to be opened, accuracy remains in issue. Before setting up an exhibit, compare all the meters so to have at least an internal standard for readings.  Calibrating the meters before exhibitions is ideal, of course but not always feasible.  If there is a large discrepancy in RH readings between the loaning institution and your institution, it might be worth having a conversation about calibration methods.
To seal or not to seal a case
Weintraub recounted the common reasons for not sealing a case: Avoid trapping off-gassing; gallery climate control is adequate; it’s harder and more expensive to construct an airtight case. However hindsight is harder to manage. It’s harder to retrofit a leaking case and make it air tight after the fact when too much dust is collecting on the objects or other problems occur. Thus it’s best to start with air tight cases and loosen if needed.  Hence whether intentional or not, sealed cases are microclimates.
Microclimates: Active control, Passive control, or Nothing
Weintraub recommend building all cases to have the provisions for at least a passive RH control system regardless. Again the theme of enabling flexibility and avoiding retrofitting later applies. Building space for silica gel trays and not using it is easier than retrofitting the case later.
What is the rate of leakage for the case is the most important question for microclimates. The leakage rate will determine if a passive control is adequate or active control system is needed. Weintraub noted, no silica gel system in the world is adequate for a highly leaky case. Nominal leaking from a tight system then begs the question about why an active system is needed.Leakage assessment can be easily accessible. Weintraub feels it’s important and empowering for institutions to be able to conduct their own leakage rate tests. It will enable identifying when repairs are needed under service contracts and also make more informed choices about the steps needed for microclimates. A caveat on interpreting leakage rates when you’re shopping for cases No standard protocol exists for determining leakage rates; so manufacturers reported values are hard to compare. Leakage rates change over time as materials age and warp
 Creating your own leak detector
Weintraub shared two easy ways to have your own leak detection system. Cans of dust-off contain small amounts of refrigerant.  A refrigerant detector can be easily purchased from HVAC suppliers for about $500; the detector is akin to a Geiger counter. It’s a qualitative tool that helps locate the leaks. The second leakage assessment choice is monitor carbon dioxide levels. The carbon dioxide level in the case increased above ambient levels (600 to 2500 ppm) and use a meter installed in the case to monitor the change in carbon dioxide levels.  Let the case reach equilibrium at before starting the leak test. Weintraub and students at the NYU conservation center are currently examining how long it typically takes to reach equilibrium. Weintraub likes to run his leak tests for 3 days. Basically it’s calculating the rate of loss of CO2 Thus the difference in CO2 measurements over the time period.  Close to 0 for the rate means success as there is minimal leakage. A large rate indicates an issue. At that point, consider looking at the half-time decay, how many days it takes for CO2 levels to drop 50% in the case.
How much silica gel?
  Answer: Leakage rate * number of exhibit days* buffering capacity of silica gel at your target humidity levels= weight of silica gel.
You can examine compare different silica gel types for your scenario as some silica gels perform better at high humidity and others at low humidity. For a maintenance-free case, Weintraub’s rule of thumb is double the exhibition quantity of silica gel.   Another silica gel tip is to mix silica gels at different humidities to get the target humidity such at mixing 55% and 40% RH gel systems to get a target of 50%.
Also, mind the air gap in the case. An air gap is needed to make sure air flow is adequate in the case to get the benefits of silica gel actually reaching the collection objects.
Lastly, we as conservators need to do a better job of sharing our learning and experience about microclimate to develop a collective pool of knowledge
Weintraub’s article on Demystifying Silica Gel is available on Art Preservation Services website along with some of his work on LED.

43rd Annual Meeting- Heritage Health Information Survey Results Revealed, and The Past & Future of Conservation Funding Panel Discussion

I, like many others, had been looking forward to hearing the results of Heritage Preservation’s Heritage Health Information Survey, HHI 2014. Unfortunately, at the time of the meeting those results were not yet available for sharing. Despite my disappointment in not seeing those results the session was well conducted and highly informative.
Dr. Connie Bodner, Supervisory Grants Management Specialist, Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) discussed support for programs addressing collection care priorities identified in HHI 2004 over the past ten years as well as her Institute’s continuing commitment in those areas.
The major priorities identified in the HHI 2004 report were:
• Institutions must give priority to providing safe conditions for the collections they hold in trust.
• Every collecting institution must develop an emergency plan to protect its collections and train staff to carry it out.
• Every institution must assign responsibility for caring for collections to members of its staff.
• Individuals at all levels of government and in the private sector must assume responsibility for providing the support that will allow these collections to survive.
Substantive progress has been made in responding to those priorities over the past ten years. Connie put forward as one outstanding example the Connecting to Collections – A call to action program which over four years raised awareness of collection care in many small to medium museums. In addition to distributing collection care ‘bookshelves’ to 3000 institutions, it created the internet based discussion list and webinar series that has now been adopted by FAIC as Connecting to Collections Care where it will be maintained and further developed.
Heritage Preservation’s Acting President Thomas Clareson provided a recap on the process of dissolution of Heritage Preservation set to occur on June 30, 2015. Many programs have been transferred to FAIC as detailed in our Executive Director’s communication in the May 2015 edition of AIC News http://www.conservation-us.org/docs/default-source/periodicals/aic-news-vol-40-no-3-(may-2015).pdf?sfvrsn=2. In addition, Heritage Preservation business archives are being transferred to the Smithsonian Institution Archives and the Saving Outdoor Sculpture (SOS) archives are being transferred to the University of Maryland. Digital resources for Heritage Preservation programs will continue to be made available through CoOL (even more good reason for each of us to financially support CoOL!)
The disposition of several programs is still being worked out. These include the Heritage Emergency National Task Force, HHI 2014, and the Conservation Assessment Program (CAP). There will be announcements about homes for these programs in the near future. The IMLS reiterated its commitment to continuing support for the CAP program.
Regarding the Heritage Health Information Survey, HHI 2014, while much of the 2014 survey was kept consistent with the 2004 version to allow comparison of results over time, there were some changes such as more information gathered on digital resources. The survey was sent out in October 2014 and data collection ended in February 2015. The response rate was about 20% based on 1800 responses from an estimated universe of 50,000 institutions.
The complete HHI 2014 report is now expected to be published in the fall of 2015. In addition to the report, brochures will be produced and press conferences scheduled. This could be an ideal time for collection care staff in institutions large and small to bring preservation issues and priorities to the attention of senior management and governance. Interestingly, survey response data files will be available on the IMLS website for download and further analysis.
High-level and long-term perspectives on foundation-based support for conservation training and practice were then offered by officers from three of our long-term, committed supporters: the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Getty Foundation, and Kress Foundation. Each discussed the history and underlying philosophy behind their ongoing support for conservation.
First, Alison Gilchrest of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation outlined its 46 years of support for conservation beginning with a grant to support Dr. Robert Feller’s work on photochemistry and light damage at the Mellon Institute. Since then 310 grants with a conservation component have provided funding totalling $191,433,145 – an impressive investment indeed. These have been targeted through careful selection to support strength and potential, information sharing and networking. Alison has begun to explore how grant resources have been distributed over time and across the field with a view to ensuring there is collaboration across the Mellon foundation to fulfill its mission “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.”
Antoine Wilmering, Senior Program Officer then spoke of the Getty Foundation’s support for conservation which has included 1133 grants over the past 30 years and 287 grants over the past 10 years. The foundation is tending to support more broadly integrated projects which include research, development, training, capacity building, and dissemination. It is actively scanning the field for both what they read and hear and what they are not seeing and hearing to identify areas in which they can invest to best effect.
Max Max Marmor, President of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation was pleased to report his Foundation has supported more than 4500 Kress Fellows since 1961 and currently supports nine conservation fellowships each year. This is in addition to the substantial support associated with the conservation of the Kress collection itself, primarily through Kress Program in Paintings Conservation at New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts, and through such initiatives as the Summer Teachers Institute in Technical Art History (STITAH). Max believes that important priorities in the future will be sustaining the interest of young professionals in conservation and ensuring they will have adequate opportunities for development and employment, while also raising consciousness more generally in the importance of heritage preservation.
Numerous participants thanked the presenters and spoke to the benefits they had received through support from these foundations.
Robert Waller, Protect Heritage Corp.