Daly Conservation

I was thrilled to see my classmates and have our Oral Presentations this past Tuesday.  Renee Wolcott’s presentation was one of the most memorable, because the projector began shaking part way through and someone in the audience shouted out ‘it’s an Earthquake!’ and then 10 seconds later everything was calm again, and Renee continued with her presentation.

Of course this would be my class, natural disaster - ha! we just keep going, I am hugely proud of all of my classmates and watching all of them present about the work they have done has reminded me of how far we have all come in the past three years. It is also exciting to hear about where they will be going and what they will be doing, I hope we will stay in touch and keep each other informed.  It is exciting to hear about their research about separating water damaged photographic negatives, protective coatings for murals, coatings and cleaning methods for stone, the paintings of Richard Caton Woodville, and architectural paint analysis.  The whole day was like a miniature AIC meeting, I feel like I contributed and learned many interesting ideas.

I have also been thinking about what makes a student decide to go to Delaware for grad school, there is a lot of bucolic beauty in Delaware and most of my classmates really enjoy the outdoors, a few of us have pets like dogs or cats that we love, and we were all really supportive and helpful of each other while each working very independently. I am

I am going to be sad to leave Delaware, I just went for a walk in Brandywine park, probably for the last time, and tonight I am going to the beach with my friend, Delawarian Josie Albert.  I love the trees here, the way it will slowly rain all day and how that makes staying inside and working seem really cozy and pleasant.

Now, I’m almost thru with my second-year of grad school and I have been corresponding with a number of applicants who have been chosen for interviews.  The memories come back of the two years that I interviewed and all the hype, hope, and fear that you have at that point in your career.  It is an interesting time, you feel like the decision you have to make is huge and you desperately want the admissions committee to recognize all the work you’ve done for little or no pay over the past few years.  I was fortunate, my first year applying I was invited to interview at all 3 schools I applied to, here was my first interview experiences.

The practical things you should know: plan on spending around $600-$700 in flights, food, and housing if you are a triple-threat interviewee. I did not rent a car or pay for a hotel, but I did buy a suit, which made me feel more comfortable and professional for the interview, you may also buy a professional portfolio binder, clear sheet protectors, dividers, and an art portfolio case.   You will be offered housing with a student at Winterthur and Buffalo, NYU recommends a hotel.  Everyone tells you to ask for feedback from the schools if you are not accepted, to improve your next application.  My experience was that NYU and Winterthur gave me feedback, Buffalo never got back to me.

NYU - Institute of Fine Arts Conservation Center

This was my first interview, and I really wanted to go to NYU, I had been working in Houston where Wynne Phelan was the head of the conservation department at the MFAH. She was a graduate of one of the first classes from NYU and she was and is an inspiration and a bit of a personal hero to me.

The NYU interview was shorter than the other two in length, basically a 15-20 minute powerpoint presentation and then a quick look at the art you brought.  It was quick, but it was grilling, I remember being asked a myriad of questions “Why don’t you just expose the photographs to the maximum level of light and then put them in storage forever after that? Isn’t that the same as displaying photographs and then putting them away, then displaying them again?” I still don’t know what this question was getting at, but later someone said they were probably trying to see what I would say if a curator brought up some similar scheme.  I really liked the visit, the labs had a lot of light, and the summer projects sounded very interesting.  I think I wrote a brief condition report of a artifact and had a tour.  I remember standing in front of their case of Forbes pigments the with one of the other interviewees and whispering toward the case “I’m not getting into this school”, without looking up from the case she said “Neither am I”.  I don’t remember her name, but I really hope she stuck with conservation, she was great.

Buffalo State 

This was my second interview.   I had met and worked with Jill Whitten and Rob Proctor in Houston and I completely loved them, they are also huge fans of Buffalo and I believe they return every other year to teach about varnishes. I was unsure how I felt about Buffalo going into the interview.

The Buffalo interview is longer, around an hour, with a 20-minute presentation, but more questions and chats, and a lot of laughter, I remember thinking I should have added more jokes into the presentation. They also look at your artwork and ask you more detailed questions about documentation.  I remember being asked about a textile BT photograph I had taken on a slant board and “Do you know the exact angle of that slant board?” to which I answered “The same angle as the camera lens, I measured them both before I took the shot.”  The interview process also includes a basic color blindness test and tour of the labs.  The interview is more social, the students have dinner parties each night and if you stay with a student they can look over your portfolio and presentation.  I was pleasantly surprised by the school and the town of Buffalo, I really enjoyed it there.

Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservtion - WUDPAC 

I remember I had around 4 days between interviews and I had to impose on my friend Ariel O’Connor in Buffalo to let me stay with her until I flew to Delaware.   In Wilmington I stayed with another friend, Lisa Duncan who was in her first-year as a photography conservation fellow.  Lisa and I had worked in photography conservation together in Houston with Toshi Koseki a WUDPAC grad who is still very connected to the program.

The interview at WUDPAC is epic.  The day begins with a talk by Debbie Hess Norris about the importance of conserving our cultural heritage, followed by a science test.  Then there are a series of stations: a colorblindness test, drawing test, essay, tour of the labs, tour of the house and garden, and there’s a lot of food to keep you going throughout the day, if you can eat.  The interview itself is sandwiched in there somewhere, it is around 20 minutes of presentation, Joyce Hill Stoner will ask you about your favorite museum and/or “What would be an unethical treatment?” .  Your art portfolio is looked over briefly.  Then  you are given your choice of an artifact that you take to the front of the room and describe it physically, the current condition (it is always in fair/poor condition) then say how you would treat it. The students will have a dinner or party ever night and it is a lot of fun.  I really enjoyed Winterthur and Delaware, and I felt like having a more thorough interview was a better assessment of me as a candidate.

That year, I was not accepted into any of the programs.  I was crushed, and completely broke after flying from Texas to New York City, Buffalo, and Wilmington.  I moped around the lab for weeks until my supervisor Jane Gillies said to me at one point, “Look, no one is surprised that you didn’t get into grad school the first time you applied.  Everyone is impressed that you got three interviews.”

The final version of my paper on HVAC shut downs has been written, edited, and turned-in to my advisor Dr. Joelle Wickens.  It will live in the files at Winterthur, and hopefully I will find a forum where I can talk about my findings with other interested conservators or building managers.  This project has made me more aware of groups like the International Facilities Management Association (IFMA) who may be interested in energy saving practices from a art conservation point of view.  Following is my project summary:

This study investigates how the environmental parameters required by a collection can be met using sustainable practices.
To save both energy and money it is possible to turn off Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems. If the systems are turned off when the buildings are unoccupied it is more likely the conditions in the buildings will remain stable. By turning off HVAC systems for short periods of time, the systems can be run in a more sustainable way as there will be less wear on  motors and fans.  The project researched the practice of these short shut-downs, and included a three-day HVAC shut down test at Winterthur.

Winterthur is a historic house that has 175 period rooms with various materials including: furniture, decorative arts, works of art on paper, books, paintings on wood and canvas, leather, basketry, glass, metals, and textiles. The building has thick masonry walls, insulation, and double pane windows.  The HVAC was installed in the 1960’s. The parameters at Winterthur in the winter are: 68°F-72°F, Relative Humidity (RH) 40% +/- 5%; in the summer the parameters are: 72-75°F, RH 50% +/- 5%. These parameters are a conservative standard for the materials in this collection.
A mild week in September was chosen for the shutdown, as the outside conditions would be similar to the collection parameters. During the 12-hour shutdown it was decided (by Bruno Pouliot) that if there were trends in the temperature and humidity moving quickly away from the parameters the systems would be turned back on.  Monitoring was done in a thorough and
systematic way, with readings taken by: building thermostats, thirteen dataloggers, and the building engineers took readings every two hours with a hand-held hygrothermograph.

The shutdown was for 12-hours, the entire system was turned off from 6:00 PM until 6:00 AM, three nights were tested.   The building temperature and RH remained within the parameters and the systems did not have to be turned on to regulate the environment.

There were fluctuations, the overall trend was that temperatures were elevated a few degrees, and the RH was elevated a few percentages.  The elevated temperature and RH is noticeable in the data charts, but when the data is examined in long time the changes during the shutdown are similar in degree to other general environmental fluctuations.

Interviews with conservators, archivists, and building managers gave insight into similar practices that will or have been taken at other institutions. These professionals described their experiences shutting down systems for days, weeks, or a season in a variety of climates spanning the United States.  They spoke positively about their experiences, the environment in their collections remained stable or improved and they saved energy and funds, in some cases thousands of dollars were saved. Data was also collected about system setbacks, and the buffering ability of buildings with no environmental control. The success of these conservators and of the Winterthur test case may indicate to other museums the possibility of using similar methods to save energy and funds while maintaining the environmental parameters required by their collection.
This research may continue as I move on to my third-year internship, and I will definitely continue to study sustainable facilities management as I find time and support for my research.

Today was the first day to try out our housekeeping skills at the main house on Ossabaw Island.  It was really great to have a da

y of hands-on activity as I had been spending a lot of time in my head.  I am also thinking a lot about wrappin

g up this project as I am leaving on Monday, which is only a few days away.  We have a beach planned for Sunday, and then I am leaving the next day so Saturday will be my last real day of physical work.

Housekeeping is hard, grimey work, especialy as I decided to clean the hearth in the room first and I had Maggie and Ari to help me which was great.  Maggie was great at removing the buckets of ashes from the fireplace and then poultice cleaning of glass baubles that had been set on the mantle.

Ari cleaned the fireplace stones to remove soot, using dampened sponges and detergent.    She and I also cleaned windows, firescreens, and glass.

I have been really impressed with Ari and Maggie as they have identified insects, cleaned sooty fireplaces, and had the energy to cook dinner in the evenings for their “cook night”.  They both made sugar cookies last night which were very tasty, especially considering there are no measuring cups at the house.

Ben has been fearless cleaning the wainscoting with a duster, taking care to cover paintings and curtains to prevent pushing dust onto these items.

Portrait of an articulated skeleton on a bentwood chair,
originally uploaded by Powerhouse Museum Collection.

Here’s a quick blog post to catch up about the project and the strange and wonderful places it has taken me.  I got a huge response from conservators internationally from the posting to the OSG-l and the consdist list.  Since no one is an island, speaking to these conservators has been very helpful for me to realize that There is a great deal of interest in sustainable practices among conservators and collections managers.  I have conducted phone interviews with numerous people, including Sarah Brophey, the co-author of The Green Museum.

One of the more interesting discoveries from these interviews is the sense of responsibility that museum professionals feel toward sustainability.  The sentiments from the  Getty interview with Tim Padfield, Ernest Conrad, and Franciza Toledo demonstrates two sides of the issue that I found really intriguing. Whether sustainability is a moral or a pratical decision.  To me it is both, if the purpose of conservation is to ensure that cultural heritage is preserved, then you should also be working to preserve the environment as well.

I sincerely thank everyone who has contacted me about this project, whether it was to offer data, allow me to interview you about your practices, and especially to those who wrote me quick notes of encouragement or pointed me to someone else who could be helpful.  I have been incredibly impressed by the interest and support I received.

So, where is this project going?  With a 5,000 word limit and I have realized I have so much information that it will have to be more focused.  I will focus on the Winterthur HVAC shut-down test case, and the information I have from other conservators will be summarized in a more general way.

I have already thought about a Phase II for the project, possibly next year or further in the future to study more about what can be done without systems to maintain the correct collection environment.  I hope I will be able to attend the IIC Roundtable at the AIC 2010 meeting in Milwaukee about Guidelines for the Museum Environment. It will be exciting to see the authors of some of the papers I have been reading.

World’s Columbian Exposition: Liberal Arts Building, Chicago, United States, 1893.,
originally uploaded by Brooklyn Museum.

After some initial research and the making of a bibliography, I went on a bit of a tangent in my reading.  There are a number of discussions about buildings and how they should be built to be more energy efficient.  There are also general discussions about sustainability and climate change.  Being the daughter of an architect and the sister of a LEED certified architect, I was immediately drawn to the architecture discussions and enjoyed reading them.  Unfortunately, these articles weren’t covering shutting-down HVAC systems and I realized I should be more focused on: environmental parameters, effects of the environment on collections, then buildings.

The most innovative article I read this weekend was in the book Cultural Heritage Conservation and Environmental Impact Assessment: by non-destructive testing and micro-analysis, edited by Rene Van Grieken and Koen Janssens.  The article is “Effects of the cultural environment” by Peter Brimblecombe.  Brimblecombe seperates processes of deterioration, then the environmental factors that cause this deterioration.

Instead of thinking Light = Photo-degradation. Light being the environmental factor that causes the damage, photo-degradation being the damage.

He lists Photo-degradation = light, chemicals, humidity.  Photo-degradation is the damage, light, chemicals, and humidity are the environmental factors that cause the damage

Then he offers a damage function.  Photo-degradation’s damage function is a dose law, meaning the deterioration is more gradual and proportional to the dose (concentration and exposure time).

I appreciate the way he has switched to put the damage first, since the damage is what we want to solve. It is also helpful to have damage functions, the other main function is cyclic - eg. the number of freeze-thaw cycles before damage will occur, the number of times a book can be opened and closed before damage will occur.  Dose and cyclic functions can be limited by limiting access to a collection, therefore lowering the dose or cycles, but this would be understandably unpopular.

So, I press on with other readings, next on the list is Energy Conservation and Climate Control in Museums.   And one reading over the weekend led me to the National Museum Directors Conference in 2008 on the topic of Reviewing environmental conditions, which seems perfect.

This posting lists the current bibliography for my independent study.  I would love to receive feedback about these books and articles as I begin to compile this research. Especially if there is an excellent article about these topics that I missed.

I wanted to post this bibliography online because I found a lot of the information online (http://cool.conservation-us.org/byauth//kerschner/ccbiblio.html) or from a preventive conservation annotated bibliography compiled  by Associate Conservator of Objects and Adjunct Assistant Professor Bruno Pouliot.  I hope these sources are helpful for anyone studying similar topics.

ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT (SYSTEMS AND MONITORING)

ASHRAE Applications Handbook. 2003. Atlanta, GA: American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers.

Brown, Jonathan P. 1994. Hygrometric measurement in museums: calibration, accuracy, and the specification of relative humidity. IIC Preprints. International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works Ottawa congress.  Ottawa, Canada: IIC. 39-43.

Brown, J. and W. Rose. 1996. Humidity and moisture in historic buildings: the origins of building and object conservation. APT Bulletin 27 (3): 12-23.

Brimblecombe, Peter. 2005. Effects of the Cultural Environment.  In Cultural heritage conservation and environmental impact assessment by non-destructive testing and micro-analysis. eds van Grieken, René and Janssens, Koen H.A. London: A.A. Balkema

Bullock, Linda. 2009. Environmental controls in National Trust properties.  Journal of Architectural Conservation. 15 (1): 83-98.

Cassar, M. 1995. Environmental management: guidelines for museums and galleries. London and New York: Routledge.

Conrad, Ernest A, PE.  1995. Balancing environmental needs of the building, the collection, and the user. East Norwalk, CT: Landmark Facilities Group.

Conrad, Ernest A. 1996. Environmental monitoring as a diagnostic tool. Preservation of collections: assessment, evaluation, and mitigation strategies: papers presented at the workshop, Norfolk, Virginia, June 10-11, 1996. Washington, D.C.: AIC. 15-20.

Harris, S.Y. 2001. Building Pathology: Deterioration, Diagnostics and Intervention. New York: John Wiley.

Jessup, W. C., ed. 1995.  Conservation in context: finding a balance for the historic house museum.  Washington, D.C.: The National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Kerschner, R.  A practical approach to environmental requirements for collections in historic buildings.  Journal of the American Institute for Conservation 31 (1): 65-76 <http://www.jstor.org/stable/3179613>

Lstiburek, J. and J. Carmody. 1993. Moisture control handbook. New York, NY: Van Nostrand Reinhold.

Oreszczyn, T., M. Cassar and K. Fernandez. 1994. Comparative Study of Air-Conditioned and Non Air-Conditioned Museums. IIC Preprints. International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works Ottawa congress.  Ottawa, Canada: IIC. 144-148.

Padfield, Tim. An Introduction to the Physics of the Museum Environment. Available: http://www.conservationphysics.org/

Paine, S. R. 1985. How to control environmental conditions in historical agencies and museums. Technical Report 3. Nashville, Tennessee: Technical Information Service of the American Association for State and Local History.

Park, S. 1991. Preservation Brief 24: Heating, ventilating, and cooling historic buildings: problems and recommended approaches. Washington, D.C.: Department of the Interior, Government Printing Office.

Park, S. 1999. HVAC for historic buildings. ASHRAE Journal. April: 91-98.

Stolow, N. 1994. The preservation of historic houses and sites: the interface of architectural restoration and collection/display conservation principles. Preventive conservation: practice, theory and research: Preprints of the contributions to the Ottawa Congress, 12-16 September. London: International Institute for Conservation. 116-122.

Taylor, Thomas H., Guest Editor. 1996. Museums in Historic Buildings. APT Bulletin The Journal of Preservation Technology. 27 (3): 7-64.

Thompson, G. 1986. The Museum Environment. 2nd ed. London: Butterworth Publishers.

Winterthur Museum. 2007.  Guidelines and Procedures for Preventive Conservation at Winterthur Museum. Winterthur, DE: Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library.

Williams, M. 1994. Fresh-air climate conditioning at the Arthur M. Sackler Museum. In Care of Collections. ed. S. Knell. London: Routledge. 107-116.

TEMPERATURE AND RH STANDARDS FOR COLLECTIONS

Anderson, Catherine E., and Clyde Kestner. 2003. Environmental monitoring and revised environmental standards at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. In Environmental Monitoring of our Cultural Heritage-Sustainable Conservation Solutions. Milton Keyes, UK: Environmental Building Solutions, Ltd.

Ashley-Smith, J., N. Umney and D. Ford. 1994. Let’s be honest—realistic environmental parameters for loaned objects.  Preventive conservation: practice, theory and research: Preprints of the contributions to the Ottawa Congress, 12-16 September. London: International Institute for Conservation. 28-31.

Erhardt, D., M.F. Mecklenburg, C.S. Tumosa, and M. McCormick-Goodhart, 1997. The Determination of Appropriate Museum Environments.  The interface between science and conservation.  British Museum Occasional Papers No. 116.  S. Bradley, ed. London: The British Museum. 153-163.

Erhardt, David., Charles S. Tumosa, and Marion.F. Mecklenburg. 2007. Applying
Science to the Question of Museum Climate. In Museum Microclimates. T.
Padfield and K. Borchensen (eds.). National Museum of Denmark.   Also
available online at http://www.natmus.dk/graphics/konferencer_mm/microclimates/pdf/erhardt.pdf

Lull, W.P. 1994.  Further comments on climate control guidelines. Abbey Newsletter 18(7):87-88.

Lull, W.P. 1995. Conservation environment guidelines for libraries and archives. Ottawa: Canadian Council of Archives.

McCrady, E. 1994. Temperature & RH guidelines challenged by Smithsonian. Abbey Newsletter. 18(4-5):44-45.

Mecklenburg, M. F., and C. S. Tumosa. 1999. Temperature and relative humidity effects on the mechanical and chemical stability of collections. ASHRAE Journal 41(4): 69-74.

Padfield, T. and K. Borchensen (eds.). 2007. Museum Microclimates. National Museum of Denmark.
The text is fully available online through the National Museum of Denmark website (http://www.natmus.dk/sw53828.asp)

Michalski, S. 1993. Relative humidity: a discussion of correct/incorrect values. ICOM Committee for Conservation preprints, 10th Triennial Meeting, Washington, D.C. Paris: ICOM. 2: 624-628.

Michalski, S. 1993. Relative humidity in museums, galleries, and archives: Specification and control. In Bugs, Mold and Rot II. A Workshop on Control of Humidity for Health, Artifacts, and Buildings. Proceedings, eds. W. B. Rose, and A. TenWolde. Washington, D.C.: The National Institute of Building Sciences. 51-62.

ENERGY CONSERVATION & CLIMATE CHANGE

Ayres, J., J. Marx, C. Haiad, H. Lau. 1988. Energy Conservation and Climate Control in Museums. Los Angeles: Ayres Ezer Lau Consulting Engineers.

Burmester, Andreas. 2005. Visions for a new museum: the Museum Brandhorst
Studies in Conservation 50 (Preprint of the Forbes Prize Lecture presented at the IIC’s Twentieth International Congress ‘Modern Art, New Museums’ at Bilbao (Spain) on the 13th of September 2004.)

Cassar, Mary ed. 1994.  Museum Environment Energy.  London: HMSO.

Christoffersen, Lars D. Zephyr. 1995. Passive Climate Controlled Repositories. Storage Facilities for Museum, Archive and Library Purposes. Copenhagen: National Museum of Denmark Conservation Department.

Climate change and preserving cultural heritage in the 21st Century. 2008. 90-minute video of panel discussion. http://www.getty.edu/conservation/publications/videos/public_lecture_videos_audio/climate_change.html

Cull, Dan.  Who you calling conservationist? Blog posting and comments. http://dancull.wordpress.com/2009/08/20/who-you-calling-conservationist/

deSiliva, Megan. 2009. Steps towards environmental sustainability in Museums & Conservation. Presentation at the Welsh Libraries Archives and Museums Conference 21 - 22 May 2009: Space for all    Available at: http://www.cilip.org.uk/branches/byregion/wales/conference09

Dubin, F., Mindell, H., Selwyn, B. 1976.   How to save energy and cut costs in exisiting industrial and commercial buildings. Park Ridge, NJ: Noyes Data Corporation.

Fulton, R. 1988. Curators and M&E Consulting Engineers. Museums Journal 87 (4): 203-205.

IIC Climate Change and Museum Collections September 17, 2008 conference.  Transcript available online at http://www.iiconservation.org/

Matthai, R. ed. 1979. Protection of cultural properties during energy emergencies & energy conservation and historic preservation.  New York: Technical Assistance Project.

Padfield, Tim. 1990. Low-Energy Climate Control in Museum Stores. ICOM Committee for Conservation Preprints. 9th Triennial Meeting. Paris: ICOM Committee for Conservation II. 596-601.

Podany, Jerry, Henry, Michael C., Cassar, May, Staniforth, Sarah, Serota, Nicholas, Sabbioni, Cristina and Reilly, James M. 2005. Climate Change and Museum Collections
Studies in Conservation. 53 287-297

Royal Ontario Museum. 1979.  In Search of a Black Box.  A report on the Proceedings of a Workshop on Micro-Climates Held at the Royal Ontario Museum, February 1978.  Toronto, Canada.

Being a student in Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation (WUDPAC) I learned and participated in the Iraq Cultural Heritage Project (ICHP). I first learned about the project from my professors who were directly involved. The program was involved in creating a school for conservation in Erbil, northern Iraq, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan and one of the oldest continually inhabited cities.
I knew very little about the region, so I began reading about the history of the Kurdish people and their ongoing struggle for independence by the Kurds in Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Iran, Afganistan, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. It is not a happy history, scrolling through centuries of conflict and struggles that continue until today. As well as open conflict the kurds are culturally oppressed, in some counties they cannot use their kurdish names, celebrate kurdish holidays, and they are discouraged from speaking kurdish.

The Iraqi Kurdistan region is beautiful, There is a series of photographs by Ed Kashi that show Kurds in daily activities.

See http://mediastorm.org/0011.htm

The plan is to build a conservation school and library in Erbil where conservators from throughout Iraq can come for training. There will also be training for museum directors and collection management staff. The museums in Iraq will be satellite museums to the main museum in Baghdad, using the national collection. The director of the project is Jessie Johnson and she is blogging about her experience as an American expat living in Erbil at http://roundthing.wordpress.com/ . I like this project because it is helping Iraqi citizens take better care of their cultural heritage. It is a good thing to do and it is an exciting opportunity to help the country.