Online course on collections preservation

Northern States Conservation Center announces an online preservation
basics course for the start of 2009:

MS 104: An Introduction to Collections Preservation
Instructor: Helen Alten
Dates: January 5 through 30, 2009
Price: $425
Location:  <URL:http://www.museumclasses.org>

Every museum professional needs a solid foundation in preservation
principles and techniques. Introduction to Collections Preservation
provides an overview of current preservation issues from
environmental monitoring to collection cleaning, exhibit mounts and
storage furniture. Participants learn about every aspect of the
modern museum and how the building, staff and fixtures affect
preservation. Subjects include the agents of deterioration, risk
management, object handling and transport, object labeling, exhibit
lighting, security, emergency preparedness, materials for storage
and display, storage and exhibit philosophies, and condition
assessments.

Course Outline:

    Preservation Principles
    Agents of Deterioration
    Monitoring
    Collection Handling
    Collection Labeling
    Collection Cleaning
    Storage Principles
    Exhibit Principles
    Emergency Preparation
    Conclusion

Logistics: Participants in An Introduction to Collections
Preservation work at their own pace through 10 sections and interact
through online forums and chats. Instructor Helen Alten will be
available at scheduled times for email support. Materials include
online readings and lecture notes, slide shows, quizzes and links to
relevant web sites. The course is limited to 20 participants.

An Introduction to Collections Preservation runs for four weeks. To
reserve a spot in the course, please pay at

    <URL:http://www.collectioncare.org/tas/tas.html>

The Instructor:

    Helen Alten, is the Director of Northern States Conservation
    Center and its chief Objects Conservator. For nearly 30 years
    she has been involved in objects conservation, starting as a
    pre-program intern at the Oriental Institute in Chicago and the
    University Museum of the University of Pennsylvania. She
    completed a degree in Archaeological Conservation and Materials
    Science from the Institute of Archaeology at the University of
    London in England. She has built and run conservation
    laboratories in Bulgaria, Montana, Greece, Alaska and Minnesota.
    She has a broad understanding of three-dimensional materials and
    their deterioration, wrote and edited the quarterly Collections
    Caretaker, maintains the popular
    <URL:http://www.collectioncare.org> web site, lectures
    throughout the United States on collection care topics, was
    instrumental in developing a state-wide protocol for disaster
    response in small Minnesota museums, has written, received and
    reviewed grants for NEH and IMLS, worked with local foundations
    funding one of her pilot programs, and is always in search of
    the perfect museum mannequin. She has published chapters on
    conservation and deterioration of archeological glass with the
    Materials Research Society and the York Archaeological Trust,
    four chapters on different mannequin construction techniques in
    Museum Mannequins: A Guide for Creating the Perfect Fit (2002),
    preservation planning, policies, forms and procedures needed for
    a small museum in The Minnesota Alliance of Local History
    Museums' Collection Initiative Manual, and is co-editor of the
    penultimate book on numbering museum collections (still in
    process) by the Gilcrease Museum in Oklahoma. Helen Alten has
    been a Field Education Director, Conservator, and staff trainer.
    She began working with people from small, rural, and tribal
    museums while as the state conservator for Montana and Alaska.
    Helen currently conducts conservation treatments and operates a
    conservation center in Charleston, WV and St. Paul, MN.


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 22:37
                 Distributed: Friday, December 19, 2008
                       Message Id: cdl-22-37-024
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