Volume 13, Number 3
Jun 1989

Education

• Atelier d'Arts Appliques du Vesinet (28 bis, Chemin du Tour des Bois, 78400 Chatou, France), will be giving a series of fine binding workshops with Sün Evrard, July through September. Instruction will be in both English and French, and the workshops will be for all levels of skill.
• The Capricornus School of Bookbinding and Restoration in Berkeley, California, offers classes every Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Fee: $70 per month for one three-hour session per week. (415/658-7930)
• The ICOM-CC Working Group on Training in Conservation and Restoration will meet at the time of the ICOM General Assembly in the Hague at the end of August. The aim of the meeting will be to examine the extent to which expectations and realities coincide when a conservation graduate takes up employment. There will be short talks reflecting the views of teachers, graduates and employers, followed by discussions. Those planning to attend will receive background discussion documents prior to arrival. This Working Group meeting will be Aug. 31 and Sept. 1. Write the Working Group at c/- Conservation of Cultural Materials, Canberra College of Advanced Education, PO Box 1, Belconnen, ACT, 2616, Australia.
• Susan Buys (Dept. of Ceramics Conservation, Victoria & Albert Museum, South Kensington, London SW7 2RL) is doing a survey by questionnaire on procedures used for the selection of candidates for training in conservation. Part of it is on the use of aptitude testing. The deadline for return of questionnaires was the end of April 1989.
• The University of London's Institute of Archaeology Summer Schools 1989 will include intensive one-week courses in dyes and dyeing, identification of paper fibers, conservation of library and archival materials, surveying, and conservation and restoration of prints, drawings and watercolors. In England call James Black, tel. (01) 387 9651; in the US contact Prof. Patricia Rice, Dept. of Sociology & Anthropology, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506 (304/293-5801).
• In October, a new joint program of conservation training at the graduate level will open in England, organized by the Royal College of Art and the Victoria and Albert Museum. It will be a three-year course of study and there will be an annual intake of up to four students. In any given year, four of the following disciplines will be offered: metals and jewellery, furniture, textiles, stained glass, ceramics and glass, painting, sculpture, prints and drawings, books and documents, and miniatures. For details write The Registrar, Royal College of Art, Kensington Gore, London SW7 2EU.
• It looks like the Mills College Book Arts program (both the graduate program and the undergraduate major) may be dropped because it is not a money-maker for the college, according to the April 28 Mills College Weekly. It is popular with the students, and has some outside support, but according to a recent report from Tom Conroy, who is following this, the outlook is not good. At the same tine, the Oregon School of Arts and Crafts in Portland will start up a new certificate program in hook arts this fall. The deadline for application is May 31, but the prospectus drops a hint that late admissions may be possible. Call the school at 503/297-5544 and ask for the Office of Instruction (Valorie Hadley, Instruction Associate), or write the school at 8245 SW Barnes Rd., Portland, OR 97225. It is a three-year undergraduate (or continuing education) program.
• Pacific Island librarians and archivists took part in a two-week course in preservation of materials in January and February of this year. The course was held at the Canberra College of Advanced Education and was funded by Unesco, the Australian International Development Assistance Bureau and the National Library of Australia. Participants came from Tonga, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Guam, New Caledonia, American Samoa, Western Samoa, Vanuatu, Marshall Islands, Palau, Cook Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia and Niue. Participants were asked to fill out a preliminary questionnaire before they left home, on conditions and collections, to help the Australians as well as the participants. They were also asked to bring samples of materials used for conservation. These were analyzed at the National Library and the results discussed, and simple test procedures demonstrated. The course was designed to raise awareness of preservation problems, to describe the factors of deterioration, to explain how different library and archival materials deteriorate, to describe methods of treating deteriorated materials and retarding deterioration, to emphasize the necessity of preparing for disasters, and to stress the importance of developing a preservation program. [From a report by Jan Lyall.]