Care of Stained Glass class photo

Collections Care Core Curriculum

These classes are considered essential in providing an informational foundation for anyone working with museum collections.  Through these courses, participants are able to better understand of the nature of materials and the cause and effects of their deterioration. The curriculum is designed to address the identification, care, and maintenance of a wide range of collection categories and materials. These courses also deal with current issues that are typical in small to mid-size institutions, and are appropriate for beginning level professionals and volunteers to mid-career professionals.


See class listing below

Collections Care

The Collections Care courses are intended to meet the needs of curatorial, collections, and technical staff involved with specialized collections care responsibilities. These courses are more specific and focus on one material type or one area of museum operations. They provide detailed hands-on study of the specific subject.


See class listing below core curriculum listing

CORE CURRICULUM COURSE LISTING

Collections Policies for Small Museums

Collections Storage: Planning and Design

Computer Software for Collections Management

Database Design for Collections Management

Digitizing Museum Collections

Emergency Preparedness, Response, & Recovery

Grant Writing for Collections Care: NEH and IMLS Grants

Grant Writing for Collections Care: Private Foundations

Integrated Pest Management

Introduction to Organic & Inorganic Materials

The Museum Environment

Packing and Shipping Workshop

Photographing Museum Collections

Principles of Collections Management

COLLECTIONS CARE COURSE LISTING

Artifact Care

Care of Basketry Collections


Books, Archives, Paper, Photographs, and Paintings

Book Collections Maintenance & Repair

Textiles

Collecting and Using Oral Histories for Museums

Copyright: The Archivist and the Law

Creating Traveling Museum Kits for Community Outreach

Conducting Site Visits and Assessments


Exhibits

Specialized Matting Techniques for Paper Artifacts

Design and Construction of Mounts for Exhibits

COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

Principles of Collections Management
Instructors: Terry Birkett

This course focuses specifically on collections management, facilities, and storage. The first section will cover risk assessment, staff training, inventory control, handling, and equipment. The second section addresses security and fire systems, environmental monitoring equipment, facility selection and design, and off-site storage. The third section discusses storage types, designs, material and construction; “custom-made” vs. “off-the-self” units; special housings; and how to build a custom objects storage unit.

Participants are encouraged to bring up to six slides illustrating problems with their collections storage facility for discussion and analysis.

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Care of Basketry Collections

Instructor: Julia Fenn

This course looks at various approaches to keeping basketry of any given shape, color or fiber-type looking its perky best with the least effort and cost. Coping with damaged basketry in collections will be addressed during practical afternoon workshops.

There will be discussions and demonstrations of how traditional fibers, weaves and structures affect the long term resilience and strength of different types of basketry, so that the participants will be able to recognize which kinds are most vulnerable to premature aging or infirmities such as slumping, embrittlement, splitting, unraveling, snagging, discoloration, or attack by living organisms. Some unusual baskets will also be assessed. As a result, participants will be able identify potentially susceptible baskets in their own collections and be able to assign scarce storage resources and simple but effective supports where they are most needed.  

The afternoon workshops focus on methods of minimizing and controlling damage using actual examples of baskets which have been squashed, soiled or otherwise defiled.  Participants will practice and assess basic cleaning, reshaping methods and devise support techniques suitable for compromised basketry in crowded storage conditions.

Participants are encouraged to bring their own images or baskets to these sessions if they would like to concentrate on any specific issues.

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Collections Policies for Small Museum
Instructor: Linda Eppich

In this three day course designed for beginners, participants will learn how to write collections management, care and handling, and conservation/preservation policies appropriate to their museums. Legal problems concerning museum collections will be discussed; this will include deaccessioning and loans. Bibliography of sources and reading lists will be provided.

Participants who already have such policies are encouraged to bring them, along with the organization’s mission statement.

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Computer Software for Collections Management
Instructor: Terry Birkett

The focus of this course is on the process of artifact cataloguing and maintenance of collections records utilizing a computer database system. Course topics include computer and cataloguing basics; data standards and conventions; cataloguing goals and format types used in creating a cataloguing system; computer file systems; database types and features; commercially available collections management software; databases and photographic image importing and incorporation; and hands-on experience in creating a database.

Participants are encouraged to bring samples of their museum’s collections management records and procedures for review and discussion.

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Conducting Site Visits and Assessments

Instructor: Terry Birkett

Prerequisite:  Principles of Collections Management (previously Collections Management in Storage).

Anyone who has taken this workshop may register, although a discount will be given only to those attending both workshops this year.

This workshop is a continuation of “Principles of Collections Management.”  Participants will spend the first day at a small museum, learning how to conduct various condition assessments which have been requested by museum personnel.  The last two days of the workshop will be spent learning how to prioritize museum needs and write up the condition assessment report.

Workshop participants may nominate their small museum for this assessment.  A modest fee will be required, and the museum must be located within a certain distance to the Campbell Center campus.

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Copyright: The Archivist and the Law

Instructor:  William Maher

Offered in partnership with the Society of American Archivists; course is eligible to receive 1.5 CEUs or 10 ARCs. This workshop provides a basis for the administration of copyright in daily archival work. One of the profession’s acknowledged experts, William Maher, presents updates to issues that should be tracked in the current age of information commerce

-including an assessment of the bad news and the good news in the Supreme Court's Eldred decision.

Workshop objectives include recognizing the complex issues relating to authors’, owners’, and users’ rights in intellectual property; obtaining grounds in the historical rationale for copyright law, including major legislative and judicial developments; discovering the relevance of U.S. federal law to archives and manuscript collections; examining the current law; and

Participants are invited to submit specific questions related to copyright up to two weeks prior to the workshop start date

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Care and Identification of Digital Photography

Instructors:  Ryan Boatright and Caroline Barcella

This course will offer instruction on the identification and preservation of digital prints, including simple strategies to preserve digital files. History; technology; identification; and preservation through proper handling storage and display will be covered through a mix of presentations and hands-on sessions. Participants will learn the keys to identifying the most predominant digital print processes.  

Participants are encouraged to bring digital prints for discussion.

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Digitizing Museum Collections: Basic Overview

Instructor: Josh Hickman

This course provides an overview of the steps needed to begin a digitization program with a focus on 2-dimensional archival and museum objects.  Participants will take part in exercises designed to encourage critical thinking about issues involved in digital object curatorship.  This course also includes a hands-on component in which participants will learn how to properly use scanners and image manipulation software to create digital files.

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Emergency Preparedness, Response, & Recovery
Instructors: Hilary Kaplan and Sharon Bennett

The purpose of this course is to thoroughly address the process of “risk management” by examining in detail how to prepare for and respond to disaster. Topics will include how to set realistic goals and objectives relative to a specific institution, the identification and assessment of risks to the institution, and the formulation of a prevention and response plan utilizing established emergency planning guidelines and procedure. Participants will learn how to effectively assess their institution’s current level of preparedness in the following areas: health and safety of staff, risk to facility, insurance coverage, standing offer contracts, and collections documentation. Multiple levels of disaster preparedness are examined including a review of response techniques, the setting of priorities in and directing a salvage operation, and on-going risk assessment throughout planning and response phases. A mock water emergency will be used to give participants a “hands-on” experience in emergency preparedness and disaster management and recovery.

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Frames for Exhibits: Low-Cost Repair and Reuse

Instructors: Jim Meeks and Ernesto Sanchez

This course will provide the participant with information and skills in low-cost repair and reuse of picture frames. The course will also demonstrate how to create frames from the ground up using finished and raw molding. Topics will include an overview of frame history and design, aesthetic and historic choices for framing artwork as well as construction techniques and finishes. Participants will learn how to cast pieces for repairs, fix small amounts of damage with wax and other materials, apply design elements, do light carving, and a wide variety of other techniques in repairing a frame or making a period replica. Basic woodworking techniques will be demonstrated and employed by students in the creation of a frame. 

Students may bring small, non-precious frames from their collection, thrift store finds and the like to work on in class and will also create a small frame from scratch to take home.

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The Museum Environment
Instructor: Susan Maltby

This course will provide an in-depth study of the monitoring and control of the museum environment, and an introduction to the effects of the museum environment on the organic and inorganic materials of museum artifacts. Course work will include: identifying the environmental factors such as light, relative humidity, temperature, pollutants, vibration, and various types of pests that can adversely affect museum collections; a review of the terms commonly used to describe the museum environment; high and low tech environmental monitoring techniques including the use of light meters, recording hygrothermographs, computer data loggers, indicator strips, and psychrometers; strategies for mitigating and controlling environmental problems; creating a pollutant-free environment; and integrated pest management. The class will combine lectures and lab sessions.

Participants are encouraged to bring a few slides or photographs that illustrate their collections care problems.

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Grant Writing for Collections Care: NEH and IMLS Grants
Instructor: Nicolette Meister

This course will provide instruction on how to write successful grant proposals for funding preservation projects. The course will focus on the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, but participants will learn about how to locate other sources of funding. Participants will also learn about preservation planning to ensure your institution is ready to apply for federal support and about grant protocol and the review process. Take-home skills will include knowledge of how to design and write a practical proposal and realistic budget. Attendees will have the opportunity to develop a proposal outline during the course and are encouraged to bring draft proposals to receive direct assistance and feedback.

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Grant Writing for Collections Care: Private Foundations
Instructor: Linda Eppich

This course will be complementary to the one on Federal funding sources. Participants will learn about organizations that track private foundations and are fee-based, database resources. Participants will conduct research about foundations on the Web and complete the following: a preliminary request letter, a “boilerplate” for their museum, and a grant to a foundation which might provide their institution with funding for a specific project. Management of awarded grants will be discussed.

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Introduction to Green Exhibit Design

Instructor: Robert Weiglein

This course will give museum exhibit designers and planners a better understanding of what we mean when we talk about “green and sustainable” exhibits.  We will discuss how to evaluate the specific materials used in the production of exhibits in terms of their consequences for people and the environment. 

Topics will include selecting sustainable materials and lighting and making tradeoffs to satisfy often-conflicting demands, including deeply ingrained cultural and institutional habits, aesthetics, politics, and economics. 

Participants are encouraged to bring to class a project that they are working on. 

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Care of Historic Scrapbooks

Instructor:  Jennifer Hain Teper

This course offering is a combination of lecture and hands-on workshop for those responsible for the care, maintenance, and repair of historic scrapbook collections. This class will present the history of scrapbooks and their use as well as an overview of common formats, common types of materials preserved in scrapbooks, and most frequent preservation challenges.  Tools and methodologies to assist collection managers in
making preservation decisions regarding scrapbooks will also be presented.  Hands-on repair approaches for scrapbook preservation will include stabilization with mylar sleeves while allowing for access to booklets and multi-page documents, removing artifacts from various scrapbook page formats, and stabilizing artifacts in-situ, as well as repair of various binding structures and support pages.

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Care of Leather and Fur

Instructor: Julia Fenn

The emphasis in this course will be on identifying various types of skin, leather and furs commonly found in museum collections and understanding how different tanning and preservation methods affect the properties of the resulting leather artifacts. In particular, their resistance to moisture, industrial pollution, shrinkage, insects, creasing, soiling, stretching and shedding which is so variable in different types of leathers and furs. Other significant issues such as the age and type of the source animal (or bird), use, manufacturing techniques,  waterlogged leather, residual lubricants, adhesives, stains and endangered species will also be discussed.

Participants will handle samples of different types of skins and carry out simple identification tests. They will expand their skills in recognizing and dealing with common problems such as bloom, hardening, spue, and mould. On the last day they will assess a collection of leather clothing and artifacts so that they can design compatible support systems to counteract the particular weaknesses of the chosen artifacts.

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Creating Traveling Museum Kits for Community Outreach
Instructor: Dan Brinkmeier

This course will cover:
-practical instruction in the development of educational objectives for the use of “real” hands-on objects specimens used in museum school outreach programs
-theory and practice in the development of learning objectives and interpretive techniques for the use of real objects and specimens
-development and design of interactive games and activities included in educational learning kits
-development and design of visual print materials such as teachers guidelines, instructional cards, etc.
-administrative issues in the loaning of educational materials to the public
-issues in the use of real objects and specimens with the public
-case studies in the use of teaching kits and loan programs at U.S. museums
-general theory and discussion of outreach programs and related support media

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Designing and Fabricating Educational Interactives
Instructor: Earl Lock

The focus of this class is developing simple low-tech mechanical interactives with a very high educational value.

Students will have hands-on experience developing, prototyping, testing, and evaluating ideas for interactives.   Topics covered will include designing interactives for: various types of visitors; different ways of learning; various types of museums, various ways to incorporate different sensory experiences into interactives; various ways to prototype interactives, ways to design interactives for handicapped visitors, ways to simplify the maintenance of interactives, and ways to test and evaluate the educational effectiveness of interactives. 

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Database Design for Collections Management
Instructor:Terry Birkett

Often small institutions are not able to invest moderate or large sums of money in a commercial collections software package. The purpose of this course is to familiarize students with the design and creation of a collections database. Using a popular, inexpensive, and easy to use software program, FileMaker Pro, students will work with the instructor to create an actual working database that can be used to organize and track the objects and materials in their collections. Documentation of the nature and state of collection cataloging should be brought by each student to insure that their design and database is appropriate to the collection to be managed. Some familiarity with computer use, programs, and databases will be helpful, and use of a laptop computer is required. FileMaker Pro works equally well on PC and Mac computers.

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Collecting and Using Oral Histories for Museums
Instructor:Dan Keding

Oral history not only provides needed information about artifacts but also provides the necessary link between and artifact and its user, its historical importance and its place in a community. This workshop will explore the uses of oral history in museums, how to collect oral histories, how to use oral history as a community-building link between the museum and its own “neighborhood” and how to edit oral history for labeling use while maintaining the integrity of both the artifact and the oral history.

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Integrated Pest Management
Instructor: Christa Deacy-Quinn

The course will focus on behavior- and facility-oriented methods of conducting integrated pest management, with heavy emphasis on low-chemical, practical solutions. Topics covered include: basic identification of common invertebrate and vertebrate pests; developing an awareness of pest populations in and near museum facilities; determining action thresholds; infestation control methods (both for buildings and in collections); how to choose a pest management professional; infestation prevention methods; and health hazards relating to infesting pests and pest control efforts. Participants will engage in institution-specific integrated pest management problem solving. The course will involve lectures, lab work, and group discussion. Lab work will include hands-on identification and building evaluation.

Participants are strongly encouraged to bring examples or evidence of pests or pest damage in their institution’s building or collections (photographs, damaged non-collections items, and/or invertebrate pest specimens; please do not bring live examples!). Participants should bring photographs of their building(s), and are encouraged to bring building floor plans or maps.

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Introduction to Organic & Inorganic Material
Instructor: Sheila Siegler

This course provides detailed information about the physical and chemical composition of artifacts; construction and fabrication techniques of artifacts; identification of specific types of deterioration relative to artifact composition; examination and assessment of artifacts; condition reporting for documentation; and guidelines for handling, storing, and exhibiting artifacts by material type. Preventative collections care strategies are taught throughout including the assessment and mitigation of risk, and setting collections care priorities. Half of the course is spent on plant and fiber, protein and polymers (organic) materials and the other half of the course is spent on glass, ceramic, metal, and stone (inorganic) material.

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Packing and Shipping Workshop
Instructor: John Molini

Participants will receive an overview of the principles involved in safe handling, packing, and transport of works of art and artifacts. Problem scenarios will be presented to participants for resolution in hands-on practicum sessions. Topics covered include: risk assessment, decision-making, and related issues in artifact transportation; crate design and construction; interior packing including methods and materials for 2-D and 3-D objects; design techniques for specialized components such as bracing, double boxing, packing frames and multiple object packaging; soft packing; and material selection and use.

Participants are encouraged to bring slides of packing problems for discussion and analysis.

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Rigging & Moving of Fine Art/Artifacts
Instructor: Dean Langworthy and Luke Boehnke

The focus of this course is to teach participants how to safely plan and execute moves of heavy and/or fragile museum artifacts weighing up to 5000lbs. Techniques taught will include equipment readily available to the heritage professional as well as equipment used by professional riggers. This course includes a brief history of rigging practices and technologies; how rigging crews and boxes are organized; mitigating the negative effects of rigging on surrounding structures and substrates using crates, pallets, and dunnage; using a forklift; common rigging problems and solutions; and specifications of and ordering cranes. There will be demonstrations and hands-on experience with rigging equipment.

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Book Collections Maintenance & Repair
Instructor: Garry Harrison

This class is a hands-on workshop for those responsible for the care, maintenance, and repair of circulating book collections. The class is of particular relevance to those professionals seeking an in-house option to outsourcing some repair and enclosure treatments to a commercial bindery. Topics covered in this course will include the criteria used in decision making concerning the triage and treatment of damaged books, an overview of the necessary equipment and materials used in the treatment of damaged books, and an introduction to the conservation ethics applicable to circulating collections. Repair treatments covered in this course will include hinge tightening, flat paper mending, tip-ins, spine replacement, recasing, and new casing. The types of protective enclosures covered in this course will include pockets, custom and manufactured binders, wrapper-type enclosures, and cloth-covered clamshell boxes.

Participants are encouraged to bring books for analysis, treatment, and discussion.

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Care of Book Collections
Instructor: Betsy Palmer-Eldrige

offered even numbered years

Designed for museum, library, and/or archival staff who have little to no technical experience with book materials and structure, this course focuses on 19th to 21st century leather, cloth, and paper bindings and will cover a range of commonly encountered problems. Included in this course will be an overview of bound structures and their material composition; understanding agents of deterioration; identifying deterioration and formulating appropriate solutions; a review of protective housing for damaged books; review of commonly occurring maintenance issues; guidelines for handling, storing, and exhibiting bound volumes; and an introduction to risk assessment and disaster recovery procedures.

Participants are encouraged to bring bound samples for analysis and discussion.

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Care of Paper Artifacts
Instructor: Susan Russick

This course is an introduction to book and paper conservation designed for conservation technicians and others who wish to have a theoretical preservation framework and basic hands-on treatment experience.  Topics covered include a review of paper making, techniques of media application, degradation patterns, and preventative preservation care.  Conservation treatments covered will include surface cleaning, humidification and flattening, various mending methods, non-aqueous deacidification, currently accepted materials for housings and treatments, and treatment documentation.  Mending of rare flat paper and books using Japanese tissue and wheat starch paste will be emphasized. The class has been extended to a new 5-day format to allow additional time for paper production and media discussion, a demonstration of aqueous washing and deacidification, and more student treatment projects.
Participants will receive a tool kit to use with the option to purchase, or may bring their own tools.

Participants are encouraged to bring examples of specific problems for examination and possible treatment.

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Photographing Museum Collections

Instructor:  Nathan Keay

This workshop teaches the basics of photographing two and three dimensional works for inventory and documentation. Topics covered will include standard museum practices; how to work on a budget; how to best use your camera; lighting techniques and equipment; and basic digital file manipulation.

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Preservation of Archives
Instructor: Hilary Kaplan

offered even numbered years

The goal of this course is to provide the participant with a foundation for making long-term preservation decisions about a variety of archival holdings. The emphasis is on practical, preventative, and cost-effective methodologies. The course will provide an overview of archival materials, focusing on paper-based holdings with attention paid to requirements for machine-readable formats. Topics covered include: factors affecting preservation and access to holdings; preservation and descriptive terminology; the environments; handling and use guidelines; issues related to displays and exhibits; appropriate housing and storage materials; reformatting technologies; philosophy and techniques for holdings maintenance; disaster preparedness; security and conservation treatment parameters.

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Specialized Matting Techniques for Paper Artifacts
Instructor: Christine Conniff-O’Shea

Designed as hands-on workshop, this inclusive course focuses on all facets of mounting and storing works of art on paper within a museum setting. Participants will learn a variety of techniques from the construction of simple storage enclosures to basic 4-ply mats to elegant exhibition mats. The course will conclude with a class project incorporating techniques for the mounting and framing of oversized art.  All media and paper supports will be covered as well as accepted methods of attachment and framing practices.

Participants are encouraged to bring 1-2 items for discussion and examination. They should not be extremely fragile or larger than 18”x24”.

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Design and Construction of Mounts for Exhibits
Instructors: Earl Lock and Pam Gaible

This course covers both theory and hands-on practice of mount making for museum objects. Topics include the designing and fabrication of mounts to protect, support, secure, and exhibit a variety of museum objects and various techniques for using archival materials in mount making. Practicum will include: techniques for braising metals; cutting, bending, and gluing acrylics for the use of various archival barrier materials; and for making fabric covered ethafoam forms.

Participants may bring one or two small objects and can retain the mounts they construct for these objects.

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Mannequin Making Workshop
Instructor: Steven Rosengard

This course will focus on examining the changing female silhouette from the periods of 1830-1970, and how it affects the way a costume appears on exhibit; appropriate archival materials to use with museum costumes; and proper methods for exhibiting hats and other headgear. Participants learn the process of carving polypropylene foam to create custom forms, and will make a form they can take back to their institutions. Participants may bring costume pieces from their collection, and be prepared to transport your form back home.

Participants may bring costume pieces from their collection, and be prepared to transport your forms back home.

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Exhibit Design for the Small Museum with Limited Resources
Instructor: Earl Lock

offered even numbered years

The focus of this course is exhibit design for those with little or no design experience. This course will cover: the basic elements and principles of design, how to apply them effectively to museum exhibits, the process of exhibit development, conservation concerns and the use of archival materials in the design of exhibit cases and components, the design of exhibit labels, typography, design of simple educational interactives, exhibit lighting, and accessibility.

Participants are encouraged to bring slides of their exhibit space(s) and be prepared to discuss problems their institution is facing related to exhibit design.

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Introduction to Green Exhibit Design

Instructor: Bob Weiglein

This course aims to give museum exhibit designers and planners a better understanding of what we mean when we talk about “green and sustainable” exhibits. We will discuss how to evaluate the specific materials used in the production of exhibits in terms of their consequences for people and the environment. Topics will include selecting sustainable materials and lighting and making tradeoffs to satisfy often-conflicting demands, including deeply ingrained cultural and institutional habits, aesthetics, politics, and economics. Participants are encouraged to bring to class a project that they are working on.

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Planning and Writing for Visitor-Centered Exhibition
Instructor: Barbara Becker

A visitor-centered exhibition offers multiple opportunities for visitor engagement and learning—and well-written exhibit labels are one essential element. Planning for label-writing includes understanding the fundamentals of visitor-centered exhibitions; developing clear goals and a Big Idea; and testing to make sure you have met your objectives. Participants in this course will use and discuss a framework for assessing visitor-centered exhibitions. They will gain experience in writing, editing and evaluating label text.  And they will apply visitor-centered principals to assess the positive examples and missed opportunities of a local museum exhibition.

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Reading, Transcribing and Caring for Early American Documents

Instructor:  William Budde

This course will examine handwriting styles found in the British Americas from about 1600 through 1850. We will learn how various writing surfaces, ink, instruments, and teaching methods influence how a written style evolves, and how this knowledge can help us read older hand written documents through a combination of practice, presentation, and interaction. Methods to improve transcription and abstraction skills will be learned and practiced. Preservation and care of original documentswill also be addressed. A range of original and digitized examples will be shown dating from the 1650s. The course will interest anyone that works with early American hand written documents- archivists, genealogists, historical researchers, records custodians, family historians.

Participants are encouraged to bring in a copy of documents that have been difficult to read and understand so we can all gain from the shared experience.

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Care of Textiles I
Instructor: Harold Mailand

This course will familiarize participants with the chemical and physical structure of textile fibers; the causes and effects of deterioration; environmental standards and standards for storage, handling, and exhibiting both flat and formed textiles; descriptive terminology and simple tests for fiber identification; properties and effects of finishes; ethical limitations and considerations in the treatment of textile pieces including aqueous cleaning. Hands-on practicum will include handling and examination techniques, surface cleaning, and correct methods for textile storage.

Participants are encouraged to bring sturdy, representative textile samples for examination and analysis.

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Care of Textiles II
Instructor: Harold Mailand

Building on the material covered in Care of Textiles I, this class will combine lecture, demonstrations, and hands-on experience in currently accepted techniques for curatorial care of textiles. Course work will include: review of conservation ethics and examination techniques covered in the introductory course; documenting condition; determining and documenting the causes of damage to textiles; introduction to fiber microscopy; techniques for the display and storage of fragile textiles; non-intrusive mounting techniques for the display of flat textiles; and basic repair of structural damage, including the selection of appropriate mending materials.

Participants are encouraged to bring representative samples of non-accessioned textiles for use in workshop sessions.

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Care of Textiles III
Instructor: Harold Mailand

This four-day class will combine reading, lecture, demonstrations, and hands-on experience to review and apply currently accepted techniques for curatorial care of textiles and costumes. Course work builds on experiences from Textiles I and II. This will include the review of conservation ethics; examination techniques; documentation procedures; and emergency preparedness and reaction. Three days will be dedicated for guided treatments of a textile object. This may include: basic wet cleaning; basic repair of structural damage, including the selection of appropriate materials; and aesthetic compensation for loss.

Participants are to bring “Stitch Sampler” from Care of Textiles I. Participants are also encouraged to bring other objects for discussion and treatments. Please discuss objects and treatments with instructor in advance.

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Care of Paintings
Instructor: Cynthia Kuniej Berry

From this course participants will learn the basic structure of easel paintings; causes of deterioration; examination methodologies; identification of damage; causes of deterioration; condition reporting and documentation strategies; and the standards for storing, handling, displaying, installing, and transporting paintings.

Hands-on practicum sessions will teach participants proper handling; examination and condition reporting, re-housing of framed paintings; and packing for local transporting.

Please note: Conservation treatments of paintings are not covered in this course.

Participants are encouraged to formulate questions and/or bring images that represent painting-related issues their institutions are facing.

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Care of Photographic Collections I
Instructor: Gary Albright

The focus of this course is on the preventative care of historical and contemporary photographs. Topics to be covered include the history and evolution of photography, agents of photographic deterioration, the stability and deterioration of each type of photograph, examination and identification of different photographic processes, and guidelines and standards for storage, exhibition, and use of photographic collections. The course will discuss all major photographic processes, positive and negative, used throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. These will include daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, tintypes, salted paper prints, albumen prints, collodion prints, carbon prints, platinum prints, gelatin prints, glass plate negatives, and film-based negatives.

Participants are encouraged to bring items for discussion and examination.

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Care of Photographic Collections II
Instructor: Gary Albright

offered even numbered years

This course will focus on the importance of conservation assessments as a preservation tool for photograph collections. Participants will visit a nearby institution to examine photographs and access preservation needs. In preparation for this assessment, it will be necessary to review applicable material from Care of Photographs I, such as the identification of photographic processes, their deterioration, and their preservation. During the assessment participants will access storage and environmental conditions, examine how the collection is used, and them set conservation priorities. The course will also address several related conservation issues: surface cleaning of photographs in preparation for exhibition, the proper mounting of photographs for exhibition, and the history, identification, and deterioration of color photographs.

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Care of Photographic Collections III
Instructor: Gary Albright

offered odd numbered years

This course will reinforce and supplement the material covered in Care of Photographic Collections I. The class will include both lecture and practicum sessions. Course work will focus on: reviewing the unique characteristics of the various photographic processes; special stabilization problems related to early cased objects, glass plate negatives, and photographic albums; cleaning of negatives and cased images; solutions to commonly encountered preservation issues; parameters which determine the treatment options for gelatin photographs; and an understanding of digital images and their preservation.

For discussion in class, each participant is asked to bring a photographic preservation dilemma from their collection. This could be a single photograph with special problems, a sampling from a group of photographs with related problems, a slide or PowerPoint presentation which illustrates preservation concerns within the institution. They may be focused on storage, access, or administrative issues.

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Recovery of Wet Photographs
Instructor: Gary Albright

Prerequisite: Care of Photographic Collections I, II, and III

How does one recover wet photographs? This course begins with a “hands-on” wet experience. Photographs will be retrieved from a wet and muddy situation. Some will be air-dried and some frozen. The frozen images will be subsequently thawed for treatment. All images will be surface cleaned, washed, and flattened, where such operations are feasible. In tandem with the real-life experience, there will be lectures and experiments outlining proper techniques and potential dangers. Also, participants will continue to sharpen their photographic identification skills, relating the various processes to the proper procedures necessary for their safe recovery.

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Understanding Archives: An Introduction to Principles and Practices

offered odd numbered years

Offered in partnership with the Society of American Archivists; course is eligible to receive 1.5 CEUs or 10 ARCs. This course is designed for librarians, records managers, museum staff, and administrators who have responsibility for archival records but little or no archives training. Although archivists have much in common with librarians, records managers, and museum staff, they must use different practices to protect the integrity of historical records. A strong archives program puts into practice long-standing archival principles. What are those principles and how are they implemented? This workshop provides an overview of the core archival functions of appraisal, accessioning, arrangement and description, preservation, reference, and access. This workshop will address the following issues: the terminology of archives and historical records and an overview of the body of knowledge needed, ethical responsibilities, and resources for continuing professional development; the principles and functions of archival organization: provenance, respect de fonds, and original order; core policy statements, professional standards, and best practices; evaluating an individual program to determine needed improvements; developing the knowledge base needed to make choices for balancing access to and preservation of historical records and holdings; and understanding of the role of the archives in fulfilling the mission of the institution.

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Care and Preservation of Furniture and Other Wooden Objects
Instructor: Craig Deller

In this course the instructor will focus on topics specific to participants needs.  Topics may include American and European furniture styles and construction  techniques; examination and documentation for condition reporting; identifying and preserving historic coatings; proper cleaning techniques; making artificial saliva ect.  adhesives; methods and materials for practicing selective varnish removal; and ethical, practical and  aesthetic considerations when using these procedures. Other topics may  be  explored at the participant's request. It is highly recommended that the student bring an object for hands-on work. This course's objective is to teach whatever the student needs to know about thier specific collection. It will be freewheeling and student partictpation is expected. A pre-class survey will be taken by email to help target specific needs.The instructor will cover all questions students may have about this subject.

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Care of Metal Artifacts
Instructors: Susan Maltby and Lyndsie Selwyn

Metals are ubiquitous in museums. They can be found in historic, decorative arts, numismatic, military, religious, municipal, outdoor art, archaeological, agricultural, industrial, architectural, science and technology collections. This workshop focuses on the nine metals most commonly found in collections: aluminum, copper, gold, iron, lead, nickel, silver, tin, and zinc. Topics covered include: the properties and identification of metals; a discussion of common corrosion products; cleaning and stabilizing of corroded objects; environments that cause corrosion; proper handling; hazards; choosing safe storage and display materials; and treatment options.. The course will include both lectures and hands on lab activities. A field trip to a local museum is anticipated.  Participants are asked to come prepared to give a short presentation about metal objects in their collection outlining metal-related problems.  Small metal objects are also welcome for the lab sessions.

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Care of Stained and Leaded Glass
Instructor: Diane Roberts Rousseau

The goal of this course is to increase awareness of conservation techniques which maintain the structural integrity of leaded glass while increasing the aesthetic beauty of these objects. Specific topics covered are the standards for documentation, handling, storage, exhibition, and packing for transport; the structural and chemical nature of stained and leaded glass; safety and health considerations; identification of vulnerable objects; and the ethics of conservation treatment; photography and the use of Corpus Vitrearum charting practices; agents of deterioration, such as chemical instability, poor firing or annealing, or human intervention; and techniques of reversing previous repairs and stabilization and treatment of recent damage.

Participants will get hands-on experience with stained/leaded glass materials through instructor-supervised projects. Any participant wanting to bring their own piece(s) to the course need advance approval from their instructor.

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Replication Workshop: Molding, Casting, and Sculpting in Museum Exhibits
Instructor: Susan Phillips

In this hands-on course we will look at uses for replication in museum exhibits, including scenic elements, models and dioramas, touchable components, and artifact replacement. Topics will include options and costs, and how to plan for the installation or inclusion of these components.

Good and bad candidates for molding will be discussed, as well as conservation and structural issues for replications that are to be displayed alongside artifacts in exhibit cases. Through experimentation and demonstration, course participants will discover the properties and advantages of different sculpting, mold making, and casting materials, and the shop facilities needed for producing replications in-house. Material Safety Data Sheets and personal protection equipment will also be discussed.

Participants will learn how to make simple one and two-part molds of three-dimensional objects, and to finish the casts, which they may take home. Workshop activities will also include sculpting small landform bases for specimens or models by using photo references, blue foam, plaster and found or artificial flora.

Participants are invited to bring a small non-precious item for molding. Three-D objects for molding will also be provided.

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Collections Storage: Planning and Design
Instructor: Terry Birkett

The purpose of this class is to provide students with the basic skills to evaluate, plan, and design safe and space efficient storage. Types of storage will be discussed, as well as the specific application of storage methods to a broad range of objects and artifacts. Students should bring photographic documentation of potential storage areas, as well as dimensions and key features. In addition, documentation of the collections to be stored will be necessary to meet the course goals, which are to develop actual storage plans for the storage areas presented by the students.

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Making Storage Boxes, Mounts and Enclosures
Instructor: Susan Maltby

This three day course will focus on designing and constructing good, 
safe museum storage mounts, boxes and enclosures.  We will also review 
the fundamentals of storage design and layout.

Participants are urged to bring photographs of their storage problems 
and/or solutions to share with the class

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Scientific Illustration for Natural History

Instructors:Peggy McNamara and Dan Brinkmeier

Team-taught by Peggy MacNamara and Dan Brinkmeier, scientific illustrators and studio artists with a long professional association with Chicago’s Field Museum. This four-day course combines conceptual and thematic instruction, art history, and skill development through technical drawing and visualization of natural science concepts. Participants will be able to enhance their skills to better design and develop graphic materials and other visual elements used in exhibits, school outreach programs and areas of museum public programming such as environmental conservation. The course structure will include lecture, group discussion, and practice in drawing, illustration concepts, and studio art.

 Other key aspects of this class include:  This course is suitable for participants with all levels of drawing skills or art; as participants may choose to concentrate on simple visualization techniques (planning and design) leading to conceptual development of exhibit elements, educational activities or materials, or illustrations used in publications or electronic media. For example, the entire course may be spent visualizing and developing a museum exhibit diorama or large mural that is to be completed by another artist. Finished artwork may not be an outcome in this case, but there will be an emphasis on development of concept visualizations and content organization using simple sketches or rough drawings. Participants are also encouraged to bring their own projects to the course. For those desiring more art instruction and skill development in drawing techniques, there will be two main areas to be covered:  (1.), scientific (technical) illustration or rendering, and the visual representation of artifacts, biological specimens, and other objects common to natural history museums; and  (2.), an introduction to other forms of illustration and visual representation used in public media and education, such as the use of comics in natural science programs. To the greatest degree possible, the course will also make use of the local environment as subject matter, depicting locally obtained cultural objects, biological specimens, and working from the local landscape through drawing and painting. Although some basic drawing materials are provided, participants are also encouraged to bring their own preferred art materials  if they plan to work in a medium in which they are already familiar (such as watercolor or acrylic). 

Because of the open-ended structure of this course, instruction will be provided at all levels of artistic skill, from the beginning stage to more advanced levels in drawing and painting. There will also be the opportunity for course participants to work together on a group project, so that participants with less developed art skills may concentrate on thematic content and design/development, while collaborating with more advanced participant/artists to do the actual production, much in the way that a museum exhibit team would function to produce a diorama, mural, or exhibit.

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Using Informational Graphics and Visual Media in Exhibits

Instructor: Dan Brinkmeier

This course will teach participants how to use graphics and other visual media to support labels and written text in exhibits.  A review of the visual communications field and how it relates to exhibits and interpretation will be included.

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Understanding and Preserving Millinery Collections

Instructor: Joycelyn Falsken

This course will include the safe handling and storing of historic hats. Students will also become familiar with the variety of special materials, tools and construction techniques which were used historically by milliners so that they can approach cleaning and repairing with safety and confidence.

Participants are encouraged to bring items or photographs of items from their collections for examination and discussion.

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