Conserv Monthly — December 5, 2022

This is a reposting of our email newsletter from December 5, 2022. You can follow us on LinkedIn to read the newsletter or sign up here to get an email from us every month.

Our newsletter is a curated list of information and events most relevant to the preservation community. We search the web for the best preventive conservation content, then we deliver that to your inbox or LinkedIn feed every month.

Forget the Best

RECORDED WEBINAR: Forget the Best: Good and Better Approaches to Preservation

This recent C2C Care webinar reframes the idea of “best practices.” Dyani Feige, Director of Preservation Services at the Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts (CCAHA), explores instances in which it is perfectly appropriate for institutions to forgo the “best” in favor of “good” and “better” approaches to preservation that help them make incremental steps towards improved collections care. Watch

BOOK: Practical Approaches to Collections Care, by Samantha Forsko 

While cultural heritage practitioners and caretakers are often intimidated by "best practices," Practical Approaches to Collections Care helps to alleviate those concerns, offering a stepped approach to preservation encompassing a variety of collections care programs. Learn more

RESOURCE: Materials Testing Results

Not sure what materials to use for packing, storage and display, and not able to test in-house? These crowd-sourced tables share the results of Oddy tests carried out by other institutions. (Test results are provided for informational purposes only. Proprietary formulas and manufacturing processes can change without notice.)  Learn more

TOPIC - Storage Resources

RESOURCE: STASH (Storage Techniques for Art, History and Science)

This website contains practical information about varied and adaptable storage solutions. It includes “how to” articles written by and for collection care professionals in all fields. Articles are organized by storage configurations rather than discipline-specific techniques. Read more

RESOURCE: RE-ORG Method

RE-ORG is a method for planning and implementing a storage reorganization project. ICCROM (International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property) and CCI (Canadian Conservation Institute) have partnered to share this free collections care resource.  Read more

RECORDING: Collection Storage Basics

Western Australian Museum created this quick overview of basic collection storage principles. The five minute summary provides general guidelines about space planning, storage furniture, object organization and more. It is a great introduction or refresher! Watch

TOPIC Data in Art and Heritage

NEWSLETTER: Heritage Data Management

The Fall 2022 issue of the Getty Conservation Institute’s Conservation Perspectives is dedicated to Heritage Data Management. Check it out for up-to-date conversations about the heritage data landscape. Read more

How Is Artificial Intelligence Changing Art History?

AI image-generators have got art historians in a twist, as more artists make use of these tools to inform their practice.  Read more

RESOURCE: ConCode Webinar Archive

Watch free webinars from ConCode, a community of coders that work in the cultural heritage field. Each webinar addresses an aspect of data science in the heritage field, including software tools, crowd-sourcing, and sharing conservation records using Linked Open Data. Explore 

Our mission is to empower the preservation community to achieve more. If you like what we're doing and want to connect, drop me a note at melissa@conserv.io