Blogs

These Times Call for Greater Connection - AIC Membership

By Lissa Rosenthal-Yoffe posted 15 days ago
By Lissa Rosenthal-Yoffe, Executive Director, AIC These times call for greater connection—and that’s exactly what AIC membership is built on. Across the conservation field, we’re all navigating rapid change: new technologies, evolving roles, tighter budgets, and the constant need to balance care for collections with care for ourselves. Through it all, connection is what keeps us steady. It’s what turns individual effort into collective progress. Connection Is Our Strength AIC isn’t just a professional association… it’s a community of people who know what it means to show up for this work and for one another. Being a member means you’re not doing ...

The past really is another country and we can never live there; at best we can pay a courtesy call

By Rebecca Rushfield posted 10-13-2025
The September 29, 2025 issue of The New Yorker contains an article by Anthony Lane entitled “ Cinema Paradiso ” about the Il Cinema Ritrovato film festival held each year in Bologna and the restoration of 20th century films at the L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory in that city. Lane describes the work that goes on in the lab, discussing how such issues as “vinegar syndrome” are treated. But, his article is also a meditation on artists’ rights and artistic intent and the impossibility of recapturing the original. Describing the issues that are raised by a screening of the restored version of Charlie Chaplin’s 1925 silent film, “The Gold Rush” he notes that in ...

Call for Papers for AIC-CAC 2026 Now Open!

By Bonnie Naugle posted 09-16-2025
AIC + CAC-ACCR Call for Papers: Propose a presentation, workshop, or symposium by September 30, 2025 Our 2026 joint conference will be held at the Palais des congrès in beautiful Montréal, Québec, Canada, from Tuesday, April 28, through Saturday, May 2 . The portal is open and accepting submissions in both English and French for presentations, posters, pre-conference (workshops, symposia, sessions) and luncheon programming, and networking events. The proposal forms are linked below. You will need to create an account to begin your submission: Abstracts for presentations, panels, or posters - Due Sept. 30 Proposals for pre-conference or luncheon ...

The August issue of JAIC is here!

By Carmina Lamare-Bertrand posted 08-13-2025
JAIC, Volume 64, Issue 3 Read the latest issue of JAIC ( Journal of the American Institute for Conservation ) at https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/yjac20/current . AIC members who receive print issues should be receiving their copied in the mail now. While our new website does not have access available yet, members can still log in online from this page . EDITORIAL Julio M. del Hoyo-Meléndez ARTICLES Testing Ammonium Citrates for Enhanced Washing of Paper Philine Venus, Ute Henniges, Irene Brückle, Crystal Maitland, Theresa J. Smith, Maeve Moriarty, Kamila Bladek, Diogenes Vedoy , and Antje ...

2025 May issue of JAIC - is now available online!

By Carmina Lamare-Bertrand posted 05-31-2025
JAIC, Volume 64, Issue 2 Read the latest issue of JAIC ( Journal of the American Institute for Conservation ) at https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/yjac20/current . AIC members can access these articles online by using their membership details through our portal . EDITORIAL Exploring Conservation Challenges and Innovations Julio M. del Hoyo-Meléndez ARTICLES Layers and Layers: Analysis and Treatment of Egyptian Cartonnage at the Penn Museum Tessa de Alarcon & Alexis North Conserving Artline Permanent Marker and Fineliner Pens on Paper: Assessing Vulnerability ...

2025 Annual Meeting: Preventive Care Network’s Picks!

By Colleen Grant posted 05-12-2025
With the 2025 Annual Meeting in Minneapolis just two weeks away, the Preventive Care Network officers have been busy reading abstracts and making our own schedules for the week. Here are some sessions we’re particularly excited about from a preventive care perspective that we think all attendees should check out! Pre-Session Seminar: A Long Time Coming: Revising the AIC Ethics Core Documents Wednesday May 28 1:00PM - 3:00PM CDT In this session, members of the core group of the AIC Ethics Core Documents Review Task Force will present the process followed to revise the AIC Code of Ethics, Guidelines for Practice, and Commentaries, and will host ...

Happy Earth Day!

By Yadin Larochette posted 04-22-2025
Happy Earth Day! This day, which is dedicated to bringing awareness to the deterioration of the environment and the depletion of natural resources, is also a day for us to reflect. Reflect on where we are today, and remind ourselves of where we want to be in the future. It is also a day to celebrate the steps we have taken so far to get there. In this spirit, we want to take a pause and look at the vast array of resources the Sustainability Committee has to offer. All of our contributions are available on the AIC Sustainability Committee Wiki . Here are just some of the highlights: Upcoming AIC Annual Meeting Pre-Session Seminar We are partnering ...

Annual Meeting: Meet The Exhibitors, April 2025

By AIC News posted 04-15-2025
Next: Main newsletter page > Download the pdf for the complete version! Meet our exhibitors for our in-person 2025 Exhibit Hall in Minneapolis, Minnesota. We thank them all for their support and participation! EMERALD LEVEL CLICK NETHERFIELD Booth #400 1103 Laurel Oak Rd., Ste. 107, Voorhees, NJ 08043 USA Contact: Ryan Skorch Ph: +1 (856) 313-6688 Email: r.skorch@clicknetherfield.com Website: www.clicknetherfield.com Click Netherfield, global museum showcase experts, has over 50 years of experience working with institutions and communities, from Royal Families and National Institutions ...

JAIC Vol. 64, issue 1 is now available online

By Carmina Lamare-Bertrand posted 02-14-2025
We are happy to announce the release of Issue 64, volume 1 of the Journal of the American Institute (JAIC). This first issue of 2025 is a special issue on Sustainability within Conservation and Collection Care. CONTENT Introduction to the Special issue on Sustainability within Conservation and Collections Care (editorial) Kate Fugett https://doi.org/10.1080/01971360.2025.2454874 Future Occurrence of Climate-Induced Extreme Heat Events in Museum Galleries: A Modeling Study under Two 21st Century Climate Scenarios at V&A South Kensington (research article) https://doi.org/10.1080/01971360.2024.2390709 ...

CRediT Contributor Roles Taxonomy in JAIC

By Julio del Hoyo-Meléndez posted 02-14-2025
Dear AIC Community, I am pleased to inform you that the CRediT Contributor Roles Taxonomy will go live on JAIC on Wednesday, February 12, 2025. What are the benefits of using the CRediT taxonomy? For researchers – It promotes visibility and recognition. For research institutions and funders – It provides greater access to information on how and where the researchers they support are making an impact, offering a more holistic view of research and its evaluation. For publishers – Detailed attribution of "who did what" enhances accountability, supports research integrity, and facilitates provenance checking, ultimately strengthening ...

Worth Noting, January 2025

By AIC News posted 01-29-2025
Next: New Materials, Research, & Resources > Worth Noting Bizot Green Protocol: AIC Endorsement and Update The Sustainability Committee is starting the new year off by celebrating the AIC Board’s recent endorsement of the most recent 2023 version of the Bizot Green Protocol : The American Institute for Conservation (AIC) recognizes that the climate crisis is an increasing threat to cultural heritage and the world. Evidence has irrefutably shown that carbon emissions play a significant role in causing the crisis. With this urgency in mind, AIC recognizes the value of The Bizot Green Protocol and supports collective adoption and implementation ...

Collection Care & Public Resources to Share for Hurricane Helene Impacted Communities

By Katelin Lee posted 10-02-2024
As we continue to learn about the full extent of impacts from Hurricane Helene's destructive path across Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia, our thoughts are with all those impacted. We know many may be still waiting to hear from loved ones and colleagues. The things we do know are heartbreaking. The road to recovery will be long and challenging and the first priority is personal safety and health. As we better understand the impact on cultural heritage, FAIC's staff and National Heritage Responders (NHR) volunteers stand ready to support the long-term efforts to address the devastating damage done to cultural heritage ...

AIC Nominating Committee Invites Nominations for 2025 Elections

By Consuela Metzger posted 09-03-2024
Congratulations to Elmer Eusman (Treasurer), Jennifer McGlinchey Sexton (Secretary), and Samantha Springer (Director, Committees and Networks) on their re-election to a final term on the AIC board, and to Nina Owczarek on election to a 3-year term on the Nominating Committee! The Nominating Committee thanks everyone who nominated a candidate, ran for office, and voted in 2024. It is not too soon to be thinking about 2025 elections! The Nominating Committee invites members to submit nominations or self-nominations for qualified candidates for the following positions. Board President (three-year term)* Vice President ...

FAIC and Conserv Collaborate on Small Collections Monitoring Program

By Tiffani Emig posted 07-10-2024
FAIC’s Collections Assessment for Preservation (CAP) program provides general conservation assessments to small and mid-sized museums. The collections care professionals who perform the assessments often comment on the need for better climate data to allow them to provide accurate advice on temperature and relative humidity needs of the collection. To help museums gather this data, FAIC recently announced its participation in Conserv’s Small Collections Monitoring Program. Conserv developed this program to pave a path for budget-constrained cultural heritage institutions to embrace preventive conservation. Conserv's mission is to protect the world's cultural ...

PCN Blog: An Interview with Sarah Freshnock, PCN's Inaugural Project Support Specialist

By Colleen Grant posted 07-03-2024
This interview is part of the Preventive Care Network's blog series, which features interviews with conservators and collection care professionals. The stories and insights shared in these interviews highlight the many aspects of collection care and its cross-disciplinary nature. If you have a project or story you'd like to share or know someone we should feature in this series, please contact us at collections@culturalheritage.org . This edition of the blog is an interview that PCN Editor/Outreach Officer Wendi Field Murray conducted with Sarah Freshnock, Preventive Conservator at The Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland. Sarah has ...

New Materials, Research & Resources: Inpainting with QoR, April 2024

By AIC News posted 04-18-2024
Next: In Memoriam - B. Appelbaum > Getting to the Core of Inpainting with QoR Prelude QoR Artist Watercolors (QoR)—commercially available water-soluble paints made of pigments dispersed in Aquazol (poly[2-ethyl-2-oxazoline]) resin—have progressively gained traction with conservators across specialties since they were introduced by Golden Artist Colors, Inc. (Golden) in 2014. I recently chose QoR to inpaint a Modern Canadian oil painting that had an alcohol-sensitive partial coating. I used it straight from the tube, with deionized water as my diluent. I found the material tricky to work with—it felt sticky, I was unable to control ...

Contract opportunity - Conservation Technician - DC area

By Antje Neumann posted 02-16-2024
The Smithsonian Institution National Museum of African American History and Culture is seeking to contract the services of a conservation technician to work on collections at our offsite facility in Landover, Maryland. The purpose of this contract is to assist the conservators on staff with the care of the collection, laboratory functions and with the organization of written and digital records. The conservation team is seeking a detail-oriented, organized contractor to provide laboratory, clerical, custodial, collections and procurement services to the conservation department and assist to maintain, care for and protect this historically significant living ...

Kansas City Studio seeks Paintings Conservator

By Peggy Van Witt posted 02-05-2024
Dear Colleagues, This is unique opportunity is a short path to ownership in an established Fine Art Conservation Studio of 27 years. Perfect for a fine art conservator with an entrepreneurial spirit who's interested in private practice ownership. Drawing customers from a five-state area, the Full-service 800 sq. ft. Studio specializes in paintings, murals, objects, and sculptures, and is situated in a lively art community, complete with storefront and courtyard. The no-hassle pre-set business and accounting systems, plus a lead-generation system to ensure a constant flow of new and existing business. Centrally located in the Midwest located in a highly desirable ...

From the K-12 Outreach Subcommittee: Conservation-related videos for children and teenagers

By Rebecca Rushfield posted 11-16-2023
You are a conservator who is making a presentation about conservation at an elementary school or a children’s library and you’d like to show a video or two. You are a museum educator and your supervisor has asked you to come up with ideas for video content on conservation for the institution’s website and you’d like to see what has been done before you speak with the conservation department at your institution. You are a teenager who loves art and science and has heard that there is a career that combines both and you’d like to see videos about it. There are many videos for children and teenagers about how works of art are made and ...

PCN Blog: Shelley Smith on Preventive Care for Aluminum Alloys at The Chinati Foundation

By Colleen Grant posted 10-31-2023
This interview is part of the Preventive Care Network's blog series, which features interviews with conservators and collection care professionals. The stories and insights shared in these interviews highlight the many aspects of collection care and its cross-disciplinary nature. If you have a project or story you'd like to share or know someone we should feature in this series, please contact us at collections@culturalheritage.org . This edition of the blog is an interview that PCN Secretary/Treasurer Tara Hornung and Editor Wendi Field Murray conducted with Shelley Smith, Conservator at the Chinati Foundation in Marfa, TX. It coincides ...