Past Meetings

Bringing the conservation field together for more than 60 years

The AIC Annual Meeting is now in its 54th year, with our first conference as a organization in 1973. Our rich history extends past that date, however. Before we were incorporated, we met as the IIC-American Group in locations around North America since 1958. 

Explore our Upcoming Meeting

A Place to Gather Since 1973

We have held the AIC Annual Meeting every year since 1973, and we have brought together the conservation field as the American Group of the International Institute for Conservation since 1958. Our meeting has changed over the years. In 2012, we held our first concurrent general session in track format. Our programming has expanded in the past 20 years to include regular sessions on preventive care, sustainability, imaging, and contemporary art. Our networks have grown alongside our specialty groups to offer a wide range of content for every conservation and preservation professional. 

Our locations change regions each year. If you'd like to learn about our strategy for selecting locations, visit our Future Meetings page.

Changing Strategies in 2020

When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, we had to quickly pivot to virtual meetings, despite having never worked with video conferencing software. Our professional development staff had experience with hosting online education content, so we quickly devised a strategy to host our 2020 conference online over two summer months. That meeting brought us all together in a time of isolation and led to our second virtual meeting in 2021, our joint conference with SPNHC. 

Since then, we connected with an excellent streaming provider and began hosting hybrid meetings in 2022, starting with our 50th anniversary meeting in Los Angeles. We are embarking on our fifth hybrid meeting in Montreal in 2026. 

About Our Past Meetings

You can see our list of meeting locations and themes below. More recent meetings have a link to each online schedule, while the program and abstract materials are located in the library at the bottom of this page. All of our annual meetings are highlighted in the July issue of our member newsletter; the archives of the newsletter are open to the public after two years.

Conference proceedings are also captured in our 10 postprint volumes. Poster authors are also invited to submit their posters to be hosted on our website; they may also decide to submit a brief article to our postprints.

  • 2026 Montréal, QC, Canada, joint with CAC-ACCR - Conservation at the Intersection of Innovation and Tradition (hybrid)
  • 2025 Minneapolis, MN - What's Your Story? The Power of Collaborations and Connections (hybrid)
  • 2024 Salt Lake City, UT - Expect the Unexpected (hybrid)
  • 2023 Jacksonville, FL - Conservation in the Age of Environmental, Social, and Economic Climate Change (hybrid)
  • 2022 Los Angeles, CA - Reflecting on the Past, Imagining the Future (hybrid)
  • 2021 Online, Joint with SPNHC - Transform
  • 2020 Online - Conservation: Reactive & Proactive
  • 2019 Uncasville, CT - New Tools, Techniques, and Tactics in Conservation & Collection Care
  • 2018 Houston, TX - Material Matters 
  • 2017 Chicago, IL - Treatment
  • 2016 Montreal, Canada, joint with CAC-ACCR - Emergency! Preparing for Disasters and Confronting the Unexpected in Conservation
  • 2015 Miami, FL - Practical Philosophy, or Making Conservation Work
  • 2014 San Francisco, CA - Conscientious Conservation: Sustainable Choices in Collections Care
  • 2013 Indianapolis, IN - The Contemporary in Conservation
  • 2012 Albuquerque, NM, 40th Annual Meeting - Connecting to Conservation: Outreach and Advocacy
  • 2011 Philadelphia, PA - Ethos Logos Pathos: Ethical Principles and Critical Thinking in Conservation
  • 2010 Milwaukee, WI - Conservation Continuum: Examining the Past, Envisioning the Future
  • 2009 Los Angeles, CA - Conservation 2.0: New Directions
  • 2008 Denver, CO - Creative Collaborations
  • 2007 Richmond, VA, 35th Annual Meeting - Fakes Forgeries & Fabrications
  • 2006 Providence, RI - Using Artifacts: Is Conservation Compromised?
  • 2005 Minneapolis, MN - Documentation
  • 2004 Portland, OR - Toward a Clean Slate
  • 2003 Arlington, VA - The History, Philosophy, and Ethics of Conservation
  • 2002 Miami, FL - Public art, public spaces, and related preservation and conservation
  • 2001 Dallas, TX - State of the Art: Conservation in 2001; Adam's Mark Hotel
  • 2000 Philadelphia, PA - Preservation of Electronic Media
  • 1999 St. Louis, MO - Two topics: The Costs of Conserving Our Cultural Heritage: Can we Afford It? and Used or Misused: The Responsible Preservation of Functional Cultural Objects Still in Use
  • 1998 Arlington, VA - Emergency Preparedness
  • 1997 San Diego, CA - Compensation for Loss
  • 1996 Norfolk, VA - Three sections: Digital Imaging for Conservation; Environmental Standards: Research Findings and Implications; Collaborations in the Visual Arts
  • 1995 St. Paul, MN - Ethics in Conservation
  • 1994 Nashville, TN - Establishing Original Intent: Sources, Approaches, Collaborations
  • 1993 Denver, CO - Collections in Historic Buildings
  • 1992 Buffalo, NY - No theme
  • 1991 Albuquerque, NM - The Conservation of Sacred Objects
  • 1990 May 29-June 3 Richmond, VA - Mass Treatment
  • 1989 May 31-June 4 Cincinnati, OH - No theme
  • 1988 June 1-5 New Orleans, LA - No theme; Pre-prints replaced by Abstracts
  • 1987 May 20-24 Vancouver, Canada 15th Annual Meeting - No theme
  • 1986 May 21-25 Chicago, IL - No theme
  • 1985 May 22-26 Washington, DC - No theme
  • 1984 May 15-20 Los Angeles, CA - No theme
  • 1983 May 25-29 Baltimore, MD - No theme; First pre-conference workshops
  • 1982 May 26-30 Milwaukee, WI, 10th Annual Meeting- No theme
  • 1981 May 27-31 Philadelphia, PA - No theme; Bellevue Stratford Hotel, Historic City Center
  • 1980 May 22-25 San Francisco, CA - No theme
  • 1979 May 30-31/June 1 Toronto, Canada - No theme; Beginning of Specialty Groups
  • 1978 Ft. Worth, TX - No theme
  • 1977 Boston, MA - 5th Annual Meeting: No theme; Agnes Mongan spoke at banquet
  • 1976 Dearborn, MI - No theme: Stout, Buck, and Keck all give FAIC history lectures
  • 1975 Mexico City, Mexico - No theme; Joint meeting with IIC-Mexico Group
  • 1974 Cooperstown, NY - No theme; R.J. Gettens makes remarks to start history file
  • 1973 Kansas City, MO - First Annual Meeting of AIC

1972 June 1-3 Wilmington, DE Met at Winterthur; new building up, but Art Conservation Program started 2 years later
1971 June 5-7 Oberlin, OH Anne Clapp wrote skit for Gettens and Buck
1970 No IIC-AG An Mtg; preprints issued; IIC meeting at Met on Stone + Wood; 6/12 Business Mtg
1969 May 31/June 1-2 Los Angeles, CA
1968 May 27-29 Washington, DC
1967 May 25-27 Ottawa, Canada
1966 June 5-7 Chicago, IL
1965 May 24-26 Philadelphia, PA Contiguous to AAM meeting
1964 May 25-26 St. Louis, MO Met the the Chase Park Plaza Hotel
1963 June 6-8 New York, NY Met at NYU Conservation Center; Murray Pease Report adopted
1962 June 5 Williamsburg, VA Met at Colonial Williamsburg the day before the AAM conference
1961 May 23 Detroit, MI Met the day before the AAM conference
1960 May 24 Boston, MA At the Gardner Museum; 1st regular meeting; "over 100 persons joined as eligible members"

1959 June 2 Pittsburgh, PA Met to discuss bylaws and elect officers
1958 May 1-2 Charleston, SC 25 American members of IIC met to consider forming IIC-AG.

Posters

Each year, more than 50 to 120 poster authors present at our annual conference. We encourage authors to submit their posters for publication on our website.

See Posters

Programs and Abstract Books

Browse our past programs and abstract books in the library below. We combined the two books in 2022. Additionally, we stopped printing paper programs and abstract books in 2023. We published preprints through 1988 and then moved to the abstract book format.

Our History is on Our Wiki Site

Explore our history and see the full list of past meetings on our wiki site. Become an editor and add your own details to expand our shared history!

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Community Partnership Projects

Community Partnership Projects, formerly know as Angels Projects, promote a broader understanding of the importance of cultural preservation while providing meaningful assistance to important local collections in areas where we hold our annual meetings. Explore how you can give back when you attend.

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