MS213: Museum Artifacts: How they were made and how they
deteriorate
Dates: Feb 1 - Mar 19, 2010
Price: $475    
Instructor: Helen Alten
Location: online at http://www.museumclasses.org

Description:
Every museum object is unique, but items made of similar
materials share characteristics. Museum Artifacts gives
participants an understanding of the materials and
processes used to make objects - knowledge that better
prepares them to decide how to care for their collections.
Participants study two objects that represent all materials
found in our museums. Through an in-depth analysis of their
components, participants explore all possible objects found
in any museum.

Course Outline:
1. Introduction
2. Organic Object: Aleut Hunting Regalia
3. Plant Materials
4. Animal Materials
5. Modified Organics
6. Inorganic Object: Art Deco Fireplace
7. Stone
8. Ceramic
9. Glass
10. Metal
11. Mixed Media
12. Conclusion

Required Text Books
Demeroukas, Marie, ed. Basic Condition Reporting: A
Handbook. Southeastern Registrars Association, 1998.

Logistics:
Participants in Museum Artifacts work through 12 sections
on their own. Instructor Helen Alten is available for
scheduled email support. Materials and resources include
online literature, slide lectures and dialog between
students and online chats led by the instructor. The course
is limited to 20 participants.

Museum Artifacts runs six weeks. To reserve a spot in the
course, please pay at
http://www.collectioncare.org/tas/tas.html If you have
trouble please contact Helen Alten at
[log in to unmask]

Student Comments for MS213: Museum Artifacts: How they were
made and how they deteriorate:
All created and selected materials were very informative
and flowed together. I like the power point slides. It's
like note taking for me, summarizing the lecture. After the
course I always go back and read various sections again.
They are excellent reference materials.

Classmates from all over the world made it interesting for
our assignments.

Always enjoy instructor involvement for the professional
input and advice.

The downloadable manual and materials were excellent. The
course content was very thorough. The syllabus set up
access online was very good, listed clearly. The chats were
great, and the calls/prompts to participate were very much
appreciated.

I liked the readings a lot because I knew they were hand
selected by the instructor and therefore were the most
accurate and relevant materials for the course.

The interaction with other participants, sharing their
experiences and their knowledge was eye opening. As we have
different collections, different problems we might come
across and different areas of experience, we can definitely
learn from each other.


The Instructor:
Helen Alten, is the Director of Northern States
Conservation Center and its chief Objects Conservator. For
nearly 30 years she has been involved in objects
conservation, starting as a pre-program intern at the
Oriental Institute in Chicago and the University Museum of
the University of Pennsylvania. She completed a degree in
Archaeological Conservation and Materials Science from the
Institute of Archaeology at the University of London in
England. She has built and run conservation laboratories in
Bulgaria, Montana, Greece, Alaska and Minnesota. She has a
broad understanding of three-dimensional materials and
their deterioration, wrote and edited the quarterly
Collections Caretaker, maintains the popular
www.collectioncare.org web site, lectures throughout the
United States on collection care topics, was instrumental
in developing a state-wide protocol for disaster response
in small Minnesota museums, has written, received and
reviewed grants for NEH and IMLS, worked with local
foundations funding one of her pilot programs, and is
always in search of the perfect museum mannequin. She has
published chapters on conservation and deterioration of
archeological glass with the Materials Research Society and
the York Archaeological Trust, four chapters on different
mannequin construction techniques in Museum Mannequins: A
Guide for Creating the Perfect Fit (2002), preservation
planning, policies, forms and procedures needed for a small
museum in The Minnesota Alliance of Local History Museums'
Collection Initiative Manual, and is co-editor of the
penultimate book on numbering museum collections (still in
process) by the Gilcrease Museum in Oklahoma. Helen Alten
has been a Field Education Director, Conservator, and staff
trainer. She began working with people from small, rural,
and tribal museums while as the state conservator for
Montana and Alaska. Helen currently conducts conservation
treatments and operates a conservation center in
Charleston, WV and St. Paul, MN.

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