MS001: The Problem with Plastics
Instructor: Helen Alten
Price: $99
Dates: Mar 19 to 23, 2012
Location: online at www.museumclasses.org
Description:
As we march boldly toward the 22nd century, artifact collecting includes
that most fragile of materials - plastic. Not only is it in our
collections, but it's used to house our collections, too. What problems
have you seen? What problems have others seen? What materials are best?
What can we, as caretakers, do to minimize long-term damage? Join in
this mini-course to discuss care and deterioration of plastics. Bring
any questions you have about plastics in your museum.
Logistics:
Participants in The Problem with Plastics will read literature and
participate in two one-hour chats to discuss plastics deterioration and
preservation. Each student should read course materials and prepare
questions or comments to share with the other students in the chat. This
is a mini-course and takes no more than 10 hours of a student's time.
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]
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.
--
Brad Bredehoft for Helen Alten
Northern States Conservation Center
www.collectioncare.org
www.museumclasses.org
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