MS224: Care of Leather and Skin Materials
Instructor: Helen Alten
Dates: Apr 1 through May 10, 2013
Location: online at www.museumclasses.org

Description:
Prior to the invention of plastics, skin materials were the flexible 
covering used for most objects - from bellows to books, carriages to 
desktops. Furs and skins are in almost every museum's collection, be it 
Natural History, History or Art. Caring for leather and skin materials 
demands an understanding of how and why they deteriorate. Care of 
Leather and Skin Materials offers a simplified explanation of the 
origin, chemistry and structure of leathers and skins. Students learn to 
identify leathers and surface finishes, determine their extent of 
deterioration, write condition reports, and understand the agents of 
deterioration that are harmful to leather and skins both in storage and 
on exhibit. Topics include preparing hide and skin materials for storage 
and exhibit, the use of archival materials and which ones might harm 
skin proteins, housekeeping techniques for large objects or books on 
open display, and three-dimensional supports for leather and skin to 
keep them from distorting. Integrated pest management and historical 
treatments will be covered, with a unit on hazardous materials applied 
to older skins and leather that might prove a danger to staff.

Logistics:
Participants in Care of Leather and Skin work through sections on their 
own. Materials and resources include online literature, slide lectures 
and dialog between students and the instructor through online forums.

Care of Leather and Skin runs four weeks. To learn more about the course 
and reserve a spot go to 
http://www.collectioncare.org/training/trol_classes_ms224.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
Sales and Technology Manager
Northern States Conservation Center
www.collectioncare.org
www.museumclasses.org

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