Mr. Hart:

As an art conservator, I appreciate your recent post to Museum-l.  I
agree that the profession of conservation needs to expand its outreach
activities.  Our national orgainization, the American Institute for
Conservation, recognizes outreach as a priority and has taken some
small, preliminary steps to expand the public's awareness of the
profession of conservation.  They have some general brochures designed
for this purpose and offer them free of charge ([log in to unmask]).

Working in private practice, I spend a great deal of time trying to
persuade individual collectors that many of the preservation principles
used by large institutions are inexpensive and available to the private
collector.  Though private collectors have a context for single item
restoration and conservation projects (such projects can be very
costly), they do not realize that there are simple, preventive measures
that serve an entire collection at a very modest per item cost.
Gradually, some of the literature on preventative conservation is
becoming available to a broader audience via the internet through,
amoung others, the National Archives (http://www.nara.gov) and the
Conservation Online WWW site (http://palimpsest.stanford.edu), though
there is still a long way to go.

Within the context of fostering a broader understanding of the field of
conservation, please feel free to contact me with any specific
collections care questions that you or your associates might have. I
wish you much success with your small museum.

Paul Messier
Conservator of Photographs & Works on Paper
Boston Art Conservation
tel. 617 738 7072
fax 617 738 8841
email [log in to unmask]
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You wrote:

>Small  Museums  such as ours and private collectors of militaria often
>hold large and valuable collections.  Many of these contain material
>of historic nature.  We strive to further our knowledge of recording,
>display, and conservation methods.  I believe there is a vacuum in the
>area of conservation for militaria collections.  Most collectors have
>no idea a person such as a  Conservator  exists.  I have seen little
>effort by established museums or conservators to offer services
>(either free seminars, or paid services) to this large repository of
>artifacts.
>
>I have seen collectors fail to use simple precautions such as
>mothballs to preserve textiles.  Likewise inappropriate use of
>conservation methods may damage material which some day would benefit
>the collection of a more formal museum.  A little sales job may have
>to be done to convince many collectors that professional help for
>conservation is as valuable as the collection itself.  However, I
>believe we would all benefit from the effort.
>
>Over the next 10 years we hope to build our collection to the point it
>is recognized as a valuable enough asset to attract development of a
>formal museum program and building.  In the meantime we read
>everything we can get on conservation, recording, display creation,
>and collection management.
>