MS226: Care of Furniture and Wood Artifacts
              Aug 3 - Aug 28, 2009
              Price: $425
              Instructor: Craig Deller
              Link: http://museumclasses.org/training/trol_classes_ms226a.html



Description:
Caring for furniture and wood artifacts demands an understanding of how and why wood deteriorates. This course offers a simplified explanation of the chemistry and structure of wood as well as the finished wooden object; be it either a totem pole, plow or a French polished table. Care of Furniture and Wood Artifacts teaches students to identify woods, finishes and furniture styles, write condition reports, and understand the agents of deterioration that are harmful to wood both in storage and on exhibit. Topics include preparing wood artifacts for storage and exhibit, the use of archival materials with wood artifacts, housekeeping techniques for furniture and large objects on open display, basic repairs and three dimensional supports for storage or exhibit. 

Course Outline:
1. Introduction
2. The structure and chemistry of wood
3. Furniture and Their Styles and Structures
4. Documentation and Condition Report Writing
5. Wood Artifacts and Their Environment
6. Handling Furniture and Wood Artifacts
6. Treating Furniture and Wood Artifacts
7. Care of Wood in Storage
8. Care of Wood on Exhibit
9. Conclusion

Logistics:
Participants in Care of Furniture and Wood Artifacts 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 Furniture and Wood Artifacts runs four 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]


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.



For more detailed descriptions of each course, go to http://www.museumclasses.org Each full course costs $425. To reserve a spot in any course, please pay at http://www.collectioncare.org/tas/tas.html 

If you have trouble please contact Helen Alten at [log in to unmask]


August Online Classes     
MS208: Applying Numbers to Collection Objects: Materials and Methods of Object Numbering
              Aug 3 - Aug 28, 2009
              Price: $425
              Instructor: Helen Alten
              Link: http://museumclasses.org/training/trol_classes_ms208a.html

 
MS226: Care of Furniture and Wood Artifacts
              Aug 3 - Aug 28, 2009
              Price: $425
              Instructor: Craig Deller
              Link: http://museumclasses.org/training/trol_classes_ms226a.html

 
MS213a: Museum Artifacts: How they were made and how they deteriorate
              Aug 3 - Sep 11, 2009
              Price: $425
              Instructor: Helen Alten
              Link: http://museumclasses.org/training/trol_classes_ms213a.html

 
MS303a: Found in the Collection: Orphans, Old Loans and Abandoned Property
              Aug 3 - Sep 11, 2009
              Price: $425
              Instructor: Lin Nelson-Mayson
              Link: http://museumclasses.org/training/trol_classes_ms303a.html

 
MS001: The Problem with Plastics (short course)
              Aug 10 - 14, 2009
              Price: $75
              Instructor: Helen Alten 
              Link: http://museumclasses.org/training/trol_classes_ms001a.html

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