[NHCOLL-L:4128] Cleaning museums course online in January

[Helen Alten]

Northern States Conservation Center announces an 
online course for the start of 2009:

MS 217: Museum Cleaning Basics
Instructor: Gretchen Anderson
Dates: January 5 through February 14, 2009
Price: $425
Location:  www.museumclasses.org

Description:
Cobwebs in the gallery, dust on the dinosaur 
skeleton, mice in storage - a dirty museum 
results in poor visitor experience and poor 
collections preservation. In a museum, 
cleanliness really is next to godliness. Museum 
Cleaning Basics explores everything you need to 
know about cleaning your collections. 
Participants learn when to clean - and when not 
to clean. They also learn how to make those 
decisions. Topics range from basic housekeeping 
to specific techniques for specific objects. You 
will learn why cleaning is important and how to 
prevent damage when cleaning. We will look at 
specific techniques that minimize damage while 
getting the work done. And we will discuss when 
to call in a specialist, such as a conservator. 
Students will create a housekeeping manual for their institution.

Course Outline:
1) Introduction
2) Agents of Deterioration
3) Health and safety for the object and for you
4) Equipment and supplies
5) Cleaning techniques
6) Documentation
7) Spring Cleaning: Housekeeping Manual
8) Conclusion

Logistics:
Participants in Museum Cleaning Basics work 
through sections at their own pace. Instructor 
Gretchen Anderson 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 Cleaning Basics runs four weeks. To 
reserve a spot in the course, please pay at 
<http://www.collectioncare.org/tas/tas.html>http://www.collectioncare.org/tas/tas.html 
If you have trouble, please contact Helen Alten 
at helen at collectioncare.org or Eric Swanson at eric at collectioncare.org

Student Comments for MS217: Museum Cleaning Basics:
The course content and lectures were very 
informative, the instructors were very helpful 
and pleasant, and the assignments, particularly 
the hands-on tests and cleaning, brought the 
lectures to life, as we practiced what we had learned.

I liked the examples that followed the 
explanations. This helped to visually show what had been discussed.

A very informative course
instructors were very 
knowledgeable and made the Powerpoint lectures fun. I give you an "A"!

I liked the fact that the class was extremely 
well organized. We did not waste time while the 
instructor figured out what to do next.

I liked that high museum standards were pushed 
for cleaning (this is very important), but that 
the instructor (Gretchen Anderson) did not 
condemn those who could not implement every 
single facet. I know we can implement most, but 
not every single thing at my institution. This is 
certainly the case at museums smaller than my 
institution. I believe every museum employee 
wants the very best for the museum artifacts, but 
sometimes institutional funds prevent full 
implementation. Nevertheless, people should know 
best museum practices and strive to meet them as much as possible.

The Instructor:
Gretchen Anderson, Objects conservator Gretchen 
Anderson learned her craft at the American Museum 
of Natural History, the Smithsonian's 
Conservation Analytical Lab, the Canadian 
Conservation Institute, Getty Conservation Lab, 
the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the 
Minnesota Historical Society. She established the 
conservation department at the Science Museum of 
Minnesota in 1989. She is the co-author of A 
Holistic Approach to Museum Pest Management, a 
technical leaflet for the American Association 
for State and Local History and established a 
rigorous IPM program for the Science Museum. Ms. 
Anderson is a member of the American Institute 
for Conservation and the Society for the 
Preservation of Natural History Collections. She 
lectures and presents workshops on preventive 
conservation, IPM, cleaning in museums, and 
practical methods and materials for storage of collections.

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