[NHCOLL-L:5493] Care of Metals online class starts July 5

[Helen Alten]

*MS233: Care of Metals *(runs only once in 2011)
Instructor: Helen Alten
Price: $475
Dates: July 5 to Aug 12, 2011
Location: online at www.museumclasses.org

*Description:*
Outdoor sculpture, silver tea service, gold jewelry, axe head, wheel rim 
- metals are found in most museum collections and may be stored or 
displayed indoor or outdoors depending on the object. Learn how to 
identify different types of metal and their alloys. Gain an 
understanding of how and why metals deteriorate and methods for 
preventing deterioration from occurring or continuing. The pros and cons 
of different popular treatments will be covered along with 
recommendations for the least damaging approach to treatment. Care of 
Metals provides a simplified explanation of the chemistry and structure 
of metals, explaining the importance of the galvanic series and 
electrochemistry in care strategies. Starting with an overview of the 
history and function of metals and how they are made, the course will 
cover guidelines for handling, labeling, exhibiting and storing metals. 
An overview of treatments, including cleaning, used on metals and how 
appropriate they are for the long-term preservation of the metal object 
will help students make care decisions when consulting with conservators.

*Course Outline:*
1. Introduction
2. History, chemical and physical properties of metals
3. Fabrication technology
4. Documentation and Condition Report Writing
5. Metals and the Environment
6. Handling Metals
7. Treating Metals
8. Care of Metals in Storage
9. Care of Metals on Exhibit
10. Conclusion

*Logistics:*
Participants in Care of Metals work through sections on their own. 
Materials and resources include online literature, slide lectures and 
dialog between students and the instructor through online forums. The 
course is limited to 20 participants.

Care of Metals runs six 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 helen at collectioncare.org

*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 in 1980 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 in 1986. She has built and run conservation 
laboratories in Bulgaria, Montana, Greece, Alaska, Minnesota and West 
Virginia. 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, and 
lectures throughout the United States on collection care topics. Her 
metals treatments include archaeological materials (silver coin hordes 
to iron nails), historic metals (living history cast iron stoves to 
Civil War swords to airplanes and trains to scientific instruments), 
ethnographic metals (northwest and southwest silver jewelry to African 
bronzes), and art metals (outdoor sculpture to filigree to modern 
jewelry). 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.
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