[Nhcoll-l] Museum Artifacts: How they were made and how they deteriorate online, course starts August 5

[Helen Alten]

MS213: Museum Artifacts: How they were made and how they deteriorate
Instructor: Helen Alten
Dates: Aug 5 through Sep 13, 2013
Location: online at www.museumclasses.org

Description:
Every museum object is unique, but items made of similar materials share
characteristics. Museum Artifacts gives participants an understanding of
the materials and processes used to make objects - knowledge that better
prepares them to decide how to care for their collections. Participants
study two objects that represent all materials found in our museums.
Through an in-depth analysis of their components, participants explore
all possible objects found in any museum.

Logistics:
Participants in Museum Artifacts work through 12 sections on their own.
Instructor Helen Alten 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 Artifacts runs six weeks. To learn more about the course, go to
http://www.collectioncare.org/training/trol_classes_ms213.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 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 for Helen Alten
Northern States Conservation Center
www.collectioncare.org
www.museumclasses.org