[NHCOLL-L:3584] 4 Oct courses cover museum materials, environments and textile and achaeological artifact care online

[Helen Alten]

Learn how to care for textiles and archaeological materials, the 
correct materials to use with art and artifacts, or the mechanics of 
improving your museum environment to meet preservation 
standards.  These four online museum courses start on October 1:
MS 204:  Materials for Storage and Display
MS 211:  Preservation Environments
MS 212:  Care of Textiles
MS 215: Care of Archaeological Artifacts From the Field to the Lab 
***NEW in 2007***

A brief description of each course follows:

MS204: Materials for Storage and Display
Instructor: Helen Alten

Materials for Storage and Display offers a comprehensive review of 
materials used for storage and display of collections. Lectures and 
handouts separate materials by properties: rigid, padding, barrier 
and attachments. Slide shows illustrate the use of each. The course 
emphasizes acid-free materials and how to retrofit less appropriate 
materials. MS204 keeps current with the latest materials available 
for preservation. Using material testing as a decision making tool is 
covered. Participants receive notebooks with samples of all of the 
materials discussed.

MS211: Preservation Environments
Instructor: Ernest A. Conrad

Preservation Environments is essential for any institution 
considering a new building - and any institution planning to expand 
or rebuild an existing one. Participants learn the advantages and 
disadvantages of numerous methods of temperature and humidity 
control. Preservation Environments does not try to turn museum 
professionals into engineers. Rather, it arms them with the knowledge 
they need to work with engineers and maintenance professionals.

MS212: Care of Textiles
Instructor: Ann Coppinger

Caring for textiles demands an understanding of how and why textiles 
deteriorate. This course offers a simplified explanation of the 
origin and structure of textile fibers as well as the finished 
textile object; be it either a piece of whole cloth or a finished 
garment. Care of Textiles teaches students to identify fibers, fabric 
structures and finishes, write condition reports, and understand the 
agents of deterioration that are harmful to various fabrics both in 
storage and on exhibit. Topics include preparing textiles for storage 
and exhibit, the use of archival materials with textiles, and three 
dimensional supports. Text book: Preserving Textiles: A Guide for the 
Nonspecialist by Harold Mailand and Dorothy Stites Alig.

MS 215: Care of Archaeological Artifacts From the Field to the Lab
Instructor: Diana Komejan

Archaeological finds come out of the ground fragile  and they often 
stay that way. Yet archaeologists and museum professionals have few 
clear guidelines for handling, moving, storing and displaying such 
materials. Participants learn techniques for safely lifting and 
packing artifacts, safe transportation and temporary and permanent 
storage. The course also covers a broad range of excavation 
environments, including the Arctic, wet sites, tropical and 
temperate. Though Care of Archaeological Artifacts is not intended to 
train archaeological conservators, it is designed to help 
participants understand what can and can't be done to save the 
artifacts they unearth.

Logistics for All Courses
Participants work at their own pace through sections and interact 
through online chats. The instructor is available at scheduled times 
for email support. Courses include online literature, slide lectures 
and student-teacher/group-teacher dialog. Each course is limited to 
20 participants.

Sign up at www.museumclasses.org and pay for the course at 
http://www.collectioncare.org/tas/tas.html. If you have trouble 
completing an on-line order, please contact Helen Alten at 
helen at collectioncare.org or Eric Swanson at eric at collectioncare.org
More course and instructor information is available at www.museumclasses.org . 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/private/nhcoll-l/attachments/20070920/1c322d8c/attachment.html