[NHCOLL-L:4217] Museum Artifacts online class has space

[Helen Alten]

There is still room in the course that starts this week:

MS213: Museum Artifacts: How they were made and how they deteriorate
Instructor: Helen Alten
Dates: March 2 through April 10 2009
Price: $425
Location:  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.

Course Outline
1.      Introduction
2.      Organic Object:  Aleut Hunting Regalia
3.      Plant Materials
4.      Animal Materials
5.      Modified Organics
6.      Inorganic Object: Art Deco Fireplace
7.      Stone
8.      Ceramic
9.      Glass
10.     Metal
11.     Mixed Media
12.     Conclusion

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 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 or 
Eric Swanson at eric at museumclasses.org .

Required Text Books
Demeroukas, Marie, ed.  Basic Condition Reporting:  A 
Handbook.  Southeastern Registrars Association, 1998.

Student Comments
All created and selected materials were very informative and flowed 
together.  I like the power point slides.  It's like note taking for 
me, summarizing the lecture. After the course I always go back and 
read various sections again.  They are excellent reference materials.

Classmates from all over the world made it interesting for our assignments.

Always enjoy instructor involvement for the professional input and advice.

The downloadable manual and materials were excellent.  The course 
content was very thorough.  The syllabus set up access online was 
very good, listed clearly.  The chats were great, and the 
calls/prompts to participate were very much appreciated.

I liked the readings a lot because I knew they were hand selected by 
the instructor and therefore were the most accurate and relevant 
materials for the course.

The interaction with other participants, sharing their experiences 
and their knowledge was eye opening. As we have different 
collections, different problems we might come across and different 
areas of experience, we can definitely learn from each other.

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.  
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/private/nhcoll-l/attachments/20090302/44a397b4/attachment.html