[NHCOLL-L:5930] Materials for Storage and Display online course starts May 7

Helen Alten helen at collectioncare.org
Mon Mar 26 18:05:33 EDT 2012


MS204: Materials for Storage and Display
Instructor: Helen Alten
Price: $495
Dates: May 7 to Jun 1, 2012
Location: Online at www.museumclasses.org

Description:
One of the great benefits of the 21st century is the abundance of 
materials for storing and displaying collections. Materials for Storage 
and Display covers this vast array in detail. 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. Materials for Storage and Display 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.

Logistics:
Participants in Materials for Storage and Display work at their own pace 
through eight sections. Instructor Helen Alten is available at scheduled 
times during the course for email support. Students work individually 
and interact through forums and scheduled online chats. Materials 
include PowerPoint lectures, readings and lecture notes, as well as 
message forums, projects, quizzes, and links to relevant web sites. The 
course is limited to 20 participants.

Materials for Storage and Display lasts four 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 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


More information about the Nhcoll-l mailing list