Photograph Conservation Staff
Nora Kennedy
Kennedy joined The Met in 1990 as the first Photograph Conservator. In 2015, the Department of Photograph Conservation was established under Kennedy's leadership as the Sherman Fairchild Conservator of Photographs. In 2025, the Department takes on new life as the Department of Photograph and Time-Based Media Conservation. In addition to exhibition, loan, and acquisition responsibilities, Kennedy continues to advocate for education, scholarship, preventive conservation, and outreach. Kennedy teaches at NYU's Institute of Fine Arts Conservation Center and lectures and conducts workshops internationally. Kennedy received her BFA from York University, her MS degree in conservation from the University of Delaware, and an honorary doctorate from the Academy of Fine Art and Design, Slovakia.
Norris, Debbie Hess, Nora W. Kennedy, and Bertrand Lavédrine, eds. Conservation of Photographs: Significance, Use and Care. Abingdon and New York: Routledge, 2025.
Kramer, Lia, Alexandra Nichols, Mollie Anderson, Nora Kennedy, Lorena Ramírez López, and Glenn Wharton. “Institutional Assessments and Collection Surveys for Time-Based Media Conservation.” In Conservation of Time-Based Media Art, edited by D. Engel and J. Phillips, 39–66. 1st ed. London: Routledge, 2022.
Kennedy, Nora W., and Silvia Centeno. “Research and Practice: Using Scientific Investigation to Inform Daguerreotype Care.” The Daguerreian Society Quarterly 26, no. 2 (2014): 8–10.
Norris, Debbie Hess, Nora W. Kennedy, and Bertrand Lavédrine. “Photograph Conservation Globally: Educational Needs, Milestones, and Challenges.” In ICOM-CC 17th Triennial Conference Preprints, Melbourne, 15–19 September 2014, edited by J. Bridgland, art. 1405, 1–9. Paris: International Council of Museums, 2014.
Katherine Sanderson
Katie Sanderson joined the lab in 2010 as the Research Scholar in Photograph Conservation and joined the permanent staff two years later. She earned her Master's degree at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, where she is currently a member of the adjunct faculty. Her work at The Met includes exhibitions, loans, climate monitoring, and research measuring color change in photographs over time using a spectrophotometer and microfading tester. The main goal of this work is to develop a better understanding of the effects of exhibition and storage conditions on our collections.
Sanderson, Katherine. “The Balance Between Preservation and Access.” In Conservation of Photographs: Significance, Use and Care, edited by Debbie Hess Norris, Nora W. Kennedy, and Bertrand Lavédrine, 230–35. London: Routledge, 2025.
Sanderson, Katherine, Silvia A. Centeno, and Catherine H. Stephens. “A Diagnostic Approach for Understanding and Preserving Silver-Based Photographs.” CONSERVATION 360º 2 (2022): 287–323.
Barro, Lisa, Katherine Sanderson, Silvia A. Centeno, and Beth Saunders. “The Exhibition and Characterization of Seven Salted Paper Prints.” Journal of the American Institute for Conservation 59, no. 3–4 (2020): 171–85.
Kennedy, Nora W., Meredith Reiss, and Katherine Sanderson. “The Future Is Not What It Used to Be: Changing Views on Contemporary Color Photography.” Studies in Conservation 61, no. 2, suppl. 2 (2016): 91–97.
Sanderson, Katherine. “Balancing Preservation Strategy and Artist Intent: Treatment of a Unique Chromogenic Print by Matthew Brandt.” VoCA Journal, February 2016.
Natasha Kung
Natasha Kung joined The Met in 2023 as Assistant Conservator. She initially was part of the Department as a pre-program intern in 2016 and was later hired as a Research Assistant in 2017 to work on the exhibition, Monumental Journey: The Daguerreotypes of Girault De Prangey. Her work at The Met includes exhibitions, acquisitions, research, and climate monitoring, with a focus on the conservation of the James Van Der Zee Archive. Natasha holds an MS in the Conservation of Art and Historic Artifacts and an MA in the History of Art and Archaeology from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. She received BAs in Art History and Chemistry from New York University.
Kung, Natasha. “Peering into the Decision-Making Process for the Treatment of the Fluxus Venetian Blind.” In Conservation of Photographs: Significance, Use and Care, edited by Debra Hess Norris, Nora W. Kennedy, and Bertrand Lavédrine, 304–6. Abingdon and New York: Routledge, 2025.
Breitung, Eric, Nora W. Kennedy, and Natasha Kung. “Refining the Daguerreotype Package.” Presented at the AIC PMG/ICOM PMWG Winter Meeting, New York, NY, February 19–23, 2019.
Hamilton, Tess, Natasha Kung, and Felice Robles. “International Collaboration and the Potential of Virtual Condition Surveys – The Conservation Assessment of a Collection of Linnaeus Trip Photographs at the University of Yangon Central Library, Myanmar.” Presented at AIC/SPNHC 49th Virtual Annual Meeting, May 10–June 24, 2021.
Tess Hamilton
Tess Hamilton joined the Met in 2024 as an Assistant Conservator. She is focused on the preservation of contemporary art encompassing both photographs and time-based media. From 2022–2024 she was the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation Fellow of Photograph Conservation at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum where she conducted research and characterization of nearly 200 Robert Mapplethorpe prints. She received an MS in the Conservation of Art and Historic Artifacts and an MA in the History of Art and Archaeology from NYU’s Institute of Fine Arts in 2022. She received a BA in Art and in English from Yale University in 2017.
Hamilton, Tess, Jeffrey Warda, and Cynthia Yue. “A Characterization of Robert Mapplethorpe Prints at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.” Presented at Darkroom to Data: New Methods for Exploring the Material History of Photography, New Haven, CT, August 12, 2024.
Hamilton, Tess, Natasha Kung, and Felice Robles. “International Collaboration and the Potential of Virtual Condition Surveys – The Conservation Assessment of a Collection of Linnaeus Trip Photographs at the University of Yangon Central Library, Myanmar.” Presented at AIC/SPNHC 49th Virtual Annual Meeting, May 10–June 24, 2021.