Paper Conservation

The paper conservation department came into existence in the 1950s to give works on paper in the Museum’s collection the specialized expertise it required. In 2001 the department moved to a state of the art facility that matched with professional evolution of the field such that the Paper Conservation Department’s conservators are highly educated professionals. Their education includes a Masters or doctorate degree that encompasses study of conservation, treatment, examination, preservation of cultural artifacts, history of materials and techniques, art history, conservation science, and instrumental analysis. Our staff includes full-time conservators and a specialist in matting and framing. The department is dedicated to the education of future conservators and hosts Fellows, interns, conservation students, and visiting scholars on a regular basis. Many art historians and conservators use the well-equipped facility on a regular basis to study works on paper.

The department’s state-of-the-art facility includes instruments for nondestructive analysis of works on paper (among them are a Raman microscope, the first to enter a North American museum), a grenze (mircrofocus) X-ray unit, stereo binocular microscopes, environmental monitoring equipment, an infrared camera with a mosaicing system, multispectral imaging, polarizing light microscopes, and photomicrographs systems. It houses a range of technical devices and equipment for conservation treatment (such as large sinks, vacuum suction tables and plates, modified water systems, chemical storage, fume hoods, air evacuations units, and mold remediation areas). Many of these instruments are made possible by the support of the department’s Visiting Committee. The department also includes a large facility for mat-cutting, storage, and display housing, and framing.