Conservation Resources
Conservation opportunities and resources
AATA: Abstracts of International Conservation Literature – Getty and International Institute for Conservation for Historic and Artistic Works (IIC) – AATA Online is a comprehensive database of over 100,000 abstracts of literature related to the preservation and conservation of material cultural heritage.
American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (AIC) – AIC is the national membership organization of conservation professionals. Its members include conservators, educators, scientists, students, archivists, art historians, and other conservation enthusiasts in over twenty countries around the world.
AMIEN: Art Materials Information and Education Network – AMIEN is a resource site providing the most comprehensive, up-to-date, accurate, and unbiased factual information about artists’ materials.
Art Babble – The Indianapolis Museum of Art – For the past three years, the IMA has been a museum leader in video production, focusing much of their new media efforts on documenting the work of contemporary artists, talks from leading scholars and activists, documentary productions and exhibition-focused interpretive content. With the launch of ArtBabble, the Indianapolis Museum of Art will include a selection of their videos from YouTube and iTunes U, including the award winning series, Roman Art from the Louvre webisodes. In addition to these videos, the IMA will also debut new content, including a major documentary on artist, architect and environmentalist, Maya Lin.
BCIN: the Bibliographic Database of the Conservation Information Network – Available online since 1987, BCIN is a trusted resource for professionals, museums and other heritage organizations. It now contains nearly 200 000 citations, including the first 34 volumes of the Art and Archaeology Technical Abstracts (AATA), published between 1955 and 1997.
CAMEO: Conservation and Art Material Encyclopedia Online – MFA, Boston – CAMEO is a searchable information center developed by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The MATERIALS database contains chemical, physical, visual, and analytical information on over 10,000 historic and contemporary materials used in the production and conservation of artistic, architectural, archaeological, and anthropological materials.
CCI: Canadian Conservation Institute – Canadian Conservation Institute supports the heritage community in preserving Canada’s heritage collections. The site provides free PDFs on the care of many cultural items. They also offer a 3D tour that takes you through a virtual home and lets you select certain objects and family heirlooms to learn how to care for them.
GCI: Getty Conservation Institute – The Getty Conservation Institute works internationally to advance conservation practice in the visual arts—broadly interpreted to include objects, collections, architecture, and sites. The Institute serves the conservation community through scientific research, education and training, model field projects, and the dissemination of the results of both its own work and the work of others in the field.
Heritage Preservation – Heritage Preservation helps museums, libraries, and individuals with the best preservation advice from professional conservators through our series of Caring books. The Conservation Assessment Program helps small and mid-sized museums get the advice of professional conservators for their collections and historic buildings. The Heritage Health Index survey is the first attempt to paint a national picture of the state of collections in all kinds of institutions—museums, libraries, archives, historical societies, and scientific organizations. Save Outdoor Sculpture! and Rescue Public Murals help communities discover and protect their local cultural icons.
ICA: Intermuseum Conservation Association – ICA is the oldest not-for-profit regional conservation center in the United States, dedicated to the preservation of works of art and objects of cultural significance. The ICA provides professional, high quality, and cost-effective services to collecting institutions, corporations, government agencies, and the general public.
ICCROM: International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property – ICCROM is an intergovernmental organization (IGO) dedicated to the conservation of cultural heritage. It exists to serve the international community as represented by its Member States, which currently number 129.
ICOM-CC: International Council of Museums-Committee for Conservation – ICOM-CC is the largest of the International Committees of ICOM (International Council of Museums) with over 1800 members worldwide from every branch of the museum and conservation profession. ICOM-CC aims to promote the investigation, analysis and conservation of culturally and historically significant works and to further the goals of the conservation profession.
ICON: The Institute for Conservation – Icon’s membership embraces the wider conservation community, incorporating not only professional conservators in all disciplines, but all others who share a commitment to improving understanding of and access to our cultural heritage.
IIC: International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works – IIC is an independent international organisation supported by individual and institutional members. It serves as a forum for communication among professionals with responsibility for the preservation of cultural heritage. It advances knowledge, practice and standards for the conservation of historic and artistic works through its publications and conferences. It promotes professional excellence and public awareness through its awards and scholarships.
INCCA: International Network for the Conservation of Contemporary Art -INCCA is a network of professionals connected to the conservation of modern and contemporary art. Conservators, curators, scientists, registrars, archivists, art historians and researchers are among its members. Members allow access to each others unpublished information (artist interviews, condition reports, installation instructions etc) through the INCCA Database for Artists’ Archives.
JAIC: Journal of the American Institute for Conservation – In 1998, the AIC Board decided to make this unique resource available via the world wide web, both to preserve the data contained in the JAIC, and to increase its availability by allowing the files to be publicly accessed. It was decided to only include issues more than three years old, thus retaining the members-only benefit of recently printed editions. This website, which went online in April, 2001, is the result. Subsequent issues of the JAIC, as well as other AIC publications, will be periodically added to further develop this valuable resource.
Lunder Conservation Center – At the Lunder Conservation Center, visitors have the unique opportunity to see conservators at work in five different laboratories and studios. The Center features floor-to-ceiling glass walls that allow the public to view all aspects of conservation work— work that is traditionally done behind the scenes at other museums and conservation centers. Interactive kiosks and special displays make it easy for visitors to learn about the importance of conservation and show how to take an active role in caring for public art and monuments, as well as how to care for personal treasures at home. Their site offers videos from their media wall and interactive kiosks, and provides information on public programs and outreach activities at the center.
NECA: New England Conservation Association – The New England Conservation Association is a collegial group of individuals from the New England region who are interested in all aspects of art conservation. NECA hosts an annual series of interesting and topical meetings where members can keep up-to-date on the latest developments in conservation, enjoy refreshments with friends and colleagues, and see behind the scenes in area labs and studios. Annual workshops are organized to provide hands-on opportunities for specialized interests with a rotating subject matter.
RAP: Regional Alliance for Preservation – RAP is a national network of nonprofit organizations with expertise in the field of conservation and preservation. Through coordinated outreach activities, educational programs, and publications, RAP organizations foster awareness about preserving our cultural heritage. RAP members present training programs, provide conservation and preservation services, create publications to assist institutions in caring for their collections, and provide free technical advice to collecting institutions across the country.
Restoration Online: Minneapolis Institute of Art – This is a page in the MIA’s website. Some of the great features of this page are: visual daily logs of the paintings restoration process, a glossary of conservation terms, and a list of frequently asked questions about paintings conservation.
SOWF: Society of Winterthur Fellows– The Society of Winterthur Fellows is a membership organization open to alumni of the Winterthur Program in Early American Culture, the Winterthur Program in American Material Culture, and the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation. Its mission is to: Contribute to the education of current fellows through mentoring and the sponsorship of programs, and to enhance the educational experience by means of financial contributions; Foster professional development and collegial opportunities for the alumni through programs and events on and off campus; Inform others about the importance and value of these graduate programs; and Assist the Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library in its overall mission.
WCG: Washington Conservation Guild – The Washington Conservation Guild (WCG) is a nonprofit organization for professional conservators, students, and others interested in the conservation and preservation of art and historic materials. WCG was founded in 1967 to promote the increase and exchange of conservation knowledge
