Historic Preservation

The 2nd edition of The Care of Prints and Drawings provides practical, straightforward advice to those responsible for the preservation of works on paper, ranging from curators, facility managers, conservators, registrars, collection care specialists, private collectors, artists, or students of museum studies, visual arts, art history, or conservation. A greater emphasis is placed on preventive conservation, a trend among collecting institutions, which reflects the growing recognition that scarce resources are best expended on preventing deterioration, rather than on less effective measures of reversing it. Expanded and richly illustrated chapters include: -Supports for Prints and Drawings discusses the properties of parchment and paper and introduces the general preservation needs and conservation problems of all works on paper, regardless of their media. -Conservation Problems Related to the Paper Support of Prints and Drawings presents a guide to recognizing the symptoms and diagnosing the causes of damage specific to paper. -Conservation Problems Related to the Materials and Techniques of Prints describes the conservation problems that affect certain printmaking materials and arise from specific processes. -Conservation Problems Related to the Materials and Techniques of Drawings focuses on the various materials used to create marks on paper. -Item-Level Collection Protection: Envelopes, Sleeves, Folders, Enclosures, Mats, Boxes, Frames, and Furniture, discusses measures taken for prints and drawings so that they can better withstand the rigors of handling, examination, exhibition, travel, and adverse environmental conditions. -Preventive Conservation for Prints and Drawings describes how the integration of a comprehensive Collections Care Program into a Collections Management Policy can reduce the need for item-level conservation treatments. -Basic Paper Conservation Procedures provides instructions on how to stabilize damaged works. -How to Make Starch Paste and Methyl Cellulose Adhesive and Suppliers of Paper Conservation Materials and Equipment are appended as well as a Glossary.

Outlines the routine care and preventive maintenance of paintings, furniture, musical instruments, textiles, and other collectibles.

Written in accessible, nontechnical language, this book's twenty-three essays provide invaluable conservation guidelines for a variety of materials and media. Focusing also on proper storage techniques and environmental control, contributors offer information on emergency planning, disaster management, and identifying damages that may require professional treatment.

Organize your family photos, heirlooms, and genealogy records In every family someone ends up with Mom's and Dad's "stuff" - a lifetime's worth of old family photos, papers, and memorabilia packed into boxes, trunks, and suitcases. This inheritance can be as much a burden as it is a blessing. How do you organize your loved one's estate in a way that honors your loved one, keeps the peace in your family and doesn't take over your home or life? How to Archive Family Keepsakes gives you step-by-step advice for how to organize, distribute and preserve family heirlooms. You'll learn how to- Organize the boxes of your parents' stuff that you inherited Decide which family heirlooms to keep Donate items to museums, societies, and charities Protect and pass on keepsakes Create a catalog of family heirlooms Organize genealogy files and paperwork Digitize family history records Organize computer files to improve your research Whether you have boxes filled with treasures or are helping a parent or relative downsize to a smaller home, this book will help you organize your family archive and preserve your family history for future generations.

This fully revised edition of the National Trust Manual of Housekeeping is essential reading for all those interested in the care of historic houses and their collections.  It gives practical guidance on how to care for fragile interiors, maintain decorative fixtures and fittings and how to display furnishings and objects within their historic context.  It also includes the latest thinking on housekeeping theory and practice. In particular, the Manual highlights the ways in which preventative conservation measures can help reduce the need for expensive repair to collections at a later date.  It also explains how to strike the balance between the care and display of historic interiors and the provision of public access.  Full of engaging insights into traditional and modern housekeeping techniques, the Manual explains how the nation's treasure houses have survived until today, and champions their future preservation, using conservation science, professional advice and environmentally sustainable methods and materials. Written by internationally renowned specialists at the National Trust, this Manual brings together many years of practical experience in the care of hundreds of historic houses and their collections.  

Cultural heritage professionals - museum curators, museum professionals, archivists and librarians - work with their specialized knowledge to prioritize the needs of their collections. Preservation managers draw on experts in climate control, fire safety, pest management and more in developing the large overview of a collection and its needs. And all the special materials within the collections have their experts too. Here, in one volume, is a wide range of topic-specific expertise that comprises both an enduring text for preservation students as well as an essential one-stop reference for cultural heritage professionals--particularly those in small- to medium sized organizations where resources are limited and professional help is not always at hand. The editors introduce the reader to the essential tools and principles of a preservation management program in the twenty-first century, addressing the realities of diverse collections and materials, and embracing the challenges of working with both analog and digital collections. The sections on planning and managing a preservation program contain the basic starting point for any kind of collection, regardless of size and content. Written with the small collection in mind, the principles are nevertheless scalable and widely applicable.

The most comprehensive book on preserving every type of collectible -- from the sentimental to the valuable -- from the Smithsonian's Senior Conservator. For both the serious collector and the sometimes sentimentalist, Saving Stuff explains -- in plain language -- how you can use the techniques of museum professionals to keep your prized possessions in mint condition. You do not need deep pockets or oodles of time: using Don Williams's simple instructions, you can preserve anything quickly and inexpensively. In Saving Stuff, he demystifies preservation and presents easy, foolproof methods anyone can use to save nearly everything, including: Photographs -- in print and digital form Stuff only a parent could love -- from baby teeth to old blankets and first artworks Furniture -- whether it's painted, varnished, or upholstered Family heirlooms -- from silver to rugs to wedding dresses Sports and political memorabilia -- trading cards, posters, equipment, buttons, stickers Attic leftovers -- scrapbooks, military uniforms, medals Musical instruments Fine art -- oil paintings, etchings, lithographs Printed matter -- comic books, magazines, old letters And much, much more With step-by-step instructions, detailed illustrations, tips for making the things you use every day last, and stories about how the Smithsonian takes care of our national treasures, Saving Stuff is the only book you need to take care of the stuff you love.