Treatment FOCUS: The O.G. Felland Glass Plate Negative Collection

Often at CCAHA, our work with a client is fairly straightforward—they bring us an object that is damaged, we assess its condition, and one of our conservators treats it. Other times, a project can be multifaceted, requiring the attention of many staff members and unfolding over a period of years. One such project began in June 2018 at the campus of St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, and it is still ongoing.
Learn more about this large-scale project, which includes the conservation and digitization of more than 1,600 glass plate negatives, in the latest installment of FOCUS.

Resource Spotlight: Know Your Bugs!

The Guides & Fact Sheets section of the CCAHA website is a valuable collection of worksheets, webinars, supply lists, and many other resources available to view and download. CCAHA’s 2019-20 NEH Preventive Conservation Fellow Emma Ziraldo has been updating this section of our website with the aim of helping cultural heritage stakeholders manage comprehensive preservation needs. Last month, Emma attended and presented at the Museum Pests Working Group at The Metropolitan Museum of Art , and her presentation is the source for the latest fact sheet on pest identification .

Other recent updates to our Guides & Fact Sheets include Selecting Materials for Storage and Display , Collections Housekeeping Guide , and Winterizing Historic Buildings . Click here to view a complete list of resources.
Opportunities at CCAHA

CCAHA is seeking a Preservation Specialist . This is a full-time, salaried, one-year contract position, with the potential for renewal. Click here to learn more and apply.

CCAHA is seeking a full-time Conservator and Preventive Conservation Specialist with a specialization in paper, photograph, or book conservation. This position is based in Miami, FL, and will primarily work with our clients in the Southeastern United States. Click here to learn more and apply.

CCAHA is pleased to offer a twelve-month post-graduate Fellowship in Book or Paper Conservation beginning in September 2020. The fellowship has the possibility of renewal for a second year.
Funding Opportunity: National Endowment for the Humanities

The NEH Humanities Collections and Reference Resources (HCRR) program supports projects that provide an essential underpinning for scholarship, education, and public programming in the humanities. Funding from this program strengthens efforts to extend the life of such materials and make their intellectual content widely accessible, often through the use of digital technology. Updated guidelines will be posted in advance of the next deadline. In the meantime, use the previous guidelines to get a sense of what is involved in assembling an application.

Applications available Friday, May 15, 2020
Applications due Wednesday, July 15, 2020


Thinking about applying for a project involving CCAHA? Email  Lee Price, Director of Development , to get started.
Documentary Heritage and Preservation Services for New York (DHPSNY) Program Updates

The New York State Education Department’s Office of Cultural Education contracts with CCAHA to deliver statewide services supporting organizations that safeguard New York's historical documents and library research materials. 

DHPSNY, in collaboration with the New York Council of Nonprofits, is hosting eight regional Conversations on Local History as part of a multi-year Statewide Documentation Planning project. During each Conversation, the historical records community will have an opportunity to engage with DHPSNY staff to identify under-documented topics and peoples in New York State history and to share opinions on current collecting activities within the state.  Click here to learn more and register.

DHPSNY will be accepting applications for the Spring 2020 Planning & Assessment Services Round until Friday, March 20. Whether you are putting on your finishing touches or off to a late start, there is still time to submit a strong application! Click here to learn more and apply.
Upcoming Programs
FREE ONLINE FORUM
Emergency Preparedness
Date: Wednesday, March 18
Time: 2:00 PM (ET)
Presenter: Samantha Forsko , Preservation Specialist, CCAHA

Join Samantha Forsko, Preservation Specialist, CCAHA for a free forum where she will address all of your emergency preparedness questions such as:
  • How do you get started emergency planning for your cultural heritage organization?
  • What are the components of a good emergency preparedness and response plan?
  • How can you get institutional support for emergency planning and preparedness?

Putting Best Practices Into Practice: Scalable Preservation Solutions is a two-year program generously funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities . This series offers bimonthly webinars to enable individuals and organizations across the country to learn from experts providing recommendations as well as institutional case studies.
WEBINAR
Introduction to Digitization
Date: Tuesday, March 24
Time: 2:00 PM (ET)
Presenters: Gina Strack, Digital Archives Manager Utah Division of Archives and Records Service; Mahala Ruddell, Archivist, Utah Division of Archives and Records Service

In this webinar, Gina Strack and Mahala Ruddell will give an introduction to digitization. The course will focus on comparing in-house with outsourced digitization by balancing best practices with case-study presentations. Content will include information about specifications, available technology, long-term digital preservation, and financial considerations.

Presented by the Utah State Historical Records Advisory Board.

Funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities , the Regional Heritage Stewardship Program (RHSP) is an initiative of the Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts that brings vital preservation services to regions of the country with limited access to conservators and preservation expertise. Conducted in partnership with Utah field services providers, the Utah Division of Arts & Museums’ Office of Museum Services (UA&M) and Utah Humanities (UH), the 2019-2020 RHSP Intermountain West project will bring in-person workshops, webinars, and preservation needs assessments to collecting institutions in under-served parts of Utah, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico.
WEBINAR
Preservation Planning in Practice: Strategically Guiding Collections Care
Date: Thursday, April 9
Time: 2:00 PM (ET)
Presenter: Sara Hesdon Buehler, Senior Registrar, Brandywine River Museum of Art; Samantha Forsko , Preservation Specialist, CCAHA

In this webinar, presenters will begin by discussing the different types of assessments that cultural heritage institutions of all sizes can use to evaluate their collections care needs and jump start their preservation planning process. Presenters will then describe an onsite preservation needs assessment conducted in 2015 by CCAHA at the Brandywine River Museum of Art, and how that assessment was used to inform the Museum’s preservation plan. They will discuss the collaborative process that allowed the Brandywine River Museum of Art to seek funding for projects identified in the assessment as high priority, and will include the role assessments played in drafting strategic and operational planning documents and how to present these initiatives as priorities to internal and external stakeholders.

Putting Best Practices Into Practice: Scalable Preservation Solutions is a two-year program generously funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities . This series offers bimonthly webinars to enable individuals and organizations across the country to learn from experts providing recommendations as well as institutional case studies.
Upcoming Pennsylvania's Alliance for Response Workshops

With generous funding from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission , the Pennsylvania Cultural Resilience Network (PaCRN ) is able to offer one half-day workshop to each of Pennsylvania’s Alliance for Response (AFR) networks. See below for the workshops coming to your area. Workshops will be held in Erie and Pittsburgh later this summer. Stay tuned for more details!
 
Suburban Philadelphia Alliance for Response
Mold: Detection, Response, and Recovery
Date: Monday, March 30
Time: 1:00-4:00 PM
Location: Historic Sugartown, Carriage Museum
 
Berks/Lehigh Valley Alliance for Response
Disaster Planning 101
Date: Tuesday, March 31
Time: 1:00-4:00 PM
Location: Berks County Heritage Center
 
Alliance for Response Philadelphia
Mold: Detection, Response, and Recovery
Date: Friday, April 3
Time: 1:00-4:00 PM
Location: Atelier Gallery
 
Scranton Area Alliance for Response
Disaster Planning 101
Date: Tuesday, April 14
Time: 1:00-4:00 PM
Location: Scranton Public Library
 
Central Pennsylvania Alliance for Response
Disaster Planning 101
Date: Monday, April 27
Time: 1:00-4:00 PM
Location: Penn State University Libraries’ Conservation Center
For more details and to register, email Miranda Nixon at [email protected] .
WORKSHOP
Fire Awareness for Historic Sites and Buildings
Date: Friday, May 1
Time: 9:00 AM-4:30 PM
Location: Haddon Fire Company No. 1 and Haddonfield Historical Society, Haddonfield, NJ

When was the last time you tested the smoke alarm batteries at the historic building where you volunteer, work, or live? Do you know your local fire professionals? What would you do if the historic building you care about experienced a fire emergency? In this workshop, participants will develop their awareness about emergency preparedness, response, and recovery as it relates to fire at historic sites and buildings. Learning from fire professionals, historians, museum and archives professionals, and others, participants will get the tools they need to become more fire aware about where they work and live throughout the Mid-Atlantic.Who should register: This workshop is ideal for participants who work or volunteer at small museums and historic sites; individuals who own historic homes; and others who care about historic preservation in their communities.

Presenters:

  • Nicole Belolan, Public Historian, Rutgers-Camden, Camden, NJ
  • Ernest F. Busch, Fire Official, Borough of Haddonfield, NJ
  • Charlene Creed, Driver and Past President, Haddon Fire Company #1
  • Dana Dorman, Archivist, Historical Society of Haddonfield
  • Dyani Feige, Director of Preservation Services, CCAHA
  • Linda Harrington, Emergency Management Coordinator, Borough of Haddonfield
  • Carol Wojtowicz Smith, Independent Curator and Archivist, Philadelphia Region
Founded in 1977, the Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts (CCAHA) is a one-stop shop for every conservation and preservation need. CCAHA specializes in the treatment of works on paper, photographs, and books, as well as state-of-the-art digital imaging services. CCAHA’s preservation services staff present education programs and conduct preservation assessments nationwide. CCAHA also offers conservation fellowships, fundraising support, disaster assistance, and more.
Support provided by: