In this episode, Jason Church speaks with Curtis Deselles, an intern with the Materials Research program at NCPTT, discusses the use of eddy currents and eddy current technology in conservation science. Mr. Deselles has built several eddy current analyzers, custom software, and presented on this topic at a non-destructive conference in St. Louis.

NCPTT has been using eddy current technology in preservation and will be bringing this tool to the iPhone platform in 2010. Download Episode 8 as an mp3 or subscribe via iTunes.

A good plan can determine whether a cultural collection survives a disaster or fades into memory. And while nature can be unpredictable, the online disaster-planning portal “dPlan” offers a streamlined, reliable way for institutions to protect their cultural collections. Created through funding by the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training, dPlan is a free, online tool that allows cultural institutions to complete a customizable disaster plan for their organizations. NEDCC, a nonprofit regional center for the preservation and conservation of paper-based materials, and the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC), developed the tool.

A variety of materials and methods have been used to preserve ceramic vessels. Many have proven successful, while others are damaging. Monitoring and evaluation of past treatments is a documented research priority in the conservation field. The Arizona State Museum (ASM) has examined, recorded and analyzed the performance of past treatments on 20,000 southwest vessels and a modern storage facility.

This research has afforded the opportunity to look forwards and backwards to identify patterns in archaeological methods, museum management and conservation.

Co-organized for the first time with the Chinese State Administrator of Cultural Heritage, this
is the fourth course on “Preventive Conservation-Reducing Risks to Collections” held by ICCROM, in partnership with the Canadian Conservation Institute and the Netherlands Institute for Cultural Heritage.

NCPTT’s comparative research on cleaners for cemetery headstones will be featured as part of the Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute’s workshop on microbial colonization of stone. The workshop will be held April 20-22, 2009 in Washington, DC.

After the Fire: Salvaging the Stores of the Department of Archaeology & Natural History
AIC Disaster Response & Recovery
Archeological Resource Damage Assessment: Legal Basis and Methods
CPP Pocket Response Plan for Collections
Conserve-O-Grams. A series of 11 National Park Service publications covering disaster recovery topics like salvaging water-damaged collections (paper, non-paper archives, textiles, natural history collections), health [...]

Knowledge of material properties, reactivity and history can be crucial to conservation treatment success and safety.

Museum conservators and the like are well acquainted with the fact that some types of museum exhibits are susceptible to damage caused by exposure to light.

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art recently provided a portable laser system to NCPTT as part of the National Center’s laser research facility.