Conservation principles

Mark D. Gottsegen <mdgottsegen [at] earthlink__net> writes

>Of course there will always be unscrupulous or lazy conservators in
>private practice.  There are plenty of those in other professions
>(doctors, lawyers, financial management, corporate/government
>management, education, ad nauseam) and conservation is not exempt.

I appreciate that Mr. Gottsegen is pointing out that all
professional fields have their share of "hacks"; however the above
statement leads the reader to believe that private practice is where
you find unscrupulous or lazy conservators. Yes, 'hacks' can be
found in any field, and I am sure that Mr. Gottsegen does not feel
that all private conservators are unscrupulous or lazy. However, we
need to extinguish the attitude that private conservators are more
likely to be unethical and less vigilant.

Institutional conservators cannot ethically provide treatment for
private collections. Therefore, the only reason that the vast amount
of cultural heritage held by private citizens is not lost, is
through the efforts and hard work of conservators in private
practice. The success of a private conservation laboratory is
dependent upon one thing--reputation. If we did not act scrupulously
and ethically we would be out of business.

Private conservators not only have to work endless hours just to
build their businesses, they also have to strive ferociously to
obtain accreditation, uphold the ethical guidelines of our
profession, maintain repeat satisfied customers and bring the
concepts of preservation and conservation to the public.

Be proud of the accomplishments of our field and our colleagues, and
let the 'hacks' fall behind without any mention of whether they were
with an institution or in private practice.

Kyla Ubbink
Book and Paper Conservator; Private Practice
6544 Bilberry Drive
Ottawa, ON
Canada


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 20:2
                   Distributed: Monday, July 3, 2006
                        Message Id: cdl-20-2-008
                                  ***