Online course on care of metals

MS233: Care of Metals (runs only once in 2011)
Instructor: Helen Alten
Price: $475
July 5 - Aug 12, 2011
Location: online at <URL:http://www.museumclasses.org>

Description: Outdoor sculpture, silver tea service, gold jewelry,
axe head, wheel rim--metals are found in most museum collections and
may be stored or displayed indoor or outdoors depending on the
object. Learn how to identify different types of metal and their
alloys. Gain an understanding of how and why metals deteriorate and
methods for preventing deterioration from occurring or continuing.
The pros and cons of different popular treatments will be covered
along with recommendations for the least damaging approach to
treatment. Care of Metals provides a simplified explanation of the
chemistry and structure of metals, explaining the importance of the
galvanic series and electrochemistry in care strategies. Starting
with an overview of the history and function of metals and how they
are made, the course will cover guidelines for handling, labeling,
exhibiting and storing metals. An overview of treatments, including
cleaning, used on metals and how appropriate they are for the
long-term preservation of the metal object will help students make
care decisions when consulting with conservators.

Course Outline:

    Introduction
    History, chemical and physical properties of metals
    Fabrication technology
    Documentation and Condition Report Writing
    Metals and the Environment
    Handling Metals
    Treating Metals
    Care of Metals in Storage
    Care of Metals on Exhibit
    Conclusion

Logistics: Participants in Care of Metals work through sections on
their own. Materials and resources include online literature, slide
lectures and dialog between students and the instructor through
online forums. The course is limited to 20 participants.

Care of Metals runs six weeks. To reserve a spot in the course,
please pay at <URL:http://www.collectioncare.org/tas/tas.html> If
you have trouble please contact Helen Alten at
helen<-a t->collectioncare< . >org

The Instructor:

    Helen Alten, is the Director of Northern States Conservation
    Center and its chief Objects Conservator. For nearly 30 years
    she has been involved in objects conservation, starting in 1980
    at the Oriental Institute in Chicago and the University Museum
    of the University of Pennsylvania. She completed a degree in
    Archaeological Conservation and Materials Science from the
    Institute of Archaeology at the University of London in England
    in 1986. She has built and run conservation laboratories in
    Bulgaria, Montana, Greece, Alaska, Minnesota and West Virginia.
    She has a broad understanding of three-dimensional materials and
    their deterioration, wrote and edited the quarterly Collections
    Caretaker, maintains the popular
    <URL:http://www.collectioncare.org> web site, and lectures
    throughout the United States on collection care topics. Her
    metals treatments include archaeological materials (silver coin
    hordes to iron nails), historic metals (living history cast iron
    stoves to Civil War swords to airplanes and trains to scientific
    instruments), ethnographic metals (northwest and southwest
    silver jewelry to African bronzes), and art metals (outdoor
    sculpture to filigree to modern jewelry). Helen Alten has been a
    Field Education Director, Conservator, and staff trainer. She
    began working with people from small, rural, and tribal museums
    while as the state conservator for Montana and Alaska. Helen
    currently conducts conservation treatments and operates a
    conservation center in Charleston, WV and St. Paul, MN.


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 25:3
                   Distributed: Sunday, June 19, 2011
                        Message Id: cdl-25-3-014
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