Publication and funding

Niccolo Caldararo <caldararo [at] aol__com> writes

>Looking over the number of volumes written at the award of a grant
>from the FAIC I wondered what the membership would find useful among
>them. The subjects of these volumes are certainly of interest to
>scientists, scholars and collectors, but are they useful to the
>average bench conservator? What is the purpose of this grant
>program, to promote conservation practice or some other agenda? What
>would the membership choose if they were given the opportunity to
>vote on what book proposals would be awarded grants?

I wanted to thank Niccolo Caldararo for calling attention to the
FAIC Samuel H. Kress Conservation Publication Fellowships.  I can
provide some background on the awards, the goals of the program, and
how authors and topics are encouraged and selected.

The FAIC Samuel H. Kress Conservation Publication Fellowships were
established under the auspices of the AIC Publications Committee in
1994 to improve the quality and quantity of publications in the
field of conservation by encouraging conservation professionals to
prepare publishable manuscripts. The Samuel H. Kress Foundation has
graciously awarded the Foundation of the American Institute for
Conservation a series of multi-year grants over the years; the
program is currently funded through the year 2014.

Based on the published guidelines and evaluation criteria, a
five-person review committee, composed of AIC members with
backgrounds in the proposed projects, selects from among the
applications by consensus.  The review committee changes composition
each year, allowing for fresh looks at projects that may have been
submitted previously.  Well over 70 AIC members have served as
reviewers, and panels are balanced for employment in private
practice and institutions as well as for gender and geography.

Of the 37 awards made since 1994, 26 manuscripts have been
completed, and 20 of these have been published, with three
additional authors currently working with publishers.  A list of
past fellowship recipients and their topics can be found, along with
a list of published books and the Fellowship application guidelines,
on the AIC/FAIC website

    <URL:http://www.conservation-us.org>

under "Grants and Scholarships."

The works span a wide array of topics and audiences, so not all
works will be of interest to all conservators.  However, the
fellowships have resulted in some key works in the field -
Conservation Treatment Methodology, Paper and Water, Human Remains,
Fungal Facts, Pollutants in the Museum Environment, The Digital
Print: Identification and Conservation, Material Characterization
Tests for Objects of Art and Archaeology, the Pigment Compendium,
and Lacquer: Technology and Conservation, to list just a few.  Some
publications are designed to assist allied professionals, such as
Preventive Conservation for Historic House Museums, advance
conservation science, such as Infrared Spectroscopy in Conservation
Science, or look at the theory and practice of conservation, such as
The Painted King: Art, Activism, and Authenticity in Hawaii.  (My
apologies to the many authors of works I have omitted from this
compressed list.)

The Fellowship guidelines are deliberately broad in scope:
"Proposals are welcome that reflect a range of literary forms from
biography and memoirs to dictionaries, literature reviews, manuals
on conservation, equipment, reference books, textbooks, collected
case studies, and scientific treatises."

Suggested topics include (but are not limited to):  problem solving
in conservation, conservation treatment methodology, methods of
identifying original materials in cultural property, the
conservation of a single material or object type, conservation
science, attribution and authenticity in the fine arts:
connoisseurship and technical studies, and the history of
conservation

I feel that the Fellowship program is one of the most important
contributions FAIC has made to the conservation field.  The
resulting works have become standard texts in graduate conservation
programs and are key elements in the recognition of conservation as
a profession. Many thanks to the AIC membership, the AIC Publication
Committee, FAIC, and the Kress Foundation for having the vision to
begin and sustain this program.

Eric Pourchot, Ph.D.
Institutional Advancement Director
Foundation of the American Institute for
  Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works
1156 15th St. NW, Suite 320
Washington DC 20005-1714
Direct Phone: 202-661-8061
Office:  202-452-9545
Fax: 202-452-9328


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 25:25
                Distributed: Tuesday, November 22, 2011
                       Message Id: cdl-25-25-001
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