7 CONCLUSIONS

Preserving the Past encouraged much discussion, provided a great deal of information, and heightened awareness of the conservation field for a large and varied audience. We hope that many of the estimated 12,000 visitors, including school children, will approach their future visits to our museum and other museums with a new and enlightened outlook. Such exhibitions provide the public with a window through which they can view the complexity of the field, the decisions that must be weighed, and the development of solutions for the complicated problems that await us. We found that with careful and thoughtful planning, exhibition that open to view the world of conservation can in fact be made simple and understandable to a general audience.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors wish to acknowledge and thank the J. Paul Getty Museum Department of Education and Academic Affairs (Wade Richards and David Ebitz), Antiquities Curatorial Department (Karen Manchester), Preparations and Audio Visual departments (Bruce Metro and Stepheny Dirden), the Photo Services and Publications departments, as well as the staff of the Antiquities Conservation Department.