By the turn of the twentieth century, Algeria’s Biribi —a colloquial term for the French military police regime—was under increasing scrutiny. In 1909, news of a 22 -year -old soldier’s fatal beating at the hands of three superiors incensed the French people. As a wave of popular sentiment called...
In World War I, American soldiers served in segregated regiments. Like many troops of color, the men serving in the 369th Infantry Regiment, commonly called the “Harlem Hellfighters,” were sent to France to serve under the French Army. It was there, on the Western Front, that two American privates...
Every treatment project at CCAHA is the result of conversations between client and conservator. Some, like a recent project with the Rosenbach Museum & Library, inspire particularly exciting collaboration. The Rosenbach brought a rare Hamishah Humshe Torah , or Bologna Pentateuch, as it is more...
The 1830s were a dynamic time in photographic experimentation. On either side of the Atlantic, scientists and amateur hobbyists alike traded techniques and guarded discoveries as they sought to capture the world around them in a still image. The first widely-used method of photography was introduced...
As this issue of Art-i-facts goes to press, CCAHA Fellow Rémy Dreyfuss-Deseigne has just returned to Paris to present the findings of his research project on nanocellulose at an international conference for museum conservators. He is working in a long tradition of utilizing CCAHA’s state-of-the-art...
In 1972, the Louvre installed a unique design exhibition. Dozens of rolling Plexiglas and polished steel cubes housed individual pieces of furniture. The entryway to the 45-foot tall exhibition space was dominated by a huge, three-dimensional logo spelling out a single word: Knoll. The show was a...
Treating pastels is always challenging due to the delicate, crumbly nature of the media. They also present handling and transport issues that must be considered during housing. When two large pastels from the University of Delaware Museums came to CCAHA, conservators had to balance improving their...
The most famous photograph of Sigmund Freud depicts the psychoanalyst standing with his signature cigar in a stark, chiaroscuro contrapposto. Perhaps fittingly for Freud, the portrait was actually taken by a relative: his son -in -law, a man named Max Halberstadt. Halberstadt —who’d married Freud’s...
