Collections Care Intensive

The Collections Care Intensive will bring you together with a cohort of cultural heritage professionals for a truly immersive experience. Through this series of virtual and in-person workshops featuring some of the CCAHA’s most-requested content, you will: 

• Be prepared to advocate for collections care at your own institution.  
• Develop preservation skills that will serve you at any stage of your career. 
• Develop both short-term and long-term preservation goals and tools to implement change at your institution. 
• Gain knowledge of where to look for trusted information and resources and how to ask the right questions about your collections. 
• Connect to a peer group of like-minded individuals around collections care and management. 

This course, with options for online-only participation as well as in-person, is structured to help you address the ten agents of deterioration. We will examine ways to combat these threats to heritage objects and improve preservation using the following tools: policies and procedures; environmental management; housing, storage, and space; housekeeping; pest management; and emergency preparedness. While this may seem like a lot to undertake at first, we will give you strategies for how to prioritize this work, breaking it down into manageable sections, emphasizing the importance of “good” and “better” approaches, as opposed to “best practices.”  

The in-person component will include experiential learning opportunities that will reinforce concepts explored through the online lectures with time included for individual problem-solving. In addition to CCAHA’s conservation lab, you will get to tour and learn from two other fabulous Philadelphia institutions: the Science History Institute and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

This course addresses Goal #3—expanding access to education, professional development, and leadership opportunities—of the Education, Professional Development, and Leadership section of the Foundation for Advancement in Conservation’s 2023 Held in Trust report. 

We are offering tiered pricing based on commitment level and student and member status. An online only option will be available. In-person days will take place on Thursday, March 21st and Friday, March 22nd. Online course content will be available beginning on Monday, March 11 at 9:30am ET and will be available for six weeks following the conclusion of the course. Online meetings via Zoom will take place on Wednesday, March 13, Friday, March 15, and Tuesday, March 19th from 2-3pm ET.  

Please click here to view the agenda for both the in-person programs and online programs. 

A limited number of registration scholarships and travel reimbursements of up to $500 will be offered on a first-come, first-serve basis. Contact Greg Stuart, Education Program Manager, for more details. 

Register for the Collections Care Intensive here!
 

About Our Instructors:

Maddie Cooper, Associate Preventative Conservator

In her position as Preventive Conservator, Maddie works with both the Preservation Services and Conservation Departments to carry out preservation surveys and assessments for museums, libraries, archives, and community collections, and to work on treatment projects requiring preventive care. 

Maddie has worked with a wide range of institutional and community collections. She held roles in conservation and collections at Vizcaya Museum and Gardens and the Wolfsonian-FIU prior to specializing in preventive conservation in graduate school. Through her graduate career, she interned with the Disaster Research Center, the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, and the Midwest Art Conservation Center. Maddie holds an MS in Art Conservation from the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation, a BA in Chemistry from the University of Delaware, and a BA in Art Conservation with a minor in Art History from the University of Delaware. 

Dyani Feige, Director of Preservation Services

Dyani works with libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural organizations to conduct needs and risk assessments, assist in disaster planning, and help develop policy and planning documents for collections. She also develops and presents education programs on preservation and conservation concerns. 

Before joining the staff of CCAHA in 2010 as Preservation Specialist, Dyani worked in the Brooklyn Museum Libraries & Archives. She has also worked in the New York Public Library’s Preservation Division; for the Conference Board; and in the Special Collections & Archives at Kent State University. Dyani received her MS in Library and Information Science with a Certificate in Archives at Pratt Institute and her BM in Music Business from New York University. 

Katie Lowe, Preservation Specialist

In her position as Preservation Specialist, Katie conducts onsite preservation needs and risk assessments and assists with preservation and emergency planning at cultural heritage organizations across the country. 

Katie is a public historian with ten years of experience in museums, community programming, non-profit work, and education. She has held positions at The Holocaust Awareness Museum & Education Center, Pennsbury Manor, The Mercer Museum, The Zebulon B. Vance Birthplace, Old Salem Museum & Gardens, and The Mediation Center. She received her B.A. in History and Education from Ursinus College and her M.A. in History and Museum Studies from UNC Greensboro. 

Amanda Murray, Preservation Specialist and DHPSNY Program Manager

As the Program Manager for Documentary Heritage and Preservation Services for New York, Amanda oversees all aspects of DHPSNY, including coordinating educational programs, communications, outreach, and planning and assessment programs. 

Prior to joining DHPSNY in 2020, Amanda worked as the Visual Materials Cataloger for the Department of Rare and Manuscript Collections and the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University. She has worked as an archivist for Preserving the Past, LLC, an archival consultant for the Out Alliance in Rochester, NY, interned in the Photography Department at the George Eastman Museum, and served as the graphics and marketing communications coordinator for The Corning Museum of Glass. Amanda received an MA in Photographic Preservation and Collections Management from the University of Rochester and George Eastman Museum, an MLS from the University at Buffalo, and a BA in Art History from SUNY Fredonia.