Press Release: CCAHA Announces New Initiative for the Preservation of Heritage in Paper, Books, and Photos in Puerto Rico

San Juan, Puerto Rico/Philadelphia, PA – The Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts (CCAHA) and the Centro de Conservación y Restauración de Puerto Rico (CENCOR) announce the launch of the Heritage Stewarship Project for Puerto Rico, a major program for the preservation of paper, books and photographic materials on the Islands. The project will also be part of CENCOR’s Papel se Conserva - Initiative for the Conservation of heritage on paper, books, and photographic materials.

With generous support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, this project will allow CCAHA and CENCOR to provide education programs and trainings, networking opportunities, specially developed tools, and fellowships for pre-program conservation students.

This project will support the expansion of CCAHA's Regional Heritage Stewardship Program (RHSP) in the Caribbean region and CENCOR’s new initiative Papel se Conserva, a comprehensive, long-term program of the Centro de Conservación y Restauración de Puerto Rico, under its Division of Art and Collections, that addresses the challenges presented by the preservation and conservation of documentary collections in the Islands. The Initiative will impact professionals and stewards, emerging professionals, and users of these collections, including historians, researchers, and the general public.

“Regional conservation centers are a vital resource in supporting collecting institutions and cultural heritage professionals, leveraging concentrated expertise to build the capacity of a wider network. We are so pleased that CENCOR invited CCAHA to be their partners in realizing this extraordinary vision of a preservation hub in Puerto Rico.  We have successfully launched similar programs in other regions but know that success depends on having the right partner with community trust and a significant network,” said Michelle Eisenberg, Executive Director of CCAHA.

"One of CENCOR's objectives is to develop and propose initiatives aligned to promote better practices for the preservation and management of collections, objects and works of art, including our documentary heritage in hundreds of public and private repositories around the Island, which have been ignored and severely impacted by the recent natural disasters,” added CENCOR’s director-general, Héctor Berdecía Hernández.

CENCOR will host a launch event at the Univesity of Puerto Rico’s José M. Lázaro General Library, which will be livestreamed through its Facebook page.