What do you do?
I conserve physical objects and consult on preservation goals with archivists, collection managers, and curators at the Archives and throughout the larger Smithsonian archival and museum community by running the Smithsonian Center for Archives Conservation, a service and teaching laboratory of Smithsonian Institution Archives Collections Care team. Besides my own posts below, please see contributions from our lab also at Smithsonian Research Online and our blogs tagged for conservation.
Favorite spot in DC to recommend to visitors:
In the early evening, the Bishop’s Garden at the National Cathedral, or a twilight walk through the National Zoo. Both come quietly alive at twilight for an impromptu seated picnic, and are a lovely, restful alternative in which to wait out the evening rush hour.
Collection favorites:
I was asked by the National Museum of African American History and Culture about the long-term stability of an unusual acquisition: Presidential candidate Barack Obama’s dry-erase boards from the Virginia campaign office. You can read more about it in my blog post about the challenges of figuring out how such an ephemeral object might be preserved.
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Nora Lockshin
Blog Posts
Adelia Gates—Flower Painter or Botanical Illustrator? March 31, 2011 by Nora Lockshin Recently I received a message via Facebook from Beth Heller, a colleague in Colorado, regarding the conservation of a vulnerable watercolor. The work in question was unusual enough that Beth began researching the artist and conservation literature to see if she could turn up any information for the fragile work. She quickly hit on the finding aid for our Adelia Gates collection and wrote to me that she had “an Adelia Gates watercolor in my studio right now . . . Have you seen any?”
