Reference Request
Finding Aids to Official Records of the Smithsonian Institution Archives
Record Unit 544
Cooper-Hewitt Museum. Paper Conservation Laboratory
Records, 1974-1987
Descriptive Entry
These records document the design, construction, furnishing, and equipping of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum's Paper Conservation Laboratory during 1979 and 1980 under the guidance of Konstanze Bachmann, Paper Conservator, and Elaine Evans Dee, Curator of Prints and Drawings. The files contain Dee's February 1975 proposal for the laboratory, and also include floor plans; lists of furnishings, equipment, and supplies; and price quotes. In addition, the records contain budget and cost estimates, correspondence with suppliers and contractors, and floor plan markups.
The records also document the first five years of the New York State Conservation Consultancy (NYSCC). The organization was an outgrowth of a program at the New York University Institute of Fine Arts, and was funded by grants from the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA). Bachmann was Coordinator of the NYSCC from its inception in 1982 through 1987. The goal of the program was to encourage an awareness of the need for collections conservation in New York museums and historical societies. The program offered lectures and seminars on various aspects of conservation; free conservation surveys; bibliographies and lists of conservators and conservation suppliers; and free bulletins on conservation topics.
Records of the program contain the original NYSCC grant proposal submitted by Bachmann to the NYSCA in February 1981 and grant applications, budgets, grant reviews, and annual reports for each subsequent year through 1987. The files also include mailing lists; seminar information; program correspondence from 1981 to 1987; lists of conservation surveys conducted under NYSCA and NYSCC auspices from 1974 to 1986; and selected survey reports. In addition, the records contain copies of the first twenty NYSCC bulletins, as well as brochures and publicity materials.
Index Terms
This collection is indexed under the following access terms. These are links to collections with related topics, persons or places.
Name
- Bachmann, Konstanze
- Dee, Elaine Evans
- New York State Conservation Consultancy
- New York University. Institute of Fine Arts
- New York State Council on the Arts
Subject
Physical Characteristics of Materials in the Collection
Administrative Information
Preferred Citation
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 544, Cooper-Hewitt Museum. Paper Conservation Laboratory, Records