Big Turn Out For Emergency Workshop

Rebecca Elder from AMIGOS Library Services presented to an almost sold out crowd at the Emergency Preparedness, Response and Recovery Workshop. She did a great job of presenting a lot of information in a clear and organized format.

With the combined efforts of NTAAC, TAM and NETMA we were able to reach out to a much wider group of people, covering a wider range of professions, from art conservators to museum staff to art handlers and even a few art teachers.

One of the great take aways from the workshop was the supplies and resources list. Also learning that the famous Heritage Preservation Emergency Response and Salvage Wheel now comes as an app for your iPhone. Here's the link.

Coming next month join us for the NTAAC Happy Hour. A great chance to hang out with fellow art handling friends. Date and location to be announced soon.

First NTAAC Angel Day Big Success

The first NTAAC Angels Day was held at the Dallas Heritage Village. Evelyn Montgomery the Director of Exhibits and her assistant and Susan Finky chose a couple of really great projects for us to work on. We broke up into three groups.

The first group photographed, measured and checked museum tags on 28 quilts.

And there were some really wonderful quilts to be seen.

This may look like a map of a civil war battle field but it's actually the back of a very old crazy quilt.

The second group padded and boxed all the quilts for storage.

And the third group focused on cleaning some recently acquisitioned trunks.

 This royal portrait is one of the color lithograph decals that decorated one of the trunks.

Over all these were ideal projects for the NTAAC Angel Day. They were must do projects, and ones that would have taken several days forEvelyn's staff to complet. But with eight NTAAC Angels , we knocked it out and still had time to enjoy a picnic. So a big THANK YOU to all the wonderful people who donated their Saturday morning:
Evelyn Montgomery - Dallas Heritage Village
Susan Finky - Dallas Heritage Village
Tish Brewer - Center For Art Conservation
Lauren Callahan - Conservation Intern
Christina Januszewshi - Art conservation student
David Page - Center For Art Conservation
Evelyn Pate - Brown Mountain Art and Antique Restoration
Laura Pate - Brown Mountain Art and Antique Restoration
Melanie Sanford - Textile Preservation Services of Texas
Maria Sheets - Maria Sheets Studio
Brad Ford Smith - Studio Six Art Conservation

We're looking for an NTAAC Angels Day project for next year!!!

Art Conservation Angel Day May 11th

The original Angel Day was started at the American Institute for Conservation (AIC) annual conference, which brings together a lot of art conservators into one place. Angel Day asks for volunteers to help a small local museum or historic collection on a small project. By donating a little of time and skills, simple projects like sorting files, applying catalogue numbers to objects or dusting old victorian parlors (projects that are the bane of most institutions) can be accomplished in a single day. The AIC Angel Day program has been so successful that NTAAC is adopting the idea.

So, we are happy to announce the first annual NTAAC Angle Day. On Saturday, May 11th we will be meeting up with Evelyn Montgomery at the Dallas Heritage Village at 9:30am.

The focus of our project will be rehousing and photographing the boxed textile collection. Of course if a big bunch of people show up I am sure Evelyn can find other things on her to do list for us to work.

Saturday May 11^th, 2013
9:30 am till we get tired
Dallas Heritage Village
1515 S. Harwood st
Dallas TX 75215

Please RSVP to NTAAC@yahoo.com this will give us and Evelyn and idea of how many volunteers to expect for the day.

This event is open to all members and friends of NTAAC. Please bring a bagged lunch and water. Wear long pants and sensible closed-toe shoes. You are also welcome to bring your kits and safety equipment. You never know what Evelyn may come up with for the group to do.

NTAAC looks forward to continuing Angel Day as an annual event, with that in mind, if you know of collections that could benefit from a day of conservator/curator help please let us know. 

Emergency Preparedness, Response and Recovery Workshop

Heads up to all NTAAC members and friends! The TAM workshop Emergency Preparedness, Response and Recovery In A Day is filling up. Register now to attend this informative workshop.

As the title says, this workshop will address issues related to before, during and after an emergency. So whether you are nervous about future disasters, neck deep in a disaster, or mopping up after a disaster you can rest assured this AMIGOS workshop will have answers for you.

Thursday, May 16th, 2013 from 8:30am-4:00pm
The fee of $45.00 includes materials and a tasty box lunch
Fort Worth Museum of Science and History
1600 Gendy Street
Fort Worth TX 76107

Registration and payment is made at the TAM website: Click Here.

This is an AMIGOS workshop and is being made available through the combined efforts of the Texas Association of Museums (TAM), the North Texas Association for Art Conservation (NTAAC), and the Northeast Texas Museum Association (NETMA), so you know it's going to be really good!

For the complete workshop details please go to the TAM Workshop Page.

TAM Workshop

Emergency Preparedness, Response & Recovery in a Day

Libraries, archives, and museums must be prepared to protect people, collections, and facilities in the event of emergencies ranging from minor crises to community-wide disasters. This workshop will help participants prepare for and limit various types of damage through risk assessment, disaster planning, and recovery procedures. The workshop focuses on identifying hazards and developing the disaster plan, as well as basic response and recovery. Discussion will include salvage for textiles, paintings, objects, paper, and books. Intended primarily for museum and archives professionals, this workshop is also applicable to individuals caring for personal collections. The workshop includes a useful hands-on demonstration of salvage techniques for library and archival materials. As part of the learning experience, participants will take a special behind-the-scenes tour of environmental facilities at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History.

Instructor:
Rebecca Elder, Adjunct Preservation Field Services Officer, AMIGOS Library Services Imaging and Preservation Service for almost a decade, is a popular presenter for TAM programs. She received her MSIS and a Certificate of Advanced Studies for Conservation of Library and Archival Materials from the University of Texas at Austin, and has a significant amount of experience in preservation and conservation through her previous work at Harvard, the Center for American History in Austin, and the Smithsonian Institution. Currently she teaches both face-to-face and live online workshops in book repair, preservation, and emergency preparedness, and frequently conducts site surveys in a variety of cultural heritage institutions in her role with Amigos.

Date: Thursday, May 16, 2013 Time: 8:30 a.m.-4:00 p.m.
Location: Fort Worth Museum of Science and History (Oak Room)

1600 Gendy Street

Fort Worth, Texas 76107

Fee: $45 per person includes box lunch and materials.
Please register early as space is limited to 30 persons. Advance registration is required.
Registration: Online only at the TAM website: Register Now!

Emergency Preparedness, Response & Recovery in a Day was organized for TAM in partnership with the Northeast Texas Museum Association (NETMA) and the North Texas Association for Art Conservation (NTAAC). 

NTAAC Hosts Presentation at the TAM Meeting

For the second year in a row, NTAAC is hosting a presentation at the annual Texas Association of Museums conference. This year Brad Ford Smith and Melanie Sanford will be Co-Chairing the presentation titled Non-renewable Resourses: Collection Care of Natural History, Archeological, and Ethnographic objects.

Our  three panelists have spent the cold winter months researching the best practice for materials associated with natural history, archeology, and ethnographic objects, with a focus on the caring, storing, and handling of these materials.

Our panelists:
Dr. Deborah Cowman from the Brazos Valley Museum of Natural History will be addressing the care of taxidermy animals.
Jenni Opalinski from the Museum of the Southwest will tap into her knowledge of ethnographic objects to address basketry, pottery and textiles.
Amanda Vance from the Galveston Railroad Museum and independent object conservator will be talking about the things archaeologists dig up.

Bring your note pads and a sharp pencil, you'll be taking lots of notes.

NTAAC Members Doing Good with Hammers and Saws

The members of NTAAC comprise a wide range of skills, interests and activities. Last week Ron Siebler and his team of carpenters started the exterior preservation work on the Pilot Grove Church located on the grounds of the Dallas Heritage Village.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, while working on the south side of the bell tower they donned period clothing and...

...used period tools as well. There was also an area set up in front of the church that allowed the public an opportunity to work with some of the hand tools. Ron says drilling holes with the old bit and brace drill was the most popular tool of the day.

Thanks Ron for sharing, and to Drew Timmons for capturing it on film.

NTAAC loves to know what its member are up to, so if you have an event, project, interview, article... that is artifact centric, let us know about it.