May 3, 2010

Kress Foundation grant supports conservation fellow

The Sheridan Libraries’ Department of Conservation and Preservation has established a one-year advanced fellowship in book and paper conservation. Funded with a $30,000 grant from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, the program will offer postgraduate conservators the opportunity to work in the libraries’ unique interdisciplinary conservation program, which incorporates advanced book and paper conservation bench work and collaboration with the Homewood Museum and the department’s Heritage Science for Conservation Project.

The Kress Conservation Fellowship will broaden the holder’s experience through practical training that introduces state-of-the-art analytical techniques, advanced bench experience, collaboration with curators and awareness of the historical and philosophical issues concerning the conservation of book and paper collections.

Fellows will have the opportunity to work on rare books and manuscript materials from the George Peabody Library and the Garrett Library Collection, and art on paper from the collections at Homewood Museum. They will actively participate in the life of the department and the Sheridan Libraries and will collaborate on work with other departments.

Since its inception in 1974, the Department of Conservation and Preservation at Johns Hopkins has played a leadership role in providing both conservation educational opportunities and innovation in conservation practice. The university’s Milton S. Eisenhower Library was the first academic research library in the United States to establish a classical bench apprenticeship with a master book restorer.

The department continues to expand conservation understanding and practice and is engaged in an active materials science research agenda for book- and paper-based collections through its heritage science lab and in collaborations with the Homewood Museum, the Whiting School of Engineering, the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences and industry partners.

Deadline for application materials is June 15. Details can be found at www.library.jhu/departments/preservation/index.html.