Preserving heirlooms and treasures from the past
We spend lots of time caring for artifacts from the past and are always looking for new ways to improve techniques for preserving the history found in our photographs, books and other heirlooms. There are entire industries built on preserving photos in scrapbooks or in digital slideshows, and there are museums and historical societies caring for everything from old pieces of clothing to handwritten letters and books. On an individual level, we all have things that are important enough to invest that kind of energy in caring for, but how do you go about doing so?
This hour on Focus, we’ll talk try and answer that question and will talk about preserving your family heirlooms and treasures. Host Jim Meadows talks with Chris Deacy-Quinn, collections manager at the Spurlock Museum, Jack Brighton, director of new media and innovation at WILL and Jennifer Hain Teper, head of preservation and conservation at the University Libraries at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
The three of them, along with many other experts, will be available to answer questions and examine small, hand held items or images of larger items this weekend at the Spurlock Museum’s bi-annual “Preservation Emporium,” Saturday, Feruary 8 from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.
Preservation specialists available to answer questions at the event:
Jennifer Hain Teper (photographs)
Cher Schneider (flat paper)
Henry Hébert (Books)
Christa Deacy-Quinn (general materials such as stone, ceramic, plaster, metals, plant material, textiles/clothing),
Laura Kozuch (archaeological artifacts)
Pat Miller (artifact cleaning, storage, archival supplies), Jack Brighton (analog and digital audio and video)
Christine Saniat and Kim Sissons (paintings, sculpture, decorative arts)
Scott Schwartz(musical instruments)
Tracy Popp (digital media)
Joshua Harris and Ryan Edge (audio-visual materials)
Daniel Wiley (animal specimens)— will evaluate your treasures and help you find answers and solutions for preserving their quality.
Pssst….. Parking is free; use University lot D22 on the east side of Spurlock Museum.