Public Outreach

Regional and National Public Service

The Department of Art Conservation has a long history of public outreach. Most recently, our ten, first-year fellows and some second-year fellows, pre-program interns and faculty members worked with Professor Debra Hess Norris to examine, stabilize, clean, flatten, and rehouse 300 fire-damaged photographic prints miraculously recovered from a tragic Christmas Day fire in Ohio. This project was transformative, exemplifying our genuine commitment to the preservation of cultural heritage and to using our skills and knowledge to help others. The project engendered strong community support for UD and Winterthur and pride in the field of art conservation worldwide; one leader in our profession coined this "conservation's finest hour;" the local fire chief wrote a note of heartfelt thanks on behalf of those who responded and their devastated community. Our students and faculty are committed to meaningful work that advances our profession and contributes to the growth of conservation research and practice at Winterthur and the University of Delaware as well as nationally and internationally. Our work is focused on engaging members of the public and scholarly audiences alike.

The work of our dedicated students and faculty has been featured on social media platforms from Columbia to the Congo, on local television and radio stations, and in Associated Press outlets nationwide. 

Faculty members give regular interviews for journalists nationally and locally and have appeared on public radio and television, from WHYY in Philadelphia to BBC, to promote awareness about conservation. They have advised on the development of the Lunder Conservation Center at the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, have been featured in UD's alumni, global, and research magazines, and are invited speakers to public audiences across the state of Delaware and beyond. They have assisted with community conservation projects in Newark, Smyrna, and Wilmington Delaware, developed educational summer camps at Winterthur and with the Salvation Army that connect art and science, and offered hands-on activities for at-risk youth across Wilmington. We have treated WPA murals for the Claymont Community Center, a large Battle of the Brandywine painting owned by the Chadds Ford Elementary School, and a John Biggers mural from the Eliza Johnston Home for Aged Negroes in Houston. They have led and advised major fundraising and marketing campaigns for the AIC, College Art Association, Arab Image Foundation, National Gallery of Denmark, and Heritage Preservation, and guided collaborative preservation initiatives with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Association of Architects, Institute of Museum and Library Services, and regional conservation centers. Our faculty members have served as elected/appointed officials on national and international boards, advisory councils, and committees, including, most recently, the American Institute for Conservation (multiple specialty groups and committees), Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts, Art and Archaeology Technical Abstracts, Strawbery Banke Museum, Infrared and Raman Users Group (IRUG), Gordon Research Conference, National Archives Preservation Advisory Council, North American Textile Conservation Conference, International Council of Museums Committee on Conservation, US Senate, National Endowment for the Humanities, Getty and Mellon Foundations, Institute of Museum and Library Sciences, the U.S./ Senate Art Advisory Council, the Biggs Museum of American Art, and the Wyeth Foundation. 

We will continue our efforts in increasing community, regional, and national support and awareness about the field of conservation, the training of future conservation professionals and conservation scientists, and the need to invest in their education.

Caring for Family Treasures

Projects from the department