Material Culture Conservation Education and Training

FAIN: PE-50051-10

University of Delaware (Newark, DE 19711-3651)
Debra H. Norris (Project Director: July 2009 to June 2013)

Funding supports graduate education in the conservation of material culture collections.

The Winterthur/University of Delaware Master's-level Art Conservation Program (WUDPAC), which has been in existence since 1974, is one of only five graduate programs in the United States that educates and trains conservation professionals to care for our cultural heritage. WUDPAC is applying to the National Endowment for the Humanities to support the education and training of five Master's-level students a year for two years. The Fellowships are for students specializing in the preservation of objects, textiles, painted and decorative surfaces and/or furniture; plus travel costs for internship interviews and relocation, honoraria for special guest lecturers in preventive, objects, photographs, and textile conservation, research project costs, and other training expenses. Thirty Master's-level students are enrolled in the program: ten for each year of a three year program. In training conservators of the highest caliber, we are meeting a national need.