Preservation Assessment of Paintings Collection

FAIN: PG-50958-10

Tufts University (Somerville, MA 02144-2401)
Amy Ingrid Schlegel (Project Director: May 2009 to December 2011)

A preservation assessment of paintings in the Tufts University Permanent Collection and a half-day workshop on collections care for gallery staff, board members, students, and interns. Special attention will be given to storage and environmental conditions. The diverse collection reflects the artistic heritage of Boston and includes works by John Singer Sargent, Jane Stuart, Willard Metcalf, John Frederick Mulhaupt, and George Albert Frost.

The NEH Preservation Assistance Grant will support a conservation condition assessment of paintings in the Tufts University Permanent Collection and would evaluate the current conditions under which these works are stored and displayed. This project would enable staff of the Tufts University Art Gallery, which manages the University Collection, in collaboration with an independent conservator, to create a long-term plan for the preservation of these Collections through recommendations for improvements to the storage facilities and the environmental conditions in which these objects are exhibited. The assessment survey would help train the Tufts Collection Registrar through discussions about the care of the paintings Collections with the consulting conservator. In order to raise awareness of basic art handling techniques among the University community the grant would also support a Collections Care workshop, hosted by the conservator at the Medford campus, for students in the Tufts