Conservation Assessment for Three Poster Collections in the Berea College Permanent Art Collection

FAIN: PG-51276-11

Berea College (Berea, KY 40403-1516)
Tina Marie McCalment (Project Director: May 2010 to June 2013)

A conservation assessment of 20th-century posters and an on-site training workshop on the care of the collections for faculty, students, and the staff of neighboring collecting institutions. The posters depict a range of historical subject matter, from World War I to the Works Progress Administration, and are used by the college for public exhibition and by students and faculty for research.

This project will employ a professional paper conservator to assess the condition of three collections of posters in the Berea College Art Collection and make recommendations for preservation and continued care. The poster collections consist of WWI posters from France, ca.: 1915; Chicago Rapid Transit Company Posters, ca.: 1925, and WPA posters from the Golden Gate San Francisco Exposition, ca.: 1939. Each of these sets of posters is a visual representation of significant events in national and world history and are characteristic of art from their respective time periods. They are valuable material and cultural resources and offer opportunities for exhibition and research to several academic disciplines at Berea College, to humanities scholars and to our local and regional community.