Preserving Material Memory through Conservation Education and Training

FAIN: PE-263509-19

New York University (New York, NY 10012-1019)
Margaret Holben Ellis (Project Director: April 2018 to October 2023)

Graduate education in the conservation of art and material culture collections. Stipends would support at least eight student fellowships over the course of a two year period.

The Conservation Center of the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, requests funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) in the amount of $200,000 for the period of January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2020 to support Preserving Material Memory through Conservation Education and Training. This award will support at least eight student fellowships (four per year) over the course of a two year period.

Media Coverage

Abydos beer factory: Ancient large-scale brewery discovered in Egypt (Media Coverage)
Publication: BBC
Date: 3/31/2021
URL: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-56067717

Associated Products

Objects Conservation at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, PA (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: Objects Conservation at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, PA
Abstract: For future art conservators, project-based training plays an important role in developing technical abilities and collaborative skills in the workplace. In an effort to help students gain this type of experience, the Conservation Center works proactively to arrange practical training opportunities over the summer recess. Students can join archaeological excavations such as Samothrace in Greece, and Selinunte in Sicily, or they may choose to work at museums, conservation facilities, and grand historic houses such as Villa La Pietra, NYU’s estate in Florence, Italy. Tonight we will hear from conservation students about their recent summer internships in museum laboratories, libraries, archives, and private conservation studios. Please join us in the Loeb Room for refreshments at the conclusion of tonight’s program.
Author: Adrienne Gendron
Date: 10/21/2019
Location: James B. Duke House Lecture Hall, Institute of Fine Arts, NYU, 1 E. 78th Street, New York, NY 10075
Primary URL: https://www.nyu.edu/gsas/dept/fineart/events/archive-2019.htm#collapseOct21

Conservation treatment of a maiolica pharmacy jar Consultant & Supervisor: Pam Hatchfield ‘86 (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: Conservation treatment of a maiolica pharmacy jar Consultant & Supervisor: Pam Hatchfield ‘86
Abstract: The name La Pietra derives from a stone pillar indicating the Roman mile along Via Bolognese from the Florence city gate of San Gallo. For centuries, Villa La Pietra was home to many prominent Florentine families. In 1903, the Anglo-American Acton family took up residence in the 600 year old estate. When Arthur Acton and his wife Hortense Mitchell settled in La Pietra, they and their two children, Harold and William, became immersed in a society of writers, historians, artists, and art collectors. The Acton’s own art collection comprises more than 6,000 objects ranging in date from the Etruscan period to the early 20th Century. Fine art exists alongside household objects, books, textiles, furniture, and souvenirs. A library of 10,000 volumes with many signed first editions, an archive holding thousands of family letters, an important series of historical photographs, Hortense’s many Callot Soeurs gowns, and an extensive outdoor sculpture collection are but a few of the many treasures found at the Villa. To perpetuate their legacy, the Actons decided to leave La Pietra to a university with the expertise and vision to care for and benefit from their estate. So it was in 1994 that Sir Harold Acton bequeathed his family’s estate to New York University. Over the next two decades and through collaboration with the Villa’s Italian administration—inlcuding Francesca Baldry, Collection Manager; Ellyn Toscano, Director; and numerous conservation consultants here in the U.S.—our students assist in the conservation efforts of this revealing palimpsest of an ex-pat family. Tonight, conservation students will present their 2018 spring break and summer work projects at Villa La Pietra, New York University’s global campus in Florence. Please join us in the Loeb Room for refreshments at the conclusion of tonight’s program.
Author: Adrienne Gendron
Date: 11/11/2019
Location: James B. Duke House Lecture Hall, Institute of Fine Arts, NYU, 1 E. 78th Street, New York, NY 10075
Primary URL: https://www.nyu.edu/gsas/dept/fineart/events/archive-2019.htm#collapseNov11

ICON Photographic Materials Roundtable 2020 (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: ICON Photographic Materials Roundtable 2020
Abstract: Institute for Conservation Photographic Materials Roundtable
Author: Tess Hamilton
Date: 12/17/2020
Location: Online
Primary URL: http://https://www.icon.org.uk/resource/icon-photographic-materials-round-table.html
Secondary URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDTy9XtO-Zw

Converse with a Conservator: More than Meets the Eye (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: Converse with a Conservator: More than Meets the Eye
Abstract: Converse with a Conservator: More than Meets the Eye
Author: Sarah Montonchaikul
Date: 02/03/2021
Location: Online
Primary URL: https://www.si.edu/events/online?trumbaEmbed=view%3Devent%26eventid%3D149984253
Secondary URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNTa2Eb5KYA

Discovering Affinities between Ancient and Contemporary Cultural Heritage Conservation (Blog Post)
Title: Discovering Affinities between Ancient and Contemporary Cultural Heritage Conservation
Author: Sarah Montonchaikul
Abstract: Conservators of modern and contemporary artworks face a range of challenges from treating works done in unorthodox materials, such as polyurethane plastics, to seemingly non-material performance works that exist only fleetingly in real time. Their responsibility to preserve and maintain objects that resist traditional art historical and conservation taxonomies, however, has shaped the development of art conservation theory beyond modern and contemporary art and has inspired me to critically examine how we approach the preservation of cultural heritage today.
Date: 10/13/2020
Primary URL: https://www.dedalusfoundation.org/blog/2020/10/13/discovering-affinities-between-ancient-and-contemporary-cultural-heritage-conservation/
Blog Title: Discovering Affinities between Ancient and Contemporary Cultural Heritage Conservation
Website: Dedalus Foundation Blog

Kress Collection Digital Archive (Database/Archive/Digital Edition)
Title: Kress Collection Digital Archive
Author: Emma Kimmel
Abstract: The Kress Collection Digital Archive, a project of the National Gallery of Art Gallery Archives that was generously funded by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, promotes understanding of the history and development of the Kress Collection in the larger context of the history of the National Gallery of Art and culture in the United States.
Year: 2020
Primary URL: http://www.kress.nga.gov
Access Model: Open Access

World’s Oldest Industrial-Scale Brewery Identified at Abydos, Egypt, ca. 3000 BCE (Article)
Title: World’s Oldest Industrial-Scale Brewery Identified at Abydos, Egypt, ca. 3000 BCE
Author: Robert Polner
Abstract: An archeological team from NYU's Institute of Fine Arts and Princeton University date the ancient complex to the dawn of Egyptian history.
Year: 2021
Primary URL: https://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2021/february/WorldsOldestIndustrial-ScaleBreweryIdentified.html
Primary URL Description: NPR’s The World: https://www.pri.org/file/2021-02-23/archaeologists-discover-5000-year-old-large-scale-brewery-egypt BBC's The Naked Scientists: https://www.thenakedscientists.com/articles/interviews/worlds-oldest-beer-factory-ancient-egypt Radio New Zealand: https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018783939/archaeologists-in-egypt-find-5000-year-old-brewery https://www.cbsnews.com/news/egypt-5000-year-old-industrial-scale-brewery-unearthed/ https://www.foodandwine.com/news/oldest-beer-brewery-egypt https://www.foxnews.com/food-drink/ancient-beer-factory-brewery-egypt-abydos-discovered https://www.usnews.com/news/news/articles/2021-02-13/egypt-archaeologists-unearth-ancient-beer-factory-in-abydos https://www.travelandleisure.com/travel-news/ancient-brewery-discovered-abydos-egypt https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/ancient-beer-factory-unearthed-archaeologists-egypt-n1257911 NBC News TV story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZ7NO7mjCzE
Secondary URL Description: U.S. press https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-antiquities-idUKKBN2AE0ET https://hosted.ap.org/article/92e3692d44ad452046163291abb03e9f/egypt-archaeologists-unearth-ancient-beer-factory-abydos https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/14/middleeast/egypt-beer-factory-intl-hnk-scli-scn/index.html https://news.artnet.com/art-world/worlds-oldest-beer-brewery-egypt-1944234 https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/ancient-egypt/ancient-egyptian-beer-brewery/ https://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2021/02/archaeologists-unearth-ancient-beer.html https://www.archaeology.wiki/blog/2021/02/15/ancient-brewery-found-in-abydos/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/worlds-oldest-industrial-scale-brewery-found-egypt-180977026/ https://www.archaeology.org/news/9471-210216-abydos-beer-brewery https://phys.org/news/2021-02-egypt-archaeologists-unearth-ancient-beer.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/wor
Access Model: Open Access
Format: Other
Publisher: nyu.edu

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