American Institute for Conservators (AIC) Angels Project

AIC group photo
Originally uploaded by American Alpine Club Library

On April 25th, the AAC was visited by 15 conservators from the American Institute for Conservators (AIC). Every year, the AIC sponsors an Angels Project, and this year volunteers came from across the country to help us care for our collections.

You can see more photographs of this event on our Flickr page.

The BWAMM Blog also has an excellent group of photographs!

These highly-skilled and enthusiastic folks got us started on 4 very important projects:

Book Cradle Construction Team:
Katherine Kelly, Collections Care Conservator at Iowa State University, Susan Lunas, a book conservator in Eugene, Oregon, and Andrea Knowlton, Assistant Conservator for Special Collections, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

These three women constructed a variety of book cradles for use in our display cases and in the rare books reading room, so that books can be protected while being viewed.

Frame Unfitting Team:
Alicia Bjornson, Resource Interpretive Specialist for The Hancock House in NJ State Parks, Jamye Jamison, Book and Paper Conservator, Zukor Conservation, San Francisco, CA, Elizabeth Williams, Preservation Specialist, The Hollinger Corporation, Nora Lockshin, Paper Conservator, Smithsonian Center for Archives Conservation, Washington, DC, Jenn Cruikshank, Conservator, Maryland State Archives, and Helen Alten, Northern States Conservation Center

This team removed artwork from damaging or inappropriate frames, examined their condition, and made recommendations about care. They removed two items from damaging backing materials.

Colorado Peak Register Team:
Vicki Lee, Senior Conservator, Maryland State Archives, Karen Jones, Collections Conservator, Jefferson County Public Libraries, CO, Greg Bailey, Conservation Technician, University of Connecticut Libraries, Laura Bedford, Conservation Student, University of Texas Kilgarlin Center, and Bev Perkins, Objects Conservator, CA and WY.

This team uncrumpled several hundred peak registers and placed them in archival-quality housings, making them much more accessible.

Assessment of Objects/Artifacts Collections Team:
Bev Perkins, Helen Alten and MJ Davis, Conservator, WASHI, Vermont

This team examined and made recommendations about the best way to store and exhibit materials such as tents, ice axes and snowboots.

All of our work was generously supported by the following vendors, who donated supplies above and beyond what was requested:

Archival Products
The Hollinger Corporation
Metal Edge, Inc.
Talas
University Products

And I can't forget to thank Gary Landeck, Library Director, Chris Case, BWAMM Creative Coordinator, Carla Preston, CMC Events Manager, and the AAC and CMC staff members who contributed food to our potluck lunch - it was delicious!

We got an enormous amount done, and we've still got quite a lot to do! Volunteers are still needed to continue the peak register project. If you would like to volunteer, please contact us at library@americanalpineclub.org!