Anyone who's ever polished silver knows that keeping the tarnish at bay is never ending work. But, you may not know that polishing also rubs away some of the precious metal, whether it's your grandmother's silver bowl or a 19th century museum treasure.

"We're always looking for some kind of barrier that will protect the surface so we don't have to keep polishing it," says Terry Drayman-Weisser, director of conservation and technical research at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore.

Twenty miles from the museum, materials scientist Ray Phaneuf and his team at the University of Maryland are working on a small solution to this big problem. With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), they're producing and testing a protective coating so thin, you can't see it with the naked eye.

Read more about this the Silver Saver research project and watch the associated short video clip on the NSF website.

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Rachael Perkins Arenstein
AIC E-editor

Learn about how Conservator Luisa Casella's research has enableed rare, original Autochromes from the Museum's collection to be placed on view to the public for the first time in recent history. From January 25 to January 30, 2011, visitors will be able to appreciate the beauty of five unique Autochromes by master photographers Alfred Stieglitz and Edward Steichen in the exhibition Stieglitz, Steichen, Strand. Her online article explains the challenges in preserving and exhibiting this extremely fugitive art form and how the solution of a protective custom-designed, low-oxygen display unit was reached.

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Rachael Perkins Arenstein
AIC E-editor

A new book, Cultural Heritage Microbiology, Fundamental Studies in Conservation Science edited by Ralph Mitchell and Christopher McNamara is now available from the American Society for Microbiology Press.

While research in microbial degradation is usually published in a wide variety of locations, this book compiles over twenty important publications involving research in the microbial degradation of cultural material, encompassing painted materials, paper and manuscripts, textiles, synthetic polymers, wood and stone. Each section is introduced by a review that discusses past research as well as cutting-edge findings. Cultural Heritage Microbiology aims to provide scientists and conservators important publications describing major advances in the understanding of the microbial degradation of cultural heritage material. The book is available from ASM Press, Washington, D.C., 2010.

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Rachael Perkins Arenstein
AIC E-editor

The Photographic Materials Conservation Catalog Committee is pleased to announce that Tania Passafiume has volunteered to be the online compiler for Chapter 22: Preservation and Housing Materials and Formats.

Contributions are actively sought. Tania and the catalog committee eagerly look forward to your contributions no matter how large or small, soon. If ywould like to contribute or wish to become compiler for another chapter, please contact PMCC Chair Stephanie Watkins.

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Rachael Perkins Arenstein
AIC E-editor

The Photographic Materials Conservation Catalog Committee is pleased to announce that Herman Maes has volunteered to be the online compiler for Chapter 10: Non-Destructive Testing and Instrumental Analysis.

Contributions are actively sought. Herman and the PMCC committee look forward to you contributing your professional knowledge soon! If you wold like to contribute or wish to become a compiler for another chapter, please contact PMCC Chair Stephanie Watkins.

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Rachael Perkins Arenstein
AIC E-editor

The Photographic Materials Conservation Catalog Committee is extremely pleased to announce that Chapter 3: Strategies for Treatment of Silver Mirroring is available on-line. Please note that a few more minor editing modifications to the text needs to occur, but the information is there for membership use.

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Rachael Perkins Arenstein
AIC E-editor

"Scientists may not be able to tell a good book by its cover, but they now can tell the condition of an old book by its odor...." Read more about the recent Analytical Chemistry report in this November 10, 2009 Science Daily online article.

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Rachael Perkins Arenstein
AIC E-editor

Edited: 11/12/2009 at 09:26 AM by AIC Blog Moderator

Members of the Photographic Materials Group have created the Photograph Information Record (PIR), an effort to create an "international standard" for an artist's questionnaire form. The hope is that this form will be adopted by institutions internationally and will eventually be used by artists and galleries as a matter of course. Originally conceived by the Photographic Materials Research Group, an informal gathering of conservation and science colleagues discussing research initiatives in the field, the form was designed and vetted by an international committee of conservators with input from curators and collections managers over a number of years.

The form is in writable PDF so it can be filled in and communicated electronically or can be printed out, filled in and returned by the artist, gallery, or dealer to the institution. This is the June 2009 edition. As the form is used, we will be able to update it as needed with adjustments and improvements. If you have suggestions for changes or if your institution decides to officially adopt its use and would like to be added to the list of users, please contact Erin Murphy or Nora Kennedy. We ask that this decision be a joint one between conservators and curators (as well as registrars or collections managers where appropriate) as we would like full and collaborative support in gathering information about works of art. The form will be translated into many languages for use internationally. We will be adding these to the website as the translations are made.

- Nora Kennedy & Erin Murphy

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AIC Communications Director