Originally published at rebeccafifieldpreservation.com. Lots of folks go to New Orleans for conferences. Within the distinctive streets of the French Quarter, it’s not uncommon to trip across people tagged with conference badges. The overtones of business lend an air of “networking” to the nightlife, though the line between tourist and conference-goer in New Orleans is rather thin. I saw at least 2 other conferences sharing the city with the conferences I was attending, the A

I spent July at a Research Fellowship at Winterthur Museum, Library, and Garden. This mainly meant identifying manuscripts and object collections that might have something to tell me about my research topic: working women’s dress, as illuminated through the study of newspaper runaway advertisements. Read more about the project here, and an article on the work here. My goal now is to study more about the supply of garments to indentured and enslaved servant women, through purc

My time here at Winterthur is wrapping up. I took yesterday to visit two incredible local institutions, the Friends Historical Library at Swarthmore College, and the Chester County Historical Society. I only wish I had more time, but as any researcher knows, one can really collect information, photos of documents, and references until you are blue in the face. Until you really analyze and share what you have in a lasting way (not just a “I saw a document somewhere, if I remem

Back in May, I gave a lecture on collections emergency preparedness at the New York Archives Conference. It was supposed to be a roundtable during which institutions shared their preparedness experiences and ideas, but seeing as Heritage Preservation’s Heritage Health Index project discovered that 80% of cultural institutions do not have an emergency plan that is trained, it ended up being a 1.5 hour lecture. When I signed up to do the lecture, I didn’t realize that the confe

Eddie Izzard puns on the Church of England: “Cake or Death?” For people found guilty of committing small crimes in England, transportation to the American colonies for seven to fourteen years of bound servitude was the cake option. Overcrowding in England’s prisons made transportation seem like the perfect option – just get the petty thieves out of here, much to the chagrin of Maryland, where most convicts arrived. Within my study of the dress of indentured and enslaved runaw

The stepped structure of the Maryland State Archives on Rowe Blvd, Annapolis. For a building built in 1984, I think the Maryland State Archives inspires. Maybe it strikes a chord with me akin to the library buildings of my childhood. Unlike it’s colonial and colonial revival ancestors further down Rowe Blvd in the heart of Annapolis, the building lacks quoins, pedimented doorways, and mullioned windows. After Registration, you enter the reference/research area, a vaulted spac

Tyvek pillows with (back to front) Ethafoam crumb, polypropylene bead, and glass sand filling. RL Fifield, 2012. Never use sad, crumpled up pieces of tissue again for object transport! Switch to Tyvek pillows. While this isn’t a new idea, I assembled at least fifty of these in the last couple of years. I work with ethnographic sculpture, much of which has experienced insect damage prior to its collection by museums. They have fragile surfaces of ritually applied materials. Th

Look at all those people who came to hear me! Washington Conservation Guild meeting, February 7, 2013. On Thursday, February 7, I was invited to speak to the Washington Conservation Guild about the state of collection care. Regular readers will know that this is a topic about which I’m passionate. Preventive care maintains our tangible heritage. End story. If you wait for damage to occur, the most skilled conservation treatment can never fully restore the break, the crease, t

Who Makes Collections Care Happen? Easy. Technicians dust artwork. But that’s a little simplistic view of both the work of  a valuable, skilled technician, and collections care. Conservators make collections care happen! They study scientific reasons for deterioration and design and perform treatments to stabilize structure, consolidate painted surfaces, and prepare objects for loan and exhibit. They must care for collections! Conservators are certainly part of caring for col

Yesterday, The Baltimore Sun reported that Jason James Savedoff was sentenced to one year in prison for his supporting role in the theft of over sixty documents from the Maryland Historical Society. The man who convinced him to do it, collector Barry H. Landau, was discovered hoarding 10,000 documents in his Manhattan apartment, over 60% which were suspected stolen. The National Archives and Records Administration is now assisting in the return of those documents. Landau was

It’s been a busy week. As the Chair of Alliance for Response NYC, I’ve been busy trying to connect affected institutions with helping hands, information, and people in the government who can answer their questions. Below are some sites and opportunities for more information as we work through recovery, return to business, and begin again the planning and preparedenss phase. Heritage Preservation has a number of emergency resources online available for free download. The Emerg

For those of us into food history, the New York Public Library has a fondant of a project: online transcription of their menu collection. Repositories such as libraries and archives are trying to meet the demand for online access to collections, but it is imperative to do it in a meaningful way, based on your users’ needs and collection priorities. And of course, who are you going to get to do all the transcribing and data entry? The Hotel St. Regis menu for October 23, 1905.

For those of us into food history, the New York Public Library has a fondant of a project: online transcription of their menu collection. Repositories such as libraries and archives are trying to meet the demand for online access to collections, but it is imperative to do it in a meaningful way, based on your users’ needs and collection priorities. And of course, who are you going to get to do all the transcribing and data entry? The Hotel St. Regis menu for October 23, 1905.