3:36 p.m., Aug. 21, 2009----Doris Duke's breathtaking Honolulu estate, Shangri La, has been the setting for my summer work project. Though Shangri La was once a private residence, through the work of the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art, it is now accessible to the public through guided tours. If a tropical island paradise were not an exotic enough location for an internship, throw in a historic home furnished with an Islamic aesthetic created by one of the most affluent women of the 20th century. The product is a stunning beachfront assembly of architectural forms, functional objects and art that provides a unique summer work project experience.

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Even paradise has its share of preservation concerns. Termites and humid, salty air are only a few of the causes of deterioration that have taken their toll on the collection.

As part of the ongoing conservation efforts at the estate, my classmate, Kirsten Travers, and I have spent our summer working in the Turkish Room, which is one of the featured stops on the tour. Furnished from floor to ceiling, it includes original material from the reception room of an 18th-century home in Damascus, Syria.

Our work has focused on examination and subsequent treatment of the ceiling, which is constructed from wood supports decorated with traditional paint and gilding techniques. In addition to documentation of the ceiling's condition, our main goal has been the stabilization of flaking surface material.

The Turkish Room project at Shangri La was ideal because it involved both my interests in preservation of historic sites and conservation of painted objects. This internship has been a challenging and rewarding opportunity through which I have developed important teamwork skills and broadened my documentation experiences to include multi-component, large-scale projects.