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11:22 a.m., July 2, 2009----Since their arrival at the University of Delaware on Sunday, June 7, students in the Arts And Humanities Summer Institute (AHSI) have been busy getting to know each other and learning about some of the unique graduate degree programs UD offers.

On Tuesday, June 30, students participating in the four-week program showcased the results of their experiences through discussions and poster presentations during a research symposium held in the Perkins Student Center.

The goals of the summer institute include encouraging a more diverse pool of students to apply to arts and humanities programs at UD and to give participants an opportunity to work with some of the University's outstanding arts and humanities faculty.

Before presenting their research findings, program participants had the opportunity to sample the intellectual intensity and camaraderie that is part of a graduate school education, while being mentored through the process of applying to graduate programs in the arts and humanities.

“The students were here to learn about the field of conservation but also were introduced to careers related to museum studies and art history as well,” Vicki Cassman, assistant professor of art conservation, said. “During their time here, they were exposed to what it takes to be a graduate student in these fields.”

While the principal concentration was on photographic conservation in the art conservation laboratories located in Old College, students also were introduced to other media and other aspects of conservation, Cassman said.

“We had lectures, labs, field trips and guest speakers, and students were able to consult with experts in those fields as well,” Cassman said. “The students also received continued mentoring related to pursuing graduate school.”

During the final presentation, Shannon Brogdon-Grantham, Keala Mason and Veronica Perez discussed their research on photo conservation. Conservation efforts also included poster presentations by Akicceri Carrillo, Deanna Clark, Jessica Growing Thunder Jimenez and Jane Rivas.

“The 20-minute presentations are something that students applying to graduate school have to give,” Jae Gutierrez, assistant professor of art conservation, said. “The presentations also give students the opportunity to work with PowerPoint and Photoshop.”

Perez, a senior from Florida International University, Miami, majoring in liberal studies, studio arts and art history, presented her research paper on “Controlling Relative Humidity for Collections.”

“Mistakenly overlooked, relative humidity is one of the most detrimental agents causing water deterioration within a collection,” Perez said. “If levels get too high or low, irreversible damage may occur to objects. Regulating and controlling the relative humidity within a collection can prevent further damage from occurring and prolong the life of photographic materials.”

Perez said she has enjoyed participating in the summer program at UD and plans to pursue a doctoral degree in art conservation with a specialization in the preservation of sculptures.

Brogdon-Grantham, a recent graduate of Spelman College in Atlanta, where she majored in art history, presented a summary on the “Humidification and Flattening of Photographic Materials.”

While photos will curl when not stored properly or exposed to high levels of relative humidity, Brodgon-Grantham said the use of a humidity chamber, when properly monitored, can be an effective means of flattening rolled or curled albumen and silver gelatin prints.

“Photos are primary source documents and are also visual records and often works of art, and the public should have access to these things,” Brogdon-Grantham said. “Preserving our heritage is very important, and sometimes photographs are the only record we have of our history.”

Brogdon-Grantham is currently an archives student assistant at the Robert W. Woodruff Library, Atlanta University Center, and plans to pursue graduate studies in art conservation and art history.

Keala Mason, a senior art history major at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va., discussed “Selecting Enclosures for Photographic Materials.”

To ensure that enclosure materials are photo-safe, Mason noted, it is important that these materials pass the Photographic Activity Test (P.A.T.), developed by the Image Permanence Institute to predict the influence of tested materials on photographic materials.

“If an enclosure material passes the P.A.T., that product is safe for storage with photographic materials,” Mason said. “The decision about purchasing an enclosure ultimately depends on your collection's need and resources, so you need to think about environmental concerns, collection access and size, as well as the budget of the institution or owner.”

After interning at the Madison Art Gallery and serving as co-curator at the Leeolou Alumni Center Collection, both at James Madison University, Mason plans to attend graduate school with a focus on museum studies or art conservation.

Poster presentation included:
-- “Reducing Light Damage in Exhibitions,” by Jane Rivas, a sophomore at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she is majoring in art history with a minor in chemistry. A lab assistant at her university's Oak Street Library Conservation Unit, Rivas plans to pursue graduate studies in art conservation.
-- “Techniques for Labeling Photographic Materials,” by Deanna Clark, a sophomore art history major with a minor in Spanish at Georgia State University. Clark has worked at the Lamar Dodd Art Center at LaGrange College, Ga., and career plans include working in a museum.
-- “Choosing Digital Output Materials,” by Akiceri Carrillo, a junior metalsmithing and sculpture major at the University of Texas at El Paso. Carrillo, who works as a student coordinator for the school's Union Exhibition Gallery, plans to pursue graduate studies in art conservation and museum studies.
-- “Recommendations for Establishing Cold Storage for Negative Collections,” by Jessica Growing Thunder Jiminez, a senior museum studies major from Sierra College, California. Having recently completed an internship at the National Museum of the American Indian, in Washington, D.C., Jimenez plans to work in the curatorial field.

AHSI history presentations

“This has been a great four weeks, with our history students working and thinking about a lot of different things,” Erica Armstrong Dunbar, associate professor of history, Black American Studies and women's studies, said. “I also want to thank Rosalind Johnson, director of the Arts and Humanities Summer Institute, and Ann Ardiss, associate dean in the College of Arts and Sciences, for helping to bring students here who are thinking about going to graduate school in history.”

Miriam Charles, a junior at the City University of New York, where she is majoring in history with a focus on 19th century American history through the Civil War, spoke on “Running West with King Cotton: Westward Expansion and the Institution of Slavery.”

“I wanted to know why slavery expanded in the United States, especially from after the Revolutionary War to the Civil War,” Charles said. “Although there has been more recent scholarship on this issue, there has not been much on the relationship to cotton and the western expansion and slavery.”

Charles, who has conducted research at the New York Historical Society and plans to pursue a doctoral degree in American History, also noted that her research shows that “slavery is rooted in the national fabric of America. The westward expansion was only achieved at the expense of African American lives, and this also was a cause of the Civil War and is still a problem today.”

O'Brian Holden, a junior history major at Fish University in Nashville, presented his research summary on historiography, or how history is written, with “The Abolitionist Movement: Initial Portrayals, 1821-1956.”

“William A. Dunning's Reconstruction and the Political Economy, 1865-77, presented the image of African Americans as being incapable of self government and also blamed reconstruction for ruining the South. The Abolitionist, by John Hume, also treats African Americans in the same manner,” Holden said. “W.E. DuBois published Black Reconstruction in America, and he began to contradict the portrayal of African Americans given by Dunning and Hume. Kenneth Stamp's A Peculiar Institution: Slavery in the Ante Bellum South, also contradicted the views of Dunning.”

Holden, who has worked at the Fort Negley Historic Visitors Center in Nashville, plans to pursue graduate studies in history with a focus on archival work and to teach at the college level.

The Arts and Humanities Summer Institute is sponsored by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Unidel Foundation, the Office of Graduate and Professional Education, the College of Arts & Sciences, and the departments of Art Conservation and History.

Article by Jerry Rhodes
Photos by Ambre Alexander and Evan Krape