Public Outreach

Public Service and Community Engagement

Responding to Community Needs

Students and faculty in the Department of Art Conservation apply their knowledge and skills to projects that support communities and preserve cultural heritage.

In one significant project, 10 first-year Winterthur/UD Program in Art Conservation (WUDPAC) fellows, joined by second-year fellows, pre-program interns and faculty members, worked with Professor Debra Hess Norris to examine, stabilize, clean, flatten and rehouse 300 fire-damaged photographic prints recovered after a devastating Christmas Day fire in Ohio.

The project demonstrated the power of conservation to respond to an immediate community need. It generated strong community support for UD, Winterthur and the conservation profession while giving students an opportunity to put their developing expertise into meaningful practice.

The department has contributed to many other community conservation efforts in Delaware and beyond. Students and faculty have participated in projects in Newark, Smyrna and Wilmington, developed educational summer camps at Winterthur and with the Salvation Army that connect art and science and offered hands-on conservation activities for young people in Wilmington.

Conservation projects have included Works Progress Administration murals for the Claymont Community Center, a large Battle of the Brandywine painting owned by Chadds Ford Elementary School and a John Biggers mural from the Eliza Johnston Home for Aged Negroes in Houston.

The department's public service also extends to collections at other educational institutions. WUDPAC Class of 2025 students, for example, assisted with the stabilization of a historic collection of 19th- and 20th-century photographs from Talladega College, the oldest private historically Black liberal arts college in Alabama.

Sharing Conservation Knowledge

Public engagement is an important part of the department's work. Students and faculty share conservation knowledge with members of the public, scholars, museum professionals and other audiences through talks, demonstrations, interviews and collaborative projects.

Their work has been featured in local, national and international media. Faculty members regularly speak with journalists about the preservation of cultural heritage and have appeared on public radio and television, including WHYY and the BBC. They also give public lectures throughout Delaware and beyond and contribute their expertise to museums, cultural organizations and preservation initiatives.

These activities increase public awareness of conservation while demonstrating the connections among art, science, history, technology and cultural heritage.

Leadership and Collaboration in the Field

The department's public service includes extensive professional leadership. Faculty members advise cultural institutions, participate in collaborative preservation initiatives and help advance conservation research and practice nationally and internationally.

Their work has included advising on the development of the Lunder Conservation Center at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and contributing to fundraising, outreach and preservation efforts for organizations including the American Institute for Conservation, College Art Association, Arab Image Foundation, National Gallery of Denmark and Heritage Preservation.

Faculty members have also supported collaborative preservation initiatives involving the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Institute of Museum and Library Services and regional conservation centers.

Through elected and appointed positions, faculty have contributed to professional boards, advisory councils and committees associated with the American Institute for Conservation, Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts, Art and Archaeology Technical Abstracts, Strawbery Banke Museum, Infrared and Raman Users Group, Gordon Research Conference, National Archives Preservation Advisory Council, North American Textile Conservation Conference and International Council of Museums Committee for Conservation.

Additional service has included work with the National Endowment for the Humanities, Getty and Mellon foundations, U.S. Senate Art Advisory Council, Biggs Museum of American Art and Wyeth Foundation.

Through these efforts, the department continues to build awareness of the conservation profession, support the education of future conservators and conservation scientists and advance conservation research and practice at Winterthur, UD and institutions around the world.