Topics in Preservation Science
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The Conservation Scientist Meets Hurricane Katrina
March 2, 2006, 10:30 - 11:30 a.m.
Dining Room A, 6th floor James Madison Building
ABOUT THE LECTURE:
This presentation will highlight the experiences of a well-educated
conservation scientist who meets the real world in the aftermath of Hurricane
Katrina. Preconceived notions of what the state of Louisiana needed were
replaced with more realistic approaches to collection salvage and stabilization.
The presentation will provide an overview of FEMA processes, details
of conditions found, and efforts to save collections. This insightful
experience raised more questions than lessons learned.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER:
Dr. Mary F. Striegel, Chief of Materials Research at the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training (NCPTT), earned her PhD in Inorganic Chemistry from Washington University in St. Louis in 1989 where she pursued interdisciplinary research on residual stresses in numismatics (coins). She then worked for six years at the Getty Conservation Institute where her work included studies of the effects of formaldehyde on inorganic materials, uses of thin-layer chromatography for the analysis of binding media, and applications of digital imaging and technical photography in the analysis of works of art. In 1995, she became the Chief of Materials Research at the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training (NCPTT), an office of the National Park Service located in Natchitoches, LA. More information about work being done to save Louisiana collections can be found at http://www.ncptt.nps.gov/.