The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation is the recipient of the first annual Award for Outstanding Commitment to the Preservation and Care of Collections, presented jointly by Heritage Preservation and the American Institute for the Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (AIC).

A model for placing conservation among its top institutional priorities, Colonial Williamsburg is being recognized with this national award for its unflagging dedication to the highest standards of conservation policy and practices, its thoughtful inclusion of conservation professionals in key decision-making positions, and its outstanding public programs to increase conservation awareness.

“Colonial Williamsburg is very honored to receive this first award, as preservation was the guiding principle of our founding,” said President and CEO Robert C. Wilburn. “Our daily operations never lose sight of the commitment Rev. Rutherford A. R. Goodwin demonstrated as a lay preservationist who in the late 1920s appealed to John D. Rockefeller Jr. to save and restore this outstanding slice of colonial life for the education of future generations. Preservation is truly the heart of our institutional mission. The fact that we receive over one million visitors annually is testament to the public’s desire to learn about history through tangible objects and experiences. We could not facilitate such learning without the contribution of skilled conservators who have helped us throughout our history.”

Best known as America’s largest living history museum, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation’s Historic Area is a 173-acre restored town with more than 400 buildings and 225 exhibition rooms. The foundation also operates five museums—the DeWitt Wallace Gallery, the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center, Bassett Hall, the Winthrop Rockefeller Archaeology Museum, and Carter’s Grove Plantation—and owns collections including approximately 83,000 seventeenth-, eighteenth- and nineteenth-century objects; 2,600 folk art objects; 4 million archaeological objects; 500,000 photographs, negatives, drawings and blueprints; and 25,000 rare books and manuscripts. Since 1987 staff has been systematically conducting general and detailed condition surveys of these vast collections.

An impressive operation, the foundation employs more than 4,000 people over the course of a year, with approximately 1,000 people working in close proximity to the collections. The Department of Conservation in the Collections and Museums Division was established in 1985 with a staff of three; today the department has 25 paid employees including postgraduate interns working under F. Carey Howlett, director of conservation. Additionally, the Office of Architectural Collections Management in the Research Division, managed by chief architectural conservator Thomas H. Taylor, Jr., has a staff of three.

State-of-the-Art Facility
Possibly the most visible symbol of Colonial Williamsburg’s commitment to conservation in recent years is the new DeWitt Wallace Collections and Conservation Building, dedicated in 1997. Part of the Bruton Heights Educational Center, this $17 million state-of-the-art building facilitates conservation research and treatment, collections preservation, intellectual access, professional training, and public outreach activities. Conservation laboratories, curatorial support functions, and artifact storage are now centralized in the 70,000-square-foot building. Artifact storage is located in the core of the building, isolated by insulated firewalls and a single-membrane roof. This core has a separate air-handling system and no plumbing lines or overhead drains. Conservation labs, curatorial offices, and hallways surround the core, serving as a buffer zone in the event of major power failures.

A Sound Financial Base for Collections Care
Conservation at Colonial Williamsburg is supported by substantial endowments covering much of the department’s salary and operating budget. The endowments are augmented by annual allotments from the DeWitt Wallace Trust, established specifically for collections-related activities at Colonial Williamsburg. In 1990, Colonial Williamsburg established the Marshall Steel, Sr., Endowment for Conservation Internships. This endowment is now worth approximately $1.4 million, and supports as many as four professional interns annually.

Conservation as Institutional Priority
The Department of Conservation has successfully built bridges with other departments to create institution-wide collections care awareness. Six departmental process teams have been established to streamline operations, evaluate and recommend improvements in foundation-wide policies, and foster public awareness of conservation. The six teams are Preventive Conservation and Environment; Collections Management; Research, Analysis and Photography; Surveys and Grants; Outreach; and Information Technology.

One of the most successful interdepartmental bridges is the innovative Historic Area Conservation Technician Program, which was conceived in 1986 by Nathan Stolow and Julie Reilly. Prior to opening to the public every weekday morning, four conservation technicians monitor their assigned zones, noting the condition of collections, recording environmental readings, and dusting objects as needed. Major buildings are visited every day and technicians work closely with custodial, interpretive, and security staff to ensure the best possible care for objects on display in the Historic Area. Following morning duties, the technicians assist conservators in the labs.

The conservation department interacts with other departments in various ways, such as providing conservation awareness training to non-conservation staff, particularly new employees. Conservators also fully participate with curators and designers in the exhibit-planning process to ensure adequate scheduling for conservation treatments, safe exhibition environments, and sound packing and shipping procedures.

Professional and Public Outreach
Conservators at Colonial Williamsburg are actively involved in professional outreach activities. Foundation staff have organized and hosted numerous conferences, workshops, and symposia. Additionally, they regularly present at professional meetings. Research, treatment, and preventive conservation issues have been the subject of numerous articles and books for the profession. Foundation staff have also played key roles in establishing national standards for treatment and care of collections.

The new DeWitt Wallace Collections and Conservation Building has exponentially increased the conservation department’s visibility to the public. Daily public tours now include a visit to a conservation laboratory. The labs also host numerous school programs and Home Educator weeks that include sessions on the science of conservation. The highly respected Antiques Forum now includes an afternoon with conservators at the Wallace Building. Conservators also lead regular tours in the museum galleries as part of the “Meet the Curator/Conservator” series.

For years, the department of conservation has published brochures addressing basic issues of collections care, distributed in conjunction with special exhibits and in response to mail and phone inquiries. Cconservation is also featured in museum exhibits, such as the recent “Drawing on Nature”, which included a component by paper conservator Pamela Young and interns on their investigation and treatment of an early eighteenth-century watercolor by naturalist George Edwards.

From time to time, Colonial Williamsburg conservators also publish articles in major magazines, most recently “The Nature of Edward Hicks’s Painting”, a technical study by Scott W. Nolley and Carolyn J. Weekly for the February, 1999, issue of Antiques magazine. Additionally, periodic newspaper articles have provided opportunities to raise public awareness of conservation.

Future Plans
With an eye to the future, Colonial Williamsburg is planning a major fund-raising campaign to expand the DeWitt Wallace Building to incorporate storage and treatment areas for architectural and archaeological artifacts. Upcoming books by departmental conservators include The Care and Conservation of Historic Costume by Loreen Finkelstein and The Conservation of Pipe Organs by John Watson, recipient of the 1999 AIC/Kress Publications Award. Other plans include a major archaeological symposium in late 1999 and a traveling exhibition on conservation scheduled to open in 2002. With these and other initiatives, Colonial Williamsburg is certain to continue its successful tradition of conservation and collections care into the new millennium.

“Preservation of Colonial Williamsburg’s significant collections has long been of paramount concern, and in recent years We have recognized the far-reaching value of responding to and fostering the public’s fascination with our work,” said F. Carey Howlett, director of conservation. “We are proud to receive the first AIC/Heritage Preservation Award, and view it not only as recognition of Colonial’s Williamsburg’s past efforts in conservation and public outreach, but as wonderful encouragement for all future endeavors in this important field.”

Watch for updates on the award presentation to be held this summer. The award for Outstanding Commitment to the Preservation and Care of Collections is given jointly by Heritage Preservation and the American Institute for the Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works. Nominations for the 2000 award will be due November 15, 1999. For more information, contact Clare Hansen at Heritage Preservation or Jeanette Spencer at AIC.

Photo Credits: All photos courtesy Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

Recipients from other years