North American Graduate Programs in the Conservation of

In 1975 when ICA accepted its last students (who would graduate in
1978), it reasoned that resources could not be adequately divided between
the training of beginning conservation students and the demands of a
regional conservation production facility. In anticipation of this potential
conflict, the Fogg program had accepted a relatively small number of students,
who were a mix of apprentices enrolled for a three-year training
period and advanced-level interns accepted for a one-year formal program.
The goal was to put one intern and one apprentice in each laboratory
discipline. Nevertheless, after the end of the ICA program, pressure
mounted from the NEA and from a majority of the conservators at the
Fogg to end the apprentice program. Hence, as each apprentice graduated,
his or her position was replaced by a formal internship. The overall
number of six trainees was thereby maintained through this transitional
period. Dwindling annual support from Mellon and NEA in the later
1980s and early 1990s resulted in lowering the number of students to
three, one in each of the conservation laboratories. As of this date, the
program has trained 111 students.
The department changed its name in 1994 from the Center for
Conservation and Technical Studies to the Philip A. and Lynn Straus
Center for Conservation in recognition of the generous support of these
long-term benefactors of the museums. The purpose of the Straus gift was
to provide significant initial funding for the renovation of the laboratories
and to endow treatment and research activities related to the museums'
collections. The endowment has made it possible for the center to cut
back on its fee-for-service regional center activities and to limit outside
work to projects that match the teaching and research needs of the program.
The completely renovated center opened in November of 1996.
Two years of careful planning with Samuel Anderson Architect and all
staff members resulted in beautiful and efficient climate-controlled spaces
for the paintings, paper, analytical, and objects and sculpture laboratories.
A new wing was also added in order to accommodate a new library,
offices, seminar room, and an X-ray facility, greatly increasing the space
available for all of the laboratories.
Under the leadership of the Museums' director James Cuno, the future
of teaching and research at the Straus Center remain bright. Two research
associate positions were recently added for technically inclined art historians
to work with the center's scientists, conservators, and students for
three-year intervals. More than at any time in the past, the University is
offering both financial and intellectual support for the training of conservators.
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