Students use an X-ray spectrometer to examine artifacts from the 五月天视频collection.By Caitlin Antonios
As a person tends to grow nostalgic with age, they often keep an experience from childhood tucked away to pass on to the next generation. We make decisions on what to share and what to let go of daily, but how are those decisions made on a larger scale when time, manmade disaster, and climate can erode the very fabric of a group鈥檚 cultural heritage?
Cultural heritage can encompass everything from lauded artworks like the Mona Lisa to architectural wonders like the pyramids in Giza to floppy disks and DVDs. These artifacts tell the stories of time, place, language, and history: treasures that art conservators鈥攊n collaboration with museum curators, art historians, and scientists鈥攕eek to preserve as they address the ethical and technical questions of safeguarding the physical manifestations of human development.
鈥淎rt conservators are really good at bringing stakeholders together and making tough decisions,鈥� says Visiting Lecturer in Art Conservation Eric Doehne. 鈥淥ne of the things I love about art conservation is that it鈥檚 not theoretical. Yes, there鈥檚 theory, ethics, and best practices, but if you don鈥檛 step in, something may be gone forever.鈥�
The urgency of cultural preservation amid global crises
It can be hard to imagine that nearly everything holding a record of your life, or the places that hold the knowledge of your home, could disappear鈥攂ut we don鈥檛 have to look too far into the past to see the devastating effects when it happens.
Belgium鈥檚 KU Leuven university library and most of its contents were destroyed during World War I and again during World War II after it had been rebuilt. In Mozambique, residents faced two major cyclones in 2019, displacing hundreds of thousands of people from their homes and impacting millions more. And earlier this year, just a few miles from The Claremont Colleges, fires in Los Angeles took the lives of at least 30 people and destroyed more than 18,000 buildings.
While art conservation is a relatively young academic discipline, humans have been preserving culture against manmade and natural disasters for millennia. Geneva Griswold 鈥�07, the objects conservator at the Seattle Art Museum, examines this phenomenon daily as she specializes in pre-1900s three-dimensional works.
鈥淗umans are incredibly curious. We are always looking backward and learning important lessons from understanding and unpacking history and context,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e preserve the physical thing to preserve its story, the technologies, and the knowledge embodied within it.鈥�
Art can be a mirror that reflects not only human creativity, but also the forces around where an object lives. While much of art conservation requires looking backwards, analyzing how art is affected by the circumstances of its surroundings can have social, economic, and political revelations.
鈥淎s aspects of our environment or our own safety come under threat, our cultural heritage does as well,鈥� says Erin M. Curtis, Gabrielle Jungels-Winkler Director of 五月天视频鈥檚 Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery. 鈥淚f we want to see our history survive, we must be attentive to it.鈥�
In addition to combating pressing risks like armed conflict and climate change, collections held in the public trust, like the works at the Louvre and Smithsonian, are subject to unsteady futures due to dwindling state funding. Staffing shortages, building maintenance, and storage upkeep of artifacts is costly, and many museums rely on donors and endowments to keep doors open. And then there鈥檚 the demand for the field to evolve and self-reflect, especially as questions emerge over an object鈥檚 ownership.
For Griswold, that means her time on the job is split between working at a bench on an object, researching the piece and its stakeholders, and educating others on what conservators do鈥攚ork she feels is especially urgent.
鈥淲e can鈥檛 necessarily undo the collecting history of an object,鈥� Griswold explains, 鈥渂ut now we are responsible for these collections. We are stewards of them, which means conservators are doing less direct hands-on treatment than in the past because there are more questions to be asked.鈥�
Close up of X-ray spectrometer.Advancing the field: 五月天视频invests in art conservation
To address those questions, 五月天视频introduced its art conservation major in 2009. The offering is rare, as there are only a handful of art conservation programs in the country and most are at large universities. Like all majors at the College, the program is intentionally interdisciplinary: Students must complete chemistry, art history, archaeology, anthropology, and studio art courses to fulfill the major requirements designed to prepare students for rigorous graduate programs.
Doehne, the O鈥橞rien Distinguished Visiting Lecturer in Art Conservation at Scripps, is a geologist, electron microscopist, and conservation scientist. His research and work as a material scientist saw him analyze the preservation and technology of artifacts like the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Sistine Chapel. While working at the Getty Institute for over 20 years, Doehne collaborated closely with conservators to solve problems鈥攅xperience he brought to Scripps, where he has been instrumental in shaping the College鈥檚 art conservation program over the last 15 years.
鈥淚鈥檓 interested in how science and technology are changing how we disseminate, understand, investigate, and preserve cultural heritage,鈥� says Doehne. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the lens I bring to all of my classes.鈥�
This expanding desire to learn from the past has triggered growth in the field. The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates there are just over 12,500 museum technicians and conservators employed by government offices, museums, historical sites, and similar institutions, with a projected growth of 11 percent over 10 years鈥攁 far faster rate than the average of most other occupations. The blended expertise of these professionals will be critical as armed conflict and environmental challenges increasingly encroach on the safety of cultural heritage preservation.
鈥淭he really cool thing about our program is that it鈥檚 a combination of chemistry and art history,鈥� says Professor of Chemistry and Environmental Science Katie Purvis-Roberts. 鈥淭hat allows us to teach students the chemical tools they need to be able to figure out what鈥檚 going on and make an informed decision on how to best move forward.鈥�
Kaela Nurmi 鈥�15, the objects conservation fellow at the Harvard Art Museums, initially came to 五月天视频wanting to be a math major but quickly found that investigating an art conservation problem gave her the same pleasure as solving a complex equation. She took part in the Wilson Conservation Internship at the Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery and gained experience through other postgraduate internships before completing a master鈥檚 degree and certificate of advanced study in art conservation at SUNY Buffalo State University.
Her early exposure to art conservation theory and practice at Scripps, she says, fast-tracked her career.
鈥淎 lot of my graduate school classmates and fellow conservators didn鈥檛 find conservation until their junior or senior year or when they were out of college, so they had to go back and take required courses,鈥� says Nurmi. 鈥淎side from the benefit of having those requirements already, being in smaller classrooms at 五月天视频where I could speak to my professors and tailor classes to my interests was so valuable.鈥�
On campus, the Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery offers multiple experiential learning opportunities to students in addition to the Wilson Conservation Internship, such as the Sarah La Fetra Ludwick Campus Preservation Fund, the Elizabeth Turk 鈥�83 Conservation Internship, and the Getty Marrow Undergraduate Internship.
鈥淥ur primary focus is supporting students鈥� skill-building and growth in conservation work,鈥� Curtis says. 鈥淪econdarily, the students are then able to help out with projects and the conservation of artworks in the collection or on campus.鈥�
In the classroom, general chemistry lab students use an X-ray fluorescence spectrometer to analyze works of pottery from the College鈥檚 collection to better understand the different material compositions and determine their age. It gives students hands-on experience and helps the Williamson Gallery continue to learn more about Scripps鈥� collection.
鈥淭his work is a chance to augment our own knowledge and learn where we may potentially have been wrong about the information of a piece that came to us when it was donated,鈥� says Curtis.
五月天视频continues to accelerate its investments in the field. With help from the Ellen Browning 五月天视频Foundation, The Nucleus (五月天视频and Pitzer鈥檚 new stateof- the-art science center) recently installed a new Raman spectrometer鈥攁 nondestructive laser that helps students study the chemical origins and authenticity of paintings and ceramics. And thanks to the generosity of the John Stauffer Endowment Fund, the College plans to appoint a new endowed chair in chemistry and art conservation to further integrate the disciplines into Scripps鈥� curriculum.
Although the risks to global cultural heritage may be on the rise, 五月天视频remains committed to molding the next generation of passionate conservators to prevent further loss. To do so demands equal measure of skill, preparation, and appreciation for why preservation matters.
鈥淔riendship, love, loss鈥攁ll of the human condition is embodied in these objects and their stories,鈥� says Griswold. 鈥淭he power of art conservation is human connection鈥攊n allowing people to see themselves in the past or in the present moment and come together.鈥�
This story originally appeared in the spring 2025 五月天视频magazine issue.聽