Training Opportunities for Conservators

Textile lab intern assists conservation staff with project work.

Textile lab intern operates dye machine to color match repair fabrics to objects.

Summer intern presents a summary of her work to conservation staff.

The National Park Service manages important cultural, natural and recreational resources. Harpers Ferry functions as a central conservation resource for the museum collections in the National Park Service and offers training opportunities in artifact conservation. HFC staff provide a wide range of technical services and expertise necessary for long-term preservation of NPS collections. These diverse collections range from fine art to ethnographic materials to mineral and archaeological collections and archives. Our treatment of artifacts for exhibition in the parks includes technical examination and scientific analyses. Collections reside at park sites and the conservators advise park and administrative staffs on issues of collections care and exhibition requirements and also perform systematic collection assessments. Harpers Ferry Center helps coordinate park exhibit design and production, artifact conservation, and interpretive media needs. HFC has the facilities and expertise to implement a range of interpretive projects for national parks.

Staff and Facilities

The Artifact Conservation group is located in Charles Town, West Virginia, five miles west of Harpers Ferry. Eight specialized laboratories are equipped to study and identify materials by means of optical microscopy, microchemical analysis, and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. A technical library supplements the large historical research library at Harpers Ferry Center.

Archaeology Laboratory

Most of the artifacts treated in this lab are metal. Along with Civil War buttons and buckles, more unusual items treated have included Spanish coins from a 16th-century shipwreck off Padre Island, and 2,000-year-old copper artifacts from the Hopewell culture at Mound City. Some organic materials, but few ceramics, are treated.

Decorative Art Objects Laboratory

This laboratory treats decorative arts and historic objects including glass, ceramics, stone, metal, and ivory as well as composites including gilded pieces. The lab has treated rare firearms, porcelains which belonged to Robert E. Lee, and Bartholdi’s original plaster model of the Statue of Liberty.

Ethnographic Laboratory

More than 28,000 Native American ethnographic objects are located in park collections. Among the items treated in this lab have been personal effects from historic personages, such as the ceremonial shirt of Chief Red Cloud.

Paper Laboratory

The millions of paper artifacts in the National Park Service collections include artwork, manuscripts, maps, photographs, and books. Many of these remain in the context of their original historic home or building.

Scientific Research & Analytical Support Laboratory

Research and analysis on National Park Service artifacts is performed using such methods as optical microscopy and microchemical testing, colorimetry, thin-layer chromotography, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, metallography, and paint cross-section analysis. The technical information gained from these analyses support interpretive programs in the parks.

Textile Laboratory

Diversity characterizes the textiles treated by this lab. Noteworthy pieces have included a signed and dated 1858 silk patchwork quilt, the banner carried along Pennsylvania Avenue at the head of a group of 5,000 women demanding suffrage, and important embroidered samplers.

Wooden Artifacts Laboratory

Wooden artifacts as varied as a high-styled Chippendale secretary or a 55-foot-tall totem pole treated in situ in Alaska reflect the range of objects conserved here. Furniture from the homes of numerous prominent Americans, including Presidents Lincoln, Garfield, Roosevelt and Truman, are among the objects treated.

Internship and Training Opportunities

The Artifact Conservation group at Harpers Ferry Center offers three types of training opportunities: third and fourth year graduate internships and summer work projects. Laboratory supervisors, who make the decision to accept students, seek to match the needs of the students with those of the laboratory and its work load.

Third and Fourth Year Conservation Graduate Internships

Students are assigned to a specific laboratory and participate in the ongoing work of Harpers Ferry Center, including the exhibit process, artifact treatments, systematic surveys, and lab administration. HFC follows general internship guidelines of the graduate programs. Initial inquiries are made by the graduate advisor. Students should submit a letter of interest accompanied by a curriculum vitae in the Fall of the year preceding the internship. Personal interviews are scheduled and completed by February 15, with notification of selection by March 15.

Summer Work Projects

Eight-week summer work projects are available for second year conservation interns. These projects can include collection re-housing and survey work at a park or artifact treatment under the close supervision of the conservator. Laboratory supervisors develop projects designed to meet the specific needs and interests of the student.

Applications

Interested persons can apply by letter expressing area of interest accompanied by a curriculum vitae. Make requests for additional information regarding these conservation training opportunities by contacting John Brucksch (address: Harpers Ferry Center, Media Assets, P.O. Box 50, Harpers Ferry, WV 25425-0050; phone 304-535-6142; email: John_Brucksch@nps.gov).

Harpers Ferry Region

The historic Harpers Ferry region of West Virginia is located approximately 65 miles northwest of Washington, D.C. Commuter trains run regularly from several towns in the area to downtown Washington. Charles Town, where the Division is located, is a growing community, centrally located for services and shopping. The area offers a reasonable cost of living and affordable housing. Directions to Harpers Ferry Center »

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