In cooperation with provincial museum and art gallery associations, CCI responds to specific needs within the heritage community by offering workshops, lectures, and site visits related to the conservation and care of museum and art gallery collections. CCI staff also participate in and present lectures to meetings of professional groups and associations.

November 2001

At the 4th Indoor Air Pollution conference in Copenhagen, Jean Tétreault gave two presentations: "Airborne Pollutants in Museums, Galleries, and Archives" and (in collaboration with Emilio Cano Díaz and David Scott) "Copper and Lead Corrosion in Carbonyl Environments"; he also gave a seminar on display and storage materials for members of the Danish Conservation Organization in Fuglso, Denmark.

Charlie Costain attended meetings of the ICCROM General Assembly and ICCROM Council in Rome; he was elected Chairperson of the ICCROM Council for a 2-year term.

George Prytulak examined the machinery collection at the British Columbia Museum of Mining in Britannia Bay, BC.

At the annual meeting of the Ontario Museum Association in Kitchener/Waterloo, ON, Michael Harrington delivered a formal presentation on CCI activities as related to the new standards of the Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture, and Recreation.

Brian Laurie-Beaumont and Chris Borgal (an architect with Goldsmith, Borgal and Company) met with the Cobourg Heritage Foundation and other cultural groups in Cobourg, ON, to help them create a series of coordinated and inter-related development projects or activities aimed at improving their city's heritage preservation and cultural experience.

Bob Barclay presented a 2-day workshop on the care and preservation of historic musical instruments for the CANTOS Music Museum (formerly Chinook Keyboard Centre), Calgary.

Brian Laurie-Beaumont and Siegfried Rempel participated in a facility development planning meeting in Red Bank, NB, for the proposed Metepenagiag Heritage Park, which includes a Parks Canada National Historic Site.

Brian Laurie-Beaumont and Siegfried Rempel went to Nova Scotia to provide development planning guidance on the proposed Mi'kmawey Debert Cultural Centre, which is being developed through the Confederacy of Mainland Mi'kmaq (CMM) on behalf of the Mi'kmaq Nation in Nova Scotia. They also visited the Nova Scotia Museum of Industry in Stellarton (where Brian sought information that would assist in a proposed transportation and technology project in Winnipeg, MB, and Siegfried provided technical design advice to assist in a proposed centralized storage warehouse for the Nova Scotia museum system) and the Fundy Geological Museum in Parrsboro (where Siegfried provided advice on proposed expansion plans as well as some immediate issues concerning their mechanical system).

December

James Bourdeau and Paul Heinrichs visited Ruthven Park in Cayuga, ON, to provide an extensive assessment of the condition of the interior elements of the early-19th-century Georgian mansion along with detailed recommendations for treatment, preservation, and reinstatement.

Brian Laurie-Beaumont continued work on the proposed Transportation Heritage and Technology Centre (THTC) in Winnipeg, MB: he participated in the development of the terms of reference for a market analysis study for the THTC (including a site visit to interview and select a consulting firm) and attended a meeting of the Steering Committee.

Brian Laurie-Beaumont participated in a 2-day planning session to lay out the programming themes for the proposed Metepenagiag Heritage Park in Red Bank, NB; the meeting was held in Gatineau, QC, and included representatives of the Mi'kmaq Nation at Red Bank, the Archaeology Branch of the Provincial Government of New Brunswick, the Canadian Museum of Civilization, and Parks Canada.

Marie-Claude Corbeil participated in a meeting of CURRIC Vocational Training Curricula for Conservation Scientists that was held in Copenhagen; the aim of this project is to design university curricula for conservation scientists, in partnership with nine institutions, including universities and conservation institutes.

January 2002

Stefan Michalski and Jean Tétreault presented a 2-day workshop on current issues in relative humidity, temperature, lighting, and pollution for the National Archives of Canada in Gatineau, QC.

Marie-Claude Corbeil began a 3-month visit to the Centre de recherche et de restauration des musées de France (C2RMF) in Paris where she conducted research as part of a collaborative study of the painting materials of Canadian artist Jean-Paul Riopelle (who worked in Paris for many years starting in the late 1940s). This visit was funded by the Canada-France Agreement for Co-operation and Exchanges in the Field of Museology.

Renée Dancause, Jan Vuori, and Janet Wagner conducted in situ testing on the lounge chair from Claes Oldenberg's installation Bedroom Ensemble in the collection of the National Gallery of Canada.

February

At the Kelowna Art Gallery in Kelowna, BC, Brian Laurie-Beaumont facilitated a planning meeting with staff and members of the board to develop a detailed list of facility upgrading and expansion needs.

Brian Laurie-Beaumont reviewed consultant proposals for an upcoming museum development study with staff of the Heritage Branch of the Government of Yukon and the Carcross/Tagish First Nation.

Leslie Carlyle began a 4-year secondment to the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research in Amsterdam where she will be continuing her research into historical oil painting techniques and working on the De Mayerne Project.

Michael Harrington assisted Mr. Narender Passi (President of the Hindu Samaj Temple in Hamilton, ON) as he inspected almost 5000 books that had been salvaged through a vacuum freeze dry operation by Les Entreprises ROSCO Group in Dorval, QC (CCI had assisted in the emergency recovery of these books from the temple's library following an arson attack in September 2001); almost all the material recovered can be returned to service.

James Bourdeau completed a study of the impact of film production on the building and collections of Benares Historic House and Visitor Centre in Mississauga, ON, and provided recommendations for a revamped use policy.

Gregory Young attended a meeting at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, MD, to discuss additional CCI analytical support for the conservation and imaging of the Archimedes Palimpsest.

Nancy Binnie was interviewed by science writer John Karl (from the University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute) on the effect of zebra mussels on historic shipwrecks; this information will be used for a script for Earthwatch Radio, an article for Wisconsin's Underwater Heritage (the quarterly newsletter of the Wisconsin Underwater Archeology Association), a page on the Web site "Wisconsin's Great Lakes Shipwrecks" (www.seagrant.wisc.edu/shipwrecks), and a fact sheet.

Brian Laurie-Beaumont and Siegfried Rempel travelled through Arizona and New Mexico to gather comparative data and insights into aboriginal facility operation and design (information required for their Aboriginal Facility Development Planning workshop as well as for specific projects).

March

The CCI booth was set up at the conference of the First Nations Confederacy of Cultural Education Centres in Ottawa.

Debra Daly Hartin presented a lecture "The Use of Various Low Pressure and Suction Devices in the Conservation Treatment of Paintings" to students in the Master of Art Conservation program at Queen's University.

At the request of the Netherlands Institute for Cultural Heritage (ICN) and the Anne Frank House Foundation, Stefan Michalski provided advice on environmental control issues for the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam; while there he also gave a lecture at ICN on problems of environmental control in historic buildings.

Debra Daly Hartin was the guest professional at a 'chat session' for an Internet-based art history course at York University, Toronto.

On a site visit to Nova Scotia, James Bourdeau examined an 18th-century painting of the Annunciation at the Acadian church in Ste-Anne-du-Ruisseau (near Yarmouth); made recommendations for the conservation of two large theatre drops by William Gill (1892) at the Musquodoboit Valley Bicentennial Theatre and Cultural Centre; and conducted a preliminary investigation of the interior of St. Ninian's Cathedral bordering the campus of St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish.

CCI conservators, in partnership with the Heritage Conservation Program of the Federal Heritage Buildings Review Office (FHBRO), began a 4-month investigation of the materials and finishes of the Sussex Pavilion in Ottawa (the former City Hall).

April

For the second time in 2 years, Stefan Michalski taught the 6-day Caring for Collections course for the Cultural Resource Management program at the University of Victoria, BC.

Stefan Michalski presented 4 days of lectures on various topics in preventive conservation to students of conservation at the University of Lisbon and to staff of the Portuguese Institute for Conservation and Restoration in Lisbon, Portugal.

At the annual conference of the Canadian Museums Association (April 30 – May 4 in Calgary, AB): R. Scott Williams was a panelist in the session "Collecting from Contemporary Times" and demonstrated on-site chemical analysis of objects using a portable infrared spectrometer in the CCI booth, which was staffed by Mary-Lou Simac and Lucie Paquette (of Exhibit Transportation Services). Also in attendance were Bill Peters and Charlie Costain.

Bob Barclay visited the Conservation Department of the Horniman Museum & Gardens in London, England, to consult on the care, preservation, and analysis of brass musical instruments, and the Bate Collection of Musical Instruments at the University of Oxford to consult on trial protocols for assessing and monitoring the degree of use of historic musical instruments.

James Bourdeau began a 4-month secondment as the Senior Collections Preservation Advisor for the Parliamentary Precinct Directorate of the Department of Public Works and Government Services Canada where he will be responsible for a number of advisory projects for the upgrading of support systems and infrastructure for the preservation of art and artifacts on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.

Brian Laurie-Beaumont and Siegfried Rempel delivered workshops on Aboriginal Facility Development Planning for the Heritage Branch of the Government of Yukon in Whitehorse, YK, and for the Museum Association of Saskatchewan in Prince Albert, SK.

Bob Arnold and Peter Vogel visited the Mill of Kintail Museum near Almonte, ON, to assess the condition of a large plaster version of "The Call" by Robert Tate McKenzie, and carry out some minor repairs.

May

Brian Laurie-Beaumont and Siegfried Rempel delivered a workshop on Aboriginal Facility Development Planning for the Aboriginal Tri-Partite Committee in Halifax, NS.

At the annual conference of the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (May 8–13 in Montreal, QC), Jane Sirois gave a presentation "Analysis of Museum Objects for Hazardous Pesticide Residues" and CCI had a supervised literature display table.

Bob Barclay presented "Conservation of Ethnographic Wooden Objects" as part of the International Course on Wood Conservation Technology at the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research in Oslo, Norway.

George Prytulak examined an 1879 steam locomotive at the Penetanguishene Centennial Museum in Penetanguishene, ON.

Brian Laurie-Beaumont reviewed the completed market analysis for the proposed Transportation and Heritage Technology Centre in Winnipeg, MB, and helped set in place a programming development plan, including consultant terms of reference.

CCI had a supervised publications sales/literature display table in the Book Room at the annual conference of the Canadian Archaeological Association (May 12–15 in Ottawa).

Stefan Michalski was a member of a UNESCO/UNDP team consulting on the renovations of museum buildings in Kuwait that had been damaged during Iraqi occupation; meetings were held with the National Museum of Kuwait, the Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah, and Pan Arab Consulting Engineers.

Many CCI staff made presentations at the annual gathering of the Canadian Association for Conservation of Cultural Property (CAC) (May 23–26 in Kingston, ON). At the workshop "Care and Preservation of Art and Artifacts in Public Places": Debra Daly Hartin "Building a Resource Network for Outdoor Murals"; and George Prytulak "Industrial Heritage in the Wired World." At the conference following the workshop: Charlie Costain and David Grattan "Global Trends in Preservation"; Marie-Claude Corbeil "Une étude des matériaux et des techniques de Jean Dallaire" (co-authored by Claude Belleau of the Musée du Québec, and Kate Helwig); Carole Dignard "Nd:YAG Laser Yellowing: Myth or Reality?" (co-authored with Véronique Vergès-Belmin of the Laboratoire de Recherche des Monuments Historiques in Champs-sur-Marne, France); Janet Mason "Treatment of a Selection of Adney Canoe Models"; intern Hildegard Heine "A Inuit Skinbag from Arctic Quebec: Examination and Treatment"; Elizabeth Moffatt "From Wheelbarrows to Silk Brocade: What a Privy Can Tell Us About 17th Century Culture" (co-authored by Cathy Mathias of Memorial University of Newfoundland, and Alison Murray of Queen's University in Kingston); and Season Tse "The Use of Simmering Water in the Conservation Treatment of a 19th Century Sketchbook of Iron-gall Ink Drawings by James G. MacKay" (co-authored by Maria Bedynski of the National Archives of Canada). Charlie Costain also facilitated a session in which conference delegates could put forward and rank proposals for CCI research or other activities; this list of ideas will be published in a future issue of the CCI Newsletter.