Email digest for the Global Conservation Forum (ConsDistList) egroup. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Seeking Expert Insights: "Black Crust" in Built Heritage Conservation 2. Setting up a Global threat response for Conservators 3. Lumos II Maintenance and Repair Frequency ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1.From: Zejiang Pang Posted: Monday July 14, 2025 1:43 PM Subject: Seeking Expert Insights: "Black Crust" in Built Heritage Conservation Message: Hi all, My name is Zejiang, and I'm a postgraduate student at UCL, new to the global conservation community. I'm reaching out to ask for your expert opinion on "black crust" deterioration in built heritage. Your insights will greatly enhance my dissertation research, which explores how Large Language Models (LLMs) can interpret these challenges and assist in the conservation of historical structures. I will soon circulate a very brief survey, with only 3 targeted questions, designed to gather crucial perspectives from conservators and heritage scientists. More news will follow soon – please stay tuned! Best regards, Zejiang ------------------------------ Zejiang Pang MSc Student in Heritage Science UCL Institute for Sustainable Heritage London United Kingdom ------------------------------ 2.From: Valerie Tomlinson Posted: Monday July 14, 2025 1:43 PM Subject: Setting up a Global threat response for Conservators Message: Dear Global conservators, I earlier sent an email suggesting maybe we should collectively consider what we could do to support our American colleagues as they face sudden and extreme cuts in both financing and jobs in various sectors of their conservation community. As I thought some more, it occurred to me that it is not unique to American conservators, for a change of government to suddenly introduce cuts (or other measures) that threaten jobs, conservators, heritage, and art. I myself have watched the Canadian heritage sector go through a less sudden "death of a thousand cuts" over the last 30 years, that have left it much smaller than it used to be. Perhaps we could consider some sort of global effort to set up an "International Emergency Response" system for conservators in the face of such cuts, to preserve the heritage at risk, people's jobs and livelihoods, as well as the knowledge base that they hold, at least until a more enlightened administration comes to power. Situations like this can be as dangerous as Climate Change disasters to both physical preservation of heritage, and to the livelihoods of those in the GLAM sector. If you eliminate the materials and the workers, you also eliminate the knowledge that goes with it, and that is the hardest part to replace. There are numerous systems in various countries that address various aspects of these issues, but I don't think there is a coordinated global response. Do you think we could set up a Zoom meeting think-tank to brainstorm how to go about this? If there is interest, email me: [email protected] <[email protected]>. If there is anyone interested in leading such a team, please let me know. I don't know that my organizational skills are up to coordinating an international team of conservators and heritage specialists. Also, if there are people with knowledge of at least their own country's programs to respond to threats to heritage of various types, please indicate that in your email. We should probably arrange areas of expertise in this. If you have ideas of how to approach this, but don't want to, or can't reasonably Zoom in, please send your ideas. I don't actually have much in the way of concrete ideas at the moment, just a fuzzy idea that there must be something that we can do. Sincerely, Valerie Tomlinson Conservator [email protected] <[email protected]> ------------------------------ Valerie Tomlinson Conservator of Modern and Contemporary Art Art Gallery of Ontario Toronto Canada ------------------------------ 3.From: Paige Schmidt Posted: Monday July 14, 2025 1:43 PM Subject: Lumos II Maintenance and Repair Frequency Message: I am looking for information regarding maintenance and repair frequency for the Lumos II micro-FTIR. If your institution uses the Lumos II, I would appreciate any feedback regarding your choice of service contract, if you are satisfied with the service contract you are currently under, and any details regarding how long your unit has been in use and frequency of required repairs. If you would like to reach out to me personally, please email [email protected]. Thanks in advance, Paige ------------------------------ Paige Schmidt Wooden Objects Conservator New York State, Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation ------------------------------ You are subscribed to "Global Conservation Forum (ConsDistList)" as [email protected]. To change your subscriptions, go to http://community.culturalheritage.org/preferences?section=Subscriptions. To unsubscribe from this community discussion, go to https://community.culturalheritage.org/HigherLogic/eGroups/Unsubscribe.aspx?UserKey=d16eaa87-0f69-494b-9f2f-303dbc1222e1&sKey=fab9aa4f27a04c5d876e&GroupKey=757a8f16-505f-4323-8e74-e376757aa9f7.
