Ellen Pearlstein
Plant and animal-sourced materials are subject to particular environmental risks, especially when found in tropical environments. Excess moisture and heat, along with risks of insects and mold are widespread. These poor-quality enclosures will be addressed. In this talk we will identify the chemistry and unique sensitivities of both plant and animal-sourced materials, focusing on cultural examples from Indonesia, and we will further examine both the damage and mitigation methods. Further resources will be shared.

Speaker: Ellen Pearlstein was the Senior Objects Conservator at the Brooklyn Museum in New York, where she also served as an advisor on NAGPRA. She is a professor at the University of California-Los Angeles in the UCLA/Getty Program in the Conservation of Cultural Heritage, UCLA Cultural Materials Conservation, and UCLA’s Department of Information Studies. As a member of the founding conservation faculty in 2005, she began designing and teaching graduate classes in the conservation of organic materials, ethics of working with indigenous communities, preventive conservation and managing collections. Her publications include Conservation of Featherwork from Central and South America, and she is currently completing a book Getty Readings in Conservation: Conservation and Stewardship of Indigenous Collections: Changes and Transformations.