Collection Care & Conservation

Imagine the challenge of caring for the more than 85,000 historic objects on display in Winterthur's Galleries, period rooms as well as more than 60,000 volumes and over a million manuscripts and photographs in the Winterthur Library. Highly skilled professionals, trained in the arts, sciences, and collection care, routinely assess the condition, historic character, and treatment needs of these objects and act accordingly to preserve Winterthur's collections. Housed in the the Louise du Pont Crowninshield Building, along with the Winterthur Library, the Conservation Department currently includes 25 regular staff positions plus 3 adjunct conservators who are University of Delaware faculty members.

Conservation & Education
Winterthur is proud to co-sponsor, with the University of Delaware, the Art Conservation Master's Degree Program. One of only four graduate programs in fine art conservation in North America, this three-year Master's-degree program educates and trains future conservation professionals to carry out the examination, analysis, stabilization, and treatment of art and artifacts. Graduates of the programs are versed in general principles of collection care and have a broad academic background in science and the humanities.

Conservation Clinics
Winterthur offers a clinic each month (September through May) during which the public may bring objects for examination and consultation with art conservation professionals and graduate students, free of charge.

September 20, 2007	January 17, 2008
October 18, 2007	February 21, 2008
November 15, 2007	March 20, 2008
December 13, 2007	May 15, 2008

For information or an appointment, please call 302.888.4974. Sorry, no appraisals or authentications are given.

Conservation Tours
For your own look at the Crowninshield Research Building and Winterthur's world-class conservation laboratories, reserve your space on a Conservation Tour, offered the first Wednesday afternoon of each month, 1-3 pm. To reserve a space or obtain more information, please call 800.448.3883, 302.888.4600, or TTY 302.888.4907.

Recent Publications
The Winterthur Guide to Caring for Your Collection, written by staff from the Conservation Department and University of Delaware faculty and published in 2000, provides readers with practical advice on how to care for the objects they value and when to consult with a conservation professional.