Before going into the survey results from the Professional Opportunities Analysis project due today, I wanted to touch on the other two projects I covered in the last post. First, the media archive pilot project is moving forward. I have the framework of the website done on a local server and now I am working on the functionality aspects so I can start setting up the tables in the database. As for the documentary edition, I stopped by the museum and met with the principals, and after a review of the materials previously mentioned, it is clear that that project is a non-starter. However, they are interested in working on a doc ed of some kind with me. For now, they, and I will keep an eye out for good candidates for a doc ed, and other project possibilities were also discussed. I did make it clear that I was interested in opportunities to publish. More to come as the opportunities present.

Now on to the Survey

The Assignment

“In general, the goal of this assignment is for students to explore opportunities available within the fields of public history. Students should choose one opportunity to focus on for this assignment, and as long as you make the case that this opportunity fits for a historian as a professional opportunity it will work. There is no length minimum or maximum for this assignment. Instead students should focus on choosing one opportunity related to their field and then analyze how they might be able to engage this opportunity as part of their growth as a historian.”^[1]

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A Survey of New England Paper Conservators

Introduction

Preservation of documents, documentary editing, document interpretation, reproduction of documents for exhibit, handwritten document analysis and interpretation, and a variety of printing press processes are all related areas of practice that interest me and are important to consider. Among these history and public history related fields, paper conservation is one that stands out. With some experience in library book repair, several bookbinding projects, and rebinding projects completed with more awaiting attention, this is a specific field of interest and would be an important area to develop greater proficiency, expanding my abilities as I am exposed to more historically important documents and a broader array of document types in the museum environment. As relocation to the New England area in the near future is desired and likely, it is prudent to consider the field of paper conservation in the New England area. As no local practitioners of paper conservation have been located or field academics within a reasonable distance, a more clinical approach using a survey to gather data was chosen to explore the field of paper conservation primarily looking at the current demographics of conservators in the geographical area and their impression of the state of the field with regard to the education of candidates for entry into the field.

The Survey

A 10-question survey was developed to focus on 5 demographic questions and 5 opinion questions on the state of the field regarding new entrants into paper conservation, what education the respondents felt candidates should have, and whether or not the academy was producing sufficiently qualified candidates in sufficient numbers. The survey was sent to members of the American Institute for Conservation who identified as Paper Conservators, specifically in books, and documents, and practiced in New England. This provided a narrow scope in field and geographic boundaries and resulted in a pool of 115 conservators invited to participate in the survey. The survey was hosted by SurveyMonkey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/H2TJLVR.
The survey was closed on September 21.

The respondent Pool

The first round of invitations consisted of conservators of Connecticut (22), Maine (5), New Hampshire (5), Rhode Island (4), Vermont (4). Once responses subsided a second round of invitations was sent out to conservators in Massachusetts (75) which provided some limited information on the differences in areas of high and low professional density. The total size of the pool was 115 potential respondents.

Questions & Responses

To simplify the report of responses, an interpretation of the results will accompany each question and statistical data and an overall interpretation of the results will serve as the conclusion.

Demographic Questions

Question 1: In what sphere do you practice paper conservation?

One option that was not originally in the answer options was the possibility of a respondent practicing in both spheres. This possibility was subsequently added to the results.

With the additional category, the respondents were nearly equal in private practice and institutional service. Significantly, the first round respondents were predominantly private practice while the second round respondents were predominantly institutional. This is an example of the rationale for the presumption of an effect of higher professional density later in the survey.

Question 2: What kind of institution? (skip if private practice)

In response to this question, there were two areas that were not originally considered and subsequently added, the hybrid library/museum, and nonprofit conservation organization. Fields that received no responses were municipal government, small local museums, university or research libraries, and undergraduate education libraries.

Not surprisingly, museums and academic institutions placed strongly. What was surprising was the representation of nonprofit conservancy. This again seems to have been in part due to professional density.

Question 3: In your private practice who do you contract with? (skip if institutional)

For this question, there were two unexpected categories, auction house/gallery, and historical society. All other categories had at least one respondent. Both additional categories were from round two respondents.

Aside from the two additional categories, the breakdown of private practitioners was predominantly what was expected with a vast majority of respondents including museums of all sizes, academic institutions, and private individuals.

Question 4: Did you train academically to be a conservator?

An added category to this question was a degree or certificate in bookbinding. As the categories used to locate practitioners included document and book conservators as well as general paper conservators, this should have been anticipated. One category was not selected, working on a degree in conservation while working in the field.

One surprise for this question was the lack of any respondents for “working on a degree in conservation while working in the field,” that a conservator would start with an apprenticeship or internship and then progress to a degree while working in the field was expected.

Question 5: How long have you been in the conservation field?

No respondents for less than 5 years or 11-15 years.

From a data standpoint, the experience embodied in responses from a pool of practitioners in the field for predominantly more than 15 years is good. The lack of practitioners less than 5 years is a little disconcerting.

State of the field questions

Upon reflection on the responses, the survey should have included an additional comment option rather than another answer. The additional data was of good quality and should have been encouraged positively in the survey design.

Question 6: There are enough trained candidates for entry-level conservator positions.

There were no responses for strongly disagree.

Respondents had comments that should be considered. One expressed a shortage in paper art conservators and noted that a majority gravitate to libraries and archives. Another noted with the narrow nature of the field and the longevity of practitioners as seen in the demographics makes entry into the field difficult. They also indicated that entry-level positions, thus lower paying positions, could last many years while the now seasoned practitioner waits for an opening to move up. It is worth noting that these comments were from second round respondents which begs the question, is this more of a high density issue, or is it field wide?

Question 7: The academy is sufficiently preparing candidates for employment in the field.

There were no responses for strongly agree.

The responses to this question clearly lean from center to agree.

Question 8: Enough institutions are providing conservation-specific education.

All segments were included.

This question has an even response on both sides from the center. One respondent commented, “while there are limited institutions for education, there are also limited opportunities for a career. It would be nice to have more people have access but if there are not enough jobs, that creates a new problem. The field is very small, requires a significant amount of training, and has a high level of competition so you get highly qualified or over qualified candidates, and the pay does not reflect the effort and expected education/experience needed to enter the field.”

Question 9: Specialization in the field has outpaced the academy training provided for degrees.

This question received no strong response in either direction.

This question appears to be irrelevant to a majority of respondents. This is likely due to the already specialized nature of paper conservation.

Question 10: A candidate for work in the field should have at least…

An addition was made to the potential paths to paper conservation which should have been anticipated. The only path not selected was an undergraduate degree in a related field.

A requisite graduate degree in conservation was the major response by far.

Summary & Conclusion

The field of paper conservation is a narrow space to begin with, the addition of a relatively small geographical boundary further limited the pool of potential respondents. A one week time allotment for respondents to reply, and the nature of cold-calling the invitation limited the responses from the pool still further. The survey did get a 15.6% response rate which is reasonable for a survey. Generally speaking, surveys usually get 10% response rates +/- 3% so this was respectable.

Demographically respondents were evenly split between institutional and private practice with a majority working in academic or medium to large museum environments and an equally strong showing of nonprofit conservation organizations. Private practice responses were predominantly academic institutions and museums with a strong showing for private individual clients. Most respondents had a degree in conservation and had been in practice for over 20 years.

With regard to the state of the field in educational preparedness of candidates, most respondents felt there were enough candidates to fill positions in the field, and few disagreed. A majority of respondents agree that candidates are prepared for employment, presuming they enter the field with a graduate degree in conservation, and while the number of institutions offering this training is small, it produces enough candidates. The responses indicate that the field is so narrow to begin with that there is no sense specialization has outpaced training.

If you are interested in paper conservation as a career, plan on needing a master’s in conservation. Once completed be prepared to be in an entry level position for a while. If you can find an apprenticeship while in school jump on it and get the bench skills in while working on the academics. Paper conservation is a very narrow field within conservation an already narrow field. People who enter this line of work and stick with it stay there for decades.

For me personally, institutional or academic conservation as a career is a non-starter. I am too far along in life with too many obligations and too far down my educational path. This does not preclude private practice in the future presuming I continue in public history and build my skills with credible training in conservation, which is very likely to happen. I prefer to live in lower density environments and this is conducive to opportunities in private practice with small museums and history associations. The key is to continue with conservation specific training and practice.

[1] Professional Opportunities Analysis Assignment Instructions, Module 5, HIST 705, Local History, Liberty University, Lynchburg, VA, Fall 2024.