SI-428-2006 Page 1 of 3 April 2006 Media only: Linda St. Thomas (202…

SI-428-2006 Page 1 of 3
April 2006


Media only: Linda St. Thomas (202) 633-5188
Web site: http://www.si.edu/mci


                 Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute
                                        Fact Sheet


       The Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute's mission is to become the
center for specialized technical collection research and conservation for all Smithsonian
museums and collections. To fulfill this mission MCI staff combine their knowledge of
materials and the history of technology with state-of-the-art instrumentation and scientific
techniques to provide technical research studies and interpretation of art, as well as
anthropological, and historical objects.
       MCI conducts these in-depth studies of artistic, anthropological, and historic
objects using state-of-the-art analytical techniques to elucidate their provenance,
composition, and cultural context of Smithsonian collections, and to improve our
conservation and collections storage capabilities.
         In addition to aiding in conservation of an object, these studies may provide
authentication and help determine its level of technological sophistication. Thus the
studies assist art historians and conservators as they place objects within a culture and a
time period, look for new cultural influences within societies, and compare cultures and
cultural and technological change across different periods and geographic areas. With
this information, art historians, historians, and archaeologists document cultural
interactions and the spread of ideas.
       MCI also provides specialized knowledge to assist our natural history collections
in assessing current storage practices, assess possible new storage solutions, in assessing
and remediation of pesticide contamination, among other projects.
       MCI is the only Smithsonian resource for technical studies and analyses for the
majority of Smithsonian collections. Technical studies require the latest instrumentation,
analytical expertise, art historical knowledge, and interpretive abilities. MCI has unique
capabilities in most of these areas, as is evidenced by requests for consultation not only
from within SI, but from outside organizations, including the White House, U.S. House
of Representatives, Defense Intelligence Agency, Secret Service, World Monuments
Fund, and other federal, museum, and academic organizations.


History
       In 1963, SCMRE was established by the Smithsonian Board of Regents to
respond to the growing need for a scientific laboratory to support conservation of
collections in the whole Smithsonian. A newly graduated conservator, a chemist, and a
secretary with a background in the arts comprised the first staff of what was known then
as the Conservation Research Laboratory. The name of the laboratory was changed to
the Conservation Analytical Laboratory in 1965, to better reflect the needs of its
constituents. With its move to the Museum Support Center in Suitland, Md., in 1983, the
laboratory accepted a wider range of responsibilities, including a congressionally
mandated national conservation training program and expanded scientific research
programs in conservation. In 1998 The Board of Regents approved another name-
change--from CAL to Smithsonian Center for Materials Research and Education--in
recognition of the laboratory's mission to serve national and international museum
communities, as well as the Smithsonian, and to provide professional training and
education programs. The latest change, to Museum Conservation Institute, produces an
easier-to-say name and abbreviation (MCI), and reaffirms the central role of the unit to
provide highly technical conservation science to support the Smithsonian collections.
Budget
        MCI has an annual federal budget of $3.0 million.
Staff
        The staff of 18 includes specialists in the conservation of paintings, furniture,
textiles, and objects; as well as organic and inorganic chemistry, biology, metallurgy,
engineering, microscopy, information technology, and administration.


Facilities
        MCI laboratories, located in the Museum Support Center in Suitland, Md., are
equipped with advanced analytical instrumentation including: inductively coupled plasma
mass spectrometry, Fourier transform infrared spectrometry, Fourier transform Raman
spectrometry, gas chromatography, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, optical
microscopy, scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectrometry,
xeroradiography, micro-X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence, X-ray radiography,
ultraviolet-visible light spectrophotometry, and 3D color scanning documentation.


Publications
        MCI staff contributes many articles to the professional literature and hosts a
monthly series of lectures entitled: "Topics in Museum Conservation."


For further information please check MCI's web page: http://www.si.edu/mci/