The Public Face of Conservation

Despite conservation’s long history of outreach and the energy that is currently going into presenting the field to museum audiences and others, outreach remains underrepresented in the conservation literature. Conservators may increasingly be more comfortable talking to the public about what they do but, until recently, we have been reluctant to talk amongst ourselves about how we approach these interactions. This volume of papers presented at a conference (Playing to the Galleries and Engaging New Audiences: The Public Face of Conservation.) in Williamsburg,Virginia, confronts the issues that arise when conservators find themselves asked to present their efforts not only through traditional means (exhibits, lectures, behind-the-scenes tours etc.) but also via blogs, podcasts, video learning and other emerging technologies.