Whether item or collection-level, preventive or interventive, treatment remains at the heart of what conservators do in order to preserve cultural heritage collections. The design and implementation of an ethical and sound conservation treatment, even the ultimate decision of no treatment at all, begin before its commencement and the consequences continue well beyond its completion.
This meeting explored various facets of conservation treatments and collection care programs intended to prolong the lifetime of cultural property. Topics included reconsiderations of historic procedures no longer in practice, cutting edge technologies employed in treatments, effective preventive conservation or collection care steps that reduce the necessity or extent of interventive treatments, the incorporation of sustainability into conservation treatments, or innovations in treatment design, execution, and documentation.