Conservation Research Laboratory (UCLA)

Conservation Research Laboratory (UCLA)
Name	Conservation Research Laboratory (UCLA)
Caption	Conservation Research Laboratory, University of California, Los Angeles
Formed	1966
Location	Los Angeles, California
Parent organization	University of California, Los Angeles

Conservation Research Laboratory (UCLA) is a specialized conservation science and technical services unit within the University of California, Los Angeles, providing preventive care, treatment, and research for cultural heritage materials. The laboratory supports museum partners, archival repositories, performing arts organizations, and academic departments through conservation treatments, analytical studies, and materials testing, integrating practice with scholarship.

History

The laboratory traces institutional roots to restoration initiatives at the University of California, Los Angeles campus and regional museum collaborations involving the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Getty Conservation Institute, Smithsonian Institution, Museum of Modern Art, and Metropolitan Museum of Art, expanding professional practice during the late 20th century alongside peers such as the Winterthur Museum, British Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, National Gallery, London, and Bibliothèque nationale de France. Founding personnel included conservators trained through programs associated with the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Cooper Hewitt, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the lab’s early projects intersected with exhibitions at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the J. Paul Getty Museum, and university collections from the Bowers Museum to the Hammer Museum. During periods of seismic retrofitting at campus facilities, the lab collaborated with engineering teams linked to the California Institute of Technology and policy advisors from the National Park Service and the California Office of Historic Preservation.

Mission and Research Focus

The laboratory’s mission aligns with conservation priorities articulated by organizations like the International Council of Museums, the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property, the American Institute for Conservation, and the Council on Library and Information Resources. Research emphases include materials science studies resonant with projects at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, analytical modeling used by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and environmental monitoring approaches akin to those at the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum Conservation Institute. The lab’s work addresses treatment protocols referenced in literature from the Getty Conservation Institute, conservation ethics discussed at conferences such as the ICOM-CC Triennial, and disaster response frameworks advocated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Red Cross.

Facilities and Collections

Facilities include wet and dry conservation studios comparable to setups at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Conservation Department, photomicroscopy suites used by the Field Museum, and analytical instrumentation reflecting equipment inventories at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the California Institute of Technology. Collections treated span holdings from campus repositories like the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, the Charles E. Young Research Library, and the Fowler Museum at UCLA to partner museums such as the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and archives including the Yiddish Theatre collections and the Los Angeles Public Library. The lab’s reference collections and materials trials draw on taxonomies developed by the Smithsonian Institution, the National Archives and Records Administration, and the Library of Congress.

Conservation Techniques and Projects

Technical workflows incorporate analytical methods practiced at the Getty Research Institute, Rijksmuseum, and the Cleveland Museum of Art: spectroscopy techniques used by the Institute for Molecular Science, imaging protocols paralleling work at the Tate Modern, and solvent research in line with studies from the Courtauld Institute of Art. Signature projects have included treatments for objects associated with exhibitions at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, stabilization of textiles from the Museum of International Folk Art, and preventive conservation for film collections connected to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, integrating approaches evidenced in conservation case studies from the National Gallery of Art and the Royal Ontario Museum.

Education and Training

The laboratory supports pedagogy linked to graduate programs at the University of California, Los Angeles, student internships coordinated with the American Alliance of Museums and apprenticeship models inspired by the Getty Foundation fellowships. Training activities have been conducted in partnership with universities such as the University of Delaware, the University of Northumbria, the University of Glasgow, and professional development programs from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the National Gallery, London. Outreach includes workshops for staff from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, archivists from the California State Archives, and educators affiliated with the California Academy of Sciences.

Collaborations and Partnerships

The lab maintains collaborations with overregional institutions including the Getty Conservation Institute, Smithsonian Institution, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, The Huntington, Autry Museum of the American West, Fowler Museum at UCLA, and international partners such as the Rijksmuseum, British Museum, Musée du Louvre, Hermitage Museum, and State Tretyakov Gallery. Cross-disciplinary projects involve faculty from the Department of Anthropology, UCLA, the Department of Art History, UCLA, the School of Engineering, UCLA, and external labs like the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Notable Staff and Alumni

Prominent conservators and scientists associated with the laboratory have collaborated with or trained alongside professionals linked to the Getty Conservation Institute, the Smithsonian Institution, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Tate Modern, the Rijksmuseum, the Royal Ontario Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, the National Gallery, London, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Courtauld Institute of Art, and the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. Alumni have taken leadership roles at institutions such as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the J. Paul Getty Museum, the National Museum of Natural History, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Art Institute of Chicago, and university conservation programs at the University of Delaware and the Institute of Archaeology, UCL.

Category:University of California, Los Angeles