Conservation Residency Program

The Conservation Residency Program at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center trains young conservators from all over the United States and the world. Many are completing their education in graduate programs in conservation. Other young conservators are gaining experience prior to entering a conservation programs. The residents function as part of the conservation staff during their tenure in Cody. They examine objects, write reports, and carry out treatments and individual projects such as collection condition surveys. The Chief Conservator works closely with the residents ensuring the quality of the training and the treatment of the collections.

Click here for 2013 opportunities

For more information on our Conservation Residency program, e-mail Chief Conservator Beverly Perkins or call her at 307.578.4029.

Our 2011 conservation interns gather around “The Plainsman” in front of the Historical Center. Buffalo Bill—Plainsman by Bob Scriver, 1976. Cast by Modern Art Foundry, New York. Bronze, 86.5 inches. 12.77

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2012 Interns

Marissa Stevenson is from Toledo, Ohio, and received her undergraduate degree in Art History from the University of Toledo. Marissa has worked in conservation labs at the University of Michigan, Bentley Historical Library, and the Toledo Museum of Art prior to coming to the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. At the end of her time here, Marissa plans to return to Toledo for an internship at the Toledo Museum of Art, after which she will apply for graduate school in art conservation.

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Emilie Kracen

Emilie Kracen is from Bridgewater, Connecticut. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Historic Preservation with minors in Museum Studies and Chemistry from University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia. At the end of her summer at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center with Chief Conservator Beverly Perkins, Emilie will be traveling to work in the labs at Colonial Williamsburg for six months, after which she will be applying to master degree programs in Art Conservation.

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Fran Ritchie

Fran Ritchie is a third year graduate student at Buffalo State College in Buffalo, New York, earning her Master of Arts and Certificate of Advanced Study in Art Conservation. Fran received her Bachelor of Arts in Art Conservation and Anthropology from University of Delaware, and a Master of Arts in Museum Anthropology from Columbia University.  She has worked in art conservation labs at Winterthur Estate and Gardens in Wilmington, Delaware, the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina, the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, and Patronato Panama Viejo in Panama City, Panama.

Working at the Historical Center for the summer has provided her with experience working on a variety of materials from Native American objects of the Plains Indians Museum, to taxidermy bird specimens of the Draper Museum of Natural History. Fran was drawn to Cody because of the abundance of outdoor activities and western hospitality.

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Jaclyn Rubino

Jaclyn Rubino is from Harwinton, Connecticut. She graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Hartford with a painting major and an art history minor. This summer, she has treated Plains Indian objects, ceramics, outdoor sculpture, and books. In the fall, she will be interning in the paintings lab at Winterthur Estate in Delaware.

 

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Jamie Gleason

Jamie Gleason is a graduate student in the Buffalo State College Art Conservation Program, with a concentration in objects conservation. Jamie received a Bachelor of Arts in Art History from the State University of New York at Albany. After completing his undergraduate studies, Jamie worked for seven years as a picture framer and operated an art gallery in Albany. He has worked in the objects conservation lab at the Peebles Island Resource Center and for the Citywide Monuments Conservation Program in New York City. In the fall of 2012, Jamie will begin his third year internship at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri. While at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, he treated outdoor sculpture and Plains Indian artifacts.

Image: Jamie cleaning the Charles Cary Rumsey frieze in front of the Park County Courthouse in Cody.

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Katie Belton

Katie Belton is from Sheridan, Wyoming. She graduated from Colorado College with a degree in Biology and minor studies in Art and Art History. This summer, she has worked on a variety of Plains Indian objects, including a warrior headdress from the Hunkpapa tribe, circa 1850. She particularly enjoys repairing ceramics and inpainting. She has done volunteer work for the newly opened Heart Mountain Interpretive Learning Center, where she helped to rehouse paper objects. After this internship, Katie plans to head back to San Francisco for her second internship before applying to graduate school in Art Conservation.

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Kyoung-eun Park

Kyoung-eun Park is from South Korea and just received her Master of Arts in Conservation of Fine Arts with a specialty in works of art on paper from Northumbria University in the United Kingdom. During her graduate studies, she interned at the Museum of London, the National Maritime Museum, the University College London library services in the U.K. and Rest’Arte in Venice, Italy. Before taking a step into the conservation field, Kyoung-eun studied Landscape Architecture and Urban Design for her bachelor and master degrees at Seoul National University in Korea. While at the Historical Center, she has treated archives, drawings, and prints on paper.

Image: Kyoung-eun on her graduation day, examining a painted lithograph calendar from the Cody Firearms Museum.

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Chief Conservator Beverly Nadeen Perkins

Our conservation residency program is led by Beverly Nadeen Perkins. A graduate of the Cooperstown (now Buffalo) program in conservation, Perkins is a Fellow of the American Institute for Conservation and a Fellow of the International Institute for Conservation. She is a certified AIC-CERT emergency responder for cultural institutions. She coordinated the AIC volunteer response to Hurricane Katrina, as well as participated on the ground in Mississippi and Louisiana after Katrina and most recently in Haiti. Perkins serves on the board of the Western Association for Art Conservation and the board of the Colorado-Wyoming Association of Museums. She is currently the Chief Conservator at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center and adjunct faculty in Art History at Northwest College. She served as the NEH Western Field Service Officer and as the coordinator of the IMLS Connecting to Collections Planning Project for Wyoming. Perkins has lectured extensively on disaster recovery for museum collections, collections care topics, and conservation issues. She has worked as a conservator for large institutions such as Winterthur Museum and the Brooklyn Museum and has carried out over fifty surveys of collecting institutions of all sizes. Beverly recently joined the board of Heritage Preservation, the Smithsonian Affiliate Advisory Committee, and the Buffalo Bill Art Show Committee.

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Visit this page to meet interns from the past two years.