A new conservator: Barbara Hamann

Carnegie, Jan/Feb 2001

The museum has a new Head of the Section of Conservation, Barbara Hamann, who has recently been preparing for the Africa show in the changing exhibit galleries. Fragile artifacts need to be in environments that are constantly monitored for temperature, humidity, and light levels--otherwise museums cannot even hope to obtain such traveling exhibits. Her conservation responsibilities cover the entire museum in all its diversity, and she has been reviewing with collection managers the needs of each scientific section, from insects and anthropology to mammals and paleontology.

Widely traveled, with field experience in Greece, the Near East, and the American mid-west, Hamann has degrees in archaeology and conservation from the University of London and the University of Michigan, and was a conservator at the Oriental Institute Museum, University of Chicago, and Wyoming State Museum at Cheyenne, before coming to Pittsburgh.