International Institute for Conservation
The International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (IIC) is a global organisation for conservation and restoration professionals with over two thousand members in over fifty countries. IIC seeks to promote the knowledge, methods and working standards needed to protect and preserve historic and artistic works throughout the world. Organisation and governance. The current Council of the institute (2019-2020) is: Officers: Ordinary Members of Council IIC's Council attempts to reflect the geographical and professional balance of the worldwide conservation profession. Council members, including the secretary-general and treasurer, are volunteers, as are  the editors of "Studies in Conservation" and IIC's Congress preprints. The institute has a permanent secretariat in London with a staff of three. IIC co-operates closely with other organisations in the field, notably the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property and the Committee for Conservation of the International Council of Museums (ICOM) as well as national and regional conservation groups. IIC is a learned society and is also registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales. Background. In 1930, the International Museums Office of the League of Nations held a  conference in Rome on the examination and conservation of works of art. Following this meeting, the Museums Office issued a series of publications on the subject. In 1932 a technical journal of conservation studies, "Technical Studies in the Field of the Fine Arts", was established by the Fogg Museum (Harvard University), under the managing editorship of George L. Stout. It continued publication until 1942. The work of the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program and the repatriation of art treasures after World War II brought together experts from Europe and the United States. They proposed the revival of "Technical Studies  and the formation of an international body of conservators to continue the interchange of information on the care and conservation of works of art. Between 1946 and 1948 a series of meetings was held to discuss these proposals. Foremost among those involved in the meetings were George L. Stout, W.G. Constable (Boston), Ian Rawlins (London), and Paul Coremans (Brussels). In December 1948 at a meeting of the ICOM Commission on the Care of Paintings in London, it was announced that a new international institute for conservation was about to be incorporated with offices in London and that its interests would 	International Institute for Conservation
11249047	be the scientific and technical study of the subject. Early history. On April 27, 1950, the International Institute for the Conservation of Museum Objects (which acquired its present name in 1959) was incorporated as a limited company in the United Kingdom. Its aims were to improve the state of knowledge and standards of practice and to provide a common meeting ground and publishing body for all who are interested in and professionally skilled in the conservation of museum objects”. The institute was to be concerned with: The office was established with the help of a grant from the Nuffield Foundation . London was chosen as the "midpoint" between the United States and continental Europe. Office space was provided free by the Trustees of the National Gallery (London). The Institute moved to its own independent offices in 1968. The membership was to consist of Fellows who were to be persons highly qualified in (or in positions of great authority in) conservation and Associates who were to be "persons anxious to promote the objects of the Institute". Later a category of Institutional Members was introduced. When the IIC was founded in 1950, the Founder Fellows were George L. Stout, Rutherford J. Gettens, Richard  Buck, W.G. Constable, Murray Pease, Ian Rawlins, Harold Plenderleith, Sir Wallace Akers, Helmut Ruhemann, and Paul Coremans. Others who joined in that first year included Arthur van Schendel, René Sneyers, and Sheldon and Caroline Keck. George Stout became the IIC's first president, with Harold Plenderleith its treasurer and Ian Rawlins its secretary-general. The IIC membership grew quickly. In October 1952 there were 62 members (38 of them Fellows) with 64 candidates for associate membership in process of election; by March 1952, there were 167 members (50 of them Fellows). Publications & Communications. In May 1952, the first issue of  the "IIC Newsletter" appeared; this later became the "IIC Bulletin" and in turn was succeeded in 2007 by "News in Conservation". In October 1952, "Studies in Conservation" began publication. "IIC Abstracts", an international journal of abstracts of the technical literature and the forerunner of "Art and Archaeology Technical Abstracts", was first published in 1955. With changing editorship, it ran for five volumes ending with Vol.5, no.4 (Autumn 1965). In 2000, the first volume of the annual "Reviews in Conservation" was published and this was published until Vol. 10 in 2009.. Section::::"Studies in Conservation". "Studies in Conservation" is a peer-reviewed  academic journal, produced eight times a year, on the conservation of historic and artistic works. "Studies in Conservation" publishes original work on a range of subjects including, but not limited to, advances in conservation practice, novel methods of treatment, preventive conservation, issues of collection care, conservation history and ethics, examination methods for works of art, new research in the analysis of artistic materials or mechanisms of deterioration, and conservation issues in display and storage. Section::::"Reviews in Conservation". Published annually from 2000 until 2010, "Reviews in Conservation" has now been incorporated into "Studies in Conservation". Section::::"News in Conservation". "News in Conservation  is published electronically every other month. It aims to provide a place where opinions, news, and information can be shared and discussed. Free to the general public for download from the IIC web-site, News in Conservation" contains news from the IIC Council and regional groups, as well as job vacancies, conference listings, and notices, along with a mixture of news stories, features, interviews, and other articles relating to all aspects of conservation in every issue. Social Networking. IIC operates a lively Facebook page and Twitter and LinkedIn presence as well as a discussion group on LinkedIn. These allow for  the rapid sharing of conservation news and events and, at LinkedIn, an active discussion forum for conservation issues and topics Biennial Congresses. In 1961, with the help of a grant from the Gulbenkian Foundation, the IIC held its first international conference. That meeting, in Rome, was attended by 150 people, and the papers were published by Butterworths under the title "Recent Advances in Conservation". Subsequently, conferences have been held at two- or three-year intervals with published preprints on a topic of current interest. Past conferences are: Student & Emerging Conservator Conferences. In 2011 IIC instigated its Student & Emerging Conservator Conference  series. These events are aimed at helping recent graduates and those still studying conservation to develop their skills and gain valuable career insights. They offer invaluable networking opportunities and panel discussions with webcasts, studio visits and a lively social programme. The first conference in this series was This was followed by: Regional groups. IIC's Regional Groups began in 1958. Regional Groups are independent associations affiliated or associated with IIC. A Regional Group is required to adhere to the aims and objectives of the IIC as expressed in the Memorandum of Association. Its by-laws must be approved by the  IIC Council and its officers should be members of IIC. The first Regional Groups formed were the IIC-United Kingdom Group (now Icon, the Institute of Conservation) and the IIC-American Group (now the American Institute for Conservation). There are currently Regional Groups in Scandinavia, Austria, Croatia, France, Greece, Italy, Japan, and Spain as well as an Arabic Group.