Introduction to the Conservation of Photographs with the Johnson Publishing Company Archive

This workshop series introduces students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to conservation as a potential career path. Students from a variety of disciplines will have the opportunity to learn the principles of photograph conservation and engage with the Johnson Publishing Company (JPC) Archive. These workshops are part of an effort to diversify the conservation profession, ensuring that a plurality of voices—including historically underrepresented minorities—get to decide what is preserved and how.

The workshops take place every summer in conjunction with the processing of the archive. The first pilot workshop was held in July 2023. The workshops include lectures, discussions and meetings with conservators, archivists, and curators, as well as practical tutorials. Students learn to identify photographic processes, assess the condition of photographs, and perform entry-level treatments such as surface cleaning under the guidance of expert photographs conservators.

The first workshop was held on July 10–14, 2023 (see past schedule, speakers, and student cohort).

About the Johnson Publishing Company (JPC) Archive

The Chicago-based Johnson Publishing Company (JPC) was the largest African American-owned publisher and the founder of Jet and Ebony magazines. In 2019, the JPC archive was purchased by a consortium of five philanthropic and cultural heritage institutions including the J. Paul Getty Trust. Of monumental national and international significance, the archive is one of the most comprehensive records of 20th-century Black American culture, comprising over four million photographic materials documenting the African American experience over seven decades. Read about the seven-year project to digitize the archive

National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC)

Since opening September 24, 2016, the National Museum of African American History and Culture has welcomed more than 9 million visitors. Occupying a prominent location next to the Washington Monument on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the nearly 400,000-square-foot museum is the nation’s largest and most comprehensive cultural destination devoted exclusively to exploring, documenting and showcasing the African American story and its impact on American and world history. For more information about the museum, visit  nmaahc.si.edu, follow @NMAAHC on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, or call Smithsonian information at (202) 633-1000.

The next workshop will be held July 8–12, 2024, at the Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois.

Eligibility requirements can be found in the Frequently Asked Questions section below.