The NSW Branch Committee invites you to their next online meeting, where Kay Söderlund will speak about her career. This will be followed by a brief business meeting.
Now semi-retired, Kay has worked as a conservator for nearly 40 years. She initially worked in major collecting institutions such as the Australian Museum, and the State Library of NSW - where she headed up the project to conserve the Journals of the First Fleet.
She furthered her studies at ICCROM in Rome, and in 1992, having recognised the role preventive conservation would play in the preservation of collections, she studied Preventive Conservation with the Getty Conservation Institute in Los Angeles, USA. This course laid the groundwork for the strong preventive conservation focus of her work.
In 2000 she authored ‘Be Prepared: Guidelines for Small Museums for Writing a Disaster Preparedness Plan’, written for the Heritage Collections Council – and also developed the training package for industry service providers. This manual is still the main reference for small organisations developing their Disaster Plans.
Following a few years with Museums Australia NSW, where she became Director, Kay worked mainly as a private conservator, with a particular focus on smaller organisations and the community sector. She established Preservation Australia in 2003 and later brought in Conservation Resources as an archival product component of the business.
In August 2021 she closed the conservation studio of Preservation Australia (and Conservation Resources), and now only works in preventive conservation consulting and running workshops on request.
Free, but registrations required via the ASA website.
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