My work is a confluence of a lifetime of varied interests and skills. I learned how to sew as a young girl, taught by my mother who is herself a quilter and novice dressmaker. These sewing skills led to an early career as a seamstress in bridal alterations which honed my understanding of textile materials and garment construction. My father, an avid museum goer, also fostered an early love of historic objects and museums. This eventually led me to an undergraduate degree in Public History and Archaeology at the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse with the intention of one day working directly with objects in museum collections. These two seemingly disparate worlds converged in an internship at a small historical society in La Crosse, WI working under a trained textile conservator. After earning my undergraduate degree, I completed a pre-program internship in the Textile Conservation Lab at the Minnesota Historical Society while applying to graduate school. 

In 2017 I began coursework in FIT’s Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory, Museum Practice program, specializing in conservation. FIT was the ideal graduate program for me because it perfectly marries the historical, technical, scientific theory, and museum practice of both fashion and textiles. As a student in the program, I was just as engaged in the fashion and textile history coursework as I was by the scientific theory and technical conservation coursework. 

While in the program I completed two conservation internships in New York, each of which allowed me to transition into contract positions in those same labs. In 2019 I became an Intermittent Conservator in Textiles at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum working primarily on exhibition driven conservation. For four years in that position I assisted in the preparation and installation of textile objects in the Cooper Hewitt’s galleries, as well as two major fashion exhibitions: Willi Smith: Street Couture, and Contemporary Muslim Fashions.

In 2019, following the completion of my coursework, I was also hired as a part-time Collections Assistant in the Costumes and Textiles department at the Museum of the City of New York to assist the ongoing assessment of their 26,000-object collection. While working on that long-term project, my responsibilities also grew to include the planning, preparation, and installation of costumes and textiles for display, digitization, and loan. In this role I was responsible for examining and recommending objects for treatment and contracting and supervising conservators, mount makers, and installers to assist in completing the work. In addition to facilitating ongoing object rotations in three permanent galleries, and installing temporary special exhibitions, I advised on and couriered loans of collections objects. I also provided input on new acquisitions, answered research inquiries, and conducted object-based research and writing for public-facing content. 

In early 2020, I began working part-time as a contract conservator in the conservation lab at the Museum at FIT, where I am now a full-time Assistant Conservator. In each of these roles I was responsible for exhibition-driven treatment, mounting, and installation of costume objects as well as ongoing collections care and preventive conservation initiatives.

Even prior to accepting this position, I worked closely with the department, completing an internship in the summer of 2018, and later conducting research and testing with MFIT Associate Conservator, Alison Castaneda. Together we developed an aqueous treatment for cellulosic textiles with iron degradation based on the Calcium-Phytate treatment of iron gall ink corrosion in paper manuscripts. My position at MFIT has also presented several additional opportunities to conduct advanced analysis, including an IMLS grant-funded project using XRF to identify hazardous substances in accessioned objects. Additionally, I recently conducted research and testing of different treatments on actively degrading heel tips composed of thermoplastic polyurethane on mid-to-late 20th century high heels. 

As I developed a keen interest in material science, in the fall of 2021 I was asked to teach Fiber and Fabric: Identification and Analysis in the Fashion and Textile Studies masters program at FIT. This teaching appointment offered me a valuable opportunity to dive deep into scientific, technical, and structural research that would otherwise not be possible in the exhibition-driven conservation positions that I have held. While I no longer teach that course, I continue to take teaching appointments and advise graduate student qualifying papers.

If you would like to read more about my early career path, in 2020 I published an article in the Fashion Studies Journal that outlines how I came to the field of conservation and how navigating the COVID-19 pandemic as an early-career professional has shaped the nature of my museum work.