Laura McNulty

The National Museum of American History (NMAH) opened in 1964 as the Museum of History and Technology. The name changed in 1980. It was the sixth Smithsonian museum to be built on the National Mall. The collection includes approximately 1.8 million objects and is the largest collection of American history in the world. 

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The conservation department is part of the Preservation Services division of the Office of Curatorial Affairs. An organizational chart of the museum can be found here and more information about the other divisions in the Office of Curatorial Affairs can be found here. 

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The conservation department supports the long-term preservation of the collections and access to the objects through conservation treatment, documentation, and research; providing training and guidance about handling and collections care; partnering with the Office of Facilities Engineering and Operations to monitor and maintain environmental conditions; and manages the museum's response to disasters affecting collections. The department has conservators dedicated to book and paper conservation, objects conservation, and textile conservation along with a conservator dedicated to exhibitions and loans, and a lab manager.

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Supervised by Janice S. Ellis, Senior Book and Paper Conservator, my summer internship was completed virtually due to the Covid-19 pandemic. I completed research in support of the future treatment of John A. Larson's polygraph machine. More information about the object and my research can be found by clicking here or by navigating to the page in the menu at the top of the page.

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