Gretchen Anderson

GretchenAnderson@MuseumStudy.com

Gretchen Anderson has been the Conservator at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History since 2009 where she is responsible for the care of 22 million natural history objects. Prior to Carnegie she was the Conservator at the Science Museum of Minnesota for 30 years. Her specialties include; preventive conservation practices with a focus on sustainable environmental management and integrated pest management; safe storage practices; moving collections; examination, documentation & treatment of objects.

She has always been dedicated to sharing her knowledge through a wide variety of means including; training interns, teaching classes and leading public programs. Since 1999 she has been teaching both online and in the classroom.

At the Science Museum of Minnesota, Gretchen developed public programming including a visible lab, volunteer guides, and video clips in exhibition halls to explain preventive conservation in museums. She continues this practice at Carnegie Museum of Natural History by conserving collections that are on exhibit in view of the public when possible. Recently she has been helping to revive the free-standing heritage cases, which have been cleaned and refurbished by museum conservation experts. These include the Lion Attacking a Dromedary and the Ivory Eagle.

Gretchen is a member of the American Institute for Conservation, the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections, and a founding member of the Museum Pest Network. Her publications include; co-author of Moving the Mountain and many articles on Integrated Pest Management, Mount Making, and Preventive Care.