The Smithsonian’s Museum Conservation Institute (MCI) is the center for specialized technical collection research and conservation for all Smithsonian museums and collections. MCI combines knowledge of materials and the history of technology with state-of-the-art instrumentation and scientific techniques to provide technical research studies and interpretation of artistic, anthropological, biological, and historical objects.

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Museum Conservation Institute Research Supported Law Enforcement in Infamous Theft

In March 2024, convictions were handed down in the infamous case of the theft of more than 1,500 historically important items from the Girolamini Library in Naples, Italy. Amonth the notable scholars who provided subject matter expertise in this case were staff from the Smithsonian's Museum Conservation Institute and Smithsonian Libraries and Archives (SLA).

As is often the case with cultural heritage investigations, the case ruling was a long time coming. In October 2020, the CBS news program 60 Minutes broadcast "The Columbus Letters," a segment related to the Homeland Security Investigations (U.S. Department of Homeland Security) cultural property case for which Smithsonian staff served as Subject Matter Experts.

Information related to the Smithsonian's work on this case is available on the 60 Minutes Overtime website, in a segment entitled "Forgery Forensics: How the Smithsonian Helped Identify two Stolen Columbus Letters" featuring E. Keats Webb (MCI's Imaging Scientist) and Nora Lockshin (SLA Senior Conservator for Archival Collections).

Imaging scientist and conservator filming a segment for 60 Minutes at the Museum Conservation Institute facility in Suitland, Maryland    Imaging scientist and Conservator filming a segment or 60 Minutes at MCI
MCI Imaging Scientist E. Keats Webb and SLA Senior Conservator Nora Lockshin filming a segment for 60 Minutes at the MCI facility in Suitland, Maryland in February 2019. Photographs by Dawn Rogala, Museum Conservation Institute, Smithsonian Institution

Earlier press releases from the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement have documented aspects of the case and the return of a Columbus letter to Italy (May 2016) and to Spain (June 2018).

(MCI participants: E. Keats Webb, Imaging Scientist, Dawn Rogala, Conservator/Program Manager, Other Smithsonian units: Office of Public Affairs, Smithsonian Libraries and Archives.)

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MCI's Shared Stewardship and Ethical Returns Statement

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HSI Investigation Leads to Repatriation of Rare 16th Century Book to Kingdom of Spain, 5/22/24

Nicole Little, Physical Scientist,  quoted in C&EN article, Early western European coins' Byzantine origins: Lead isotopes and trace elements in medieval coins reveal unexpected silver source, by Brianna Barbu, 4/16/24

The Story of the Indigenous Wool Dog Told Through Oral Histories and DNA, Hakai magazine, by Devon Bidal, 12/14/23

Mutton, an Indigenous wooly dog, died in 1859 - new analysis confirms precolonial lineage of this extinct breed, once kept for their wool, The Conversation, by Audrey T. Lin, Chris Santis, and Logan Kistler, 12/14/23

Color analysis of the 1918 first US airmail stamp
MCI scientists Thomas Lam and Edward Vicenzi forged a collaboration with National Postal Museum's historian Susan Smith and conservator Scott Devine to analyze the colors in the 1918 Curtiss Jenny 24 cent airmail stamp.

 

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