The author is director of the Intermuseum Laboratory, Oberlin, Ohio, founded in 1952 as the conservation centre of the Intermuseum Conservation Association (I.C.A.). The laboratory serves a number of moderate-sized museums in the Great Lakes region of the U.S.A., none of which could singly afford to maintain an adequately equipped and staffed conservation department. An account is given of the premises, equipment, personnel, operation and finance of the laboratory, as well as its contributions to education and research.