The treatment of specimens of ethnological and archaeological origin is not strictly the domain of the anthropologist. Conservators of fine arts also care for such items. How these artifacts are preserved by anthropologists or the fine arts conservator may vary due to their different backgrounds, both by virtue of the two different disciplines they represent and because of individual histories. The discipline of conservation has grown considerably in the past 15 years and has extended its study beyond the fine arts. A number of graduate programs in conservation provide training in such specialties as the conservation of mineral specimens, ethnographic and archaeological artifacts. The development of new techniques and their application is proceeding rapidly. -- AATA