Melissa Tedone, PhD, MSIS, is Assistant Professor in the University of Delaware Department of Art Conservation and Associate Director of the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation (WUDPAC).
Prior to her current position, Melissa served as Lab Head for Library Materials Conservation at Winterthur Museum, Garden, & Library, and WUDPAC Affiliated Associate Professor for eight years. She was the Library & Archives Conservator at Iowa State University of Science & Technology from 2009-2015.
Melissa serves on the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Library Alliance Board of Directors as an appointed member. In this role, Melissa serves as PI and program co-coordinator for the HBCU Library Alliance Preservation Internship Program.
As the lead conservator of the Poison Book Project, Melissa researches the use of heavy metals in mass-produced, nineteenth-century Euro-American bookbinding. As founding co-chair of the Bibliotoxicology Working Group (BibTox), she facilitates an international cohort of conservators, conservation scientists, librarians, and health and safety professionals who are exploring safer practices for the identification and management of library collections with potentially toxic components. To connect with BibTox, email the group listserv at bib-tox@udel.edu.
Melissa's additional research interests include the industrialization of the Euro-American book more broadly; writing media and implements of the eighteenth to early twentieth century; historical paper decorating techniques; and exploring multicultural education models as a means of advancing diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion in conservation education.
Melissa earned a doctorate in Slavic literary history at Yale University and an MSIS with Certificate of Advanced Study in the Conservation of Library and Archives Materials at the University of Texas at Austin's School of Information. She has interned and worked at the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, the Lewis Walpole Library, the University of Texas at Austin Libraries, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign University Library, and ConservArt LLC.
Melissa is a Professional Associate of the American Institute for Conservation (AIC), an organization she has supported in many volunteer roles over the years, including chairing the Sustainability Committee and the Book & Paper Group. In addition to AIC, Melissa belongs to the Institute of Conservation (Icon), the Delaware Valley Chapter of the Guild of Book Workers (GBW), the Philadelphia Area Conservation Association (PACA), and the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading & Publishing (SHARP).
Instagram: @persistent.girl.memory, #poisonbookproject, #bibliotoxicology
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/melissatedone
