Expedition photos bring ARTC student to Safari Museum

​The Martin and Osa Johnson Safari Museum (Chanute, KS) recently hosted a talk by ARTC student Annabelle Fichtner, who helped treat expedition photographs by Johnson. From an article announcing the event in the Chanute Tribune:

Everyone has treasured photographs they want to keep safe, and here is a chance to learn techniques from a soon to be expert on the topic. Annabelle Fichtner is a senior at the University of Delaware and she is coming to Chanute to share her talent and passion for art conservation. Fichtner will present a program at the Martin and Osa Johnson Safari Museum on Tuesday, August 16 at 6 pm focused on conservation with examples from her work at many prestigious institution across the US with collections that included rare photograph album with a direct Chanute connection.

“Annabelle contacted the museum a few months ago while she was working on a photograph album created by Martin Johnson that now resides in the collection of the NYC Explorers Club,” says Safari Museum Curator Jacquelyn Borgeson Zimmer. “It contains stunning photographs and some very interesting archival matters as well. It was a lucky coincidence that Annabelle has family in Kansas and we’re thrilled she’s volunteered to work in a Chanute stop during her summer vacation. Photographs are visual history and I think knowing more about how to care for them is something that most people can relate to and that many have a decided interest in learning. ”

Raised on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, Annabelle grew up with a respect and passion for the arts but did not learn about art conservation until the end of her freshman year of college. Annabelle has completed internships in objects, textile, painting, photograph, and preventive conservation at museums including the Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library, the Arizona State Museum, and the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. 

Annabelle has a special interest in the conservation of indigenous materials. She will be discussing conservation in general, as well as the specific treatment of a Martin and Osa Johnson album that she completed under the supervision of Debra Hess Norris, Chair of the Department of Art Conservation at the University of Delaware. The album, which is part of the Explorers Club collection in New York, is especially interesting to Annabelle due to its immense anthropological value.