Filter by Format and Interviewee
Use these filters to search by interviewee or format. Interviewees may have photographs or other materials in addition to recorded interviews and their associated transcripts. Materials from the FAIC Oral History Project Collection span over fifty years of audio recording and photographic process history. From open reel audio to audiocassette tapes, color slides, CDs, and born digital files, this ongoing, community-driven project persistently made use of the latest technological innovations to document the history of art conservation.
On November 4, 1966, the Arno river of Florence, Italy began overflowing. By morning, water rushed through the city streets and into buildings. In some locations, water levels exceeded ten feet, causing significant damage to the city's renowned collections of historic objects and artworks. Dozens of municipal workers and residents lost their lives in the early days of the disaster. After the water drained a thick layer of mud left the city buried and largely unnavigable for weeks.
When news of the devastating flood broke, conservators and restorers sprang into action. They jumped into cars and on planes to reach Florence where they volunteered their expertise and services to recover the city's cultural heritage.
In 2006 Rebecca Rushfield, conservation consultant and co-director of the FAIC Oral History Project, led an effort to document the lives and stories of the "mud angels" who collaborated with local Florence cultural heritage workers to dig the city out of the mud and rescue its paintings, books, sculptures and architecture. Their stories serve as documents not only of this devastating event, but the transition of their profession from restoration to conservation. The immense loss caused, in part, by a lack of preparation and awareness of disaster planning spurred cultural heritage institutions around the world to rethink their practices and hire conservators to care for their collections and ensure their long term preservation.
Browse by Interviewee
Browse by last name of FAIC Oral History Project interviewees.