Fall is almost here and with that usually comes a new crop of interns and fellows. The Washington Conservation Guild encourages its emerging professionals to participate in the many activities it has to offer in addition to its monthly meetings, including tours of area conservation laboratories, happy hours with ECPN, and our Portfolio Day. WCG also supports its interns through the Sidney Williston Fund every year. The Sidney Williston Fund will provide five interns or fellows each year with membership in the Washington Conservation Guild.

Sidney Williston’s studio, Mario’s Conservation Services, provided training for dozens of conservators, many of whom head their own labs today around the country. He was a Fellow in the AIC and was an honorary member of the Washington Conservation Guild. He has been greatly missed since his death in December 2000. The Williston Fund was created to recognize his contributions to the Washington area conservation community and to the Guild in particular.

Membership for a Williston Fund recipient includes free entry at eight meetings and reduced registration on all WCG sponsored workshops and conferences. In the 2014-2015 year, WCG organized tours at labs including the Lunder Conservation Center, National Gallery of Art, National Museum of American History, National Archives and Records Administration, The Folger Shakespeare Library, The Freer and Sackler, and the Library of Congress.  We held our annual Portfolio Day for pre-program interns to view portfolios created by current graduate students and recent alumni from several graduate programs, and had Trivia Night where both established and emerging conservators could both strut their mental stuff and earn prizes. These events are great opportunities for emerging conservators to network with D.C. area professionals and learn more about our interesting field.

Please consider sponsoring an intern for this award.  Many of the interns and fellows are only here for a short time and would greatly benefit from these local events and networking opportunities.  The application for Williston nominations is attached to this e-mail.  Applications are due by September 15 and may be sent to interns@washingtonconservationguild.org .

Williston Fund Application 2015

Even if you are not able to nominate or sponsor an intern for the Williston Award this year, please send a list of your interns and their e-mail addresses to interns@washingtonconservationguild.org so we can invite them to all of the exciting activities we have planned for this year.