BPG Webinar: Greening Book and Paper Conservation Labs and Practices

Alice Boccia Paterakis received a PhD in Conservation from the Institute of Archaeology, University College London and a MAC, Master of Art Conservation (Objects), Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada. She has served as Director of Conservation from 2008 to the present of the Kaman Kalehöyük, Yassihöyük, and Büklükale Excavations and Kaman Kalehöyük Archaeology Museum for the Japanese Institute of Anatolian Archaeology, Kaman, Turkey. Prior to this she served as Director of Conservation from 1990 to 2004 for the Ancient Athenian Agora Excavation and Museum, American School of Classical Studies, in Athens, Greece. Alice lectured for the UCLA/Getty Interdepartmental Program in the Conservation of Cultural Heritage from 2018 until 2024. In 2004 and 2005 she was a Getty Conservation Institute Conservation Guest Scholar studying the Problems of Bronze Storage in Museums. Alice is currently Head of Conservation for the Missouri Historical Society in St. Louis, Missouri, and Editor in Chief for Studies in Conservation.

Lorraine is director of LFCP, which is accelerating the cultural heritage sector’s climate and environmental actions through research, knowledge sharing and resource creation. Examples include ‘Low Cost/No Cost Tips for Sustainability in Cultural Heritage,’ which provides actionable solutions for implementing sustainable practices, and an open-access sustainability rider, which enables museum, library and archive professionals to embed sustainability into every decision.

Lorraine is a sustainability leader who advocates on the international stage for sustainability in cultural heritage participating in conferences, leading workshops and training, publishing books and articles and collaborating with leaders in the field internationally. She collaborated with The National Archives, UK, to develop Carbon Literacy for Archives, and created Carbon Literacy for Conservation and Collections Care - certified courses accredited by the Carbon Literacy Project. Lorraine is founder and Chair of the Institute of Conservation’s Sustainability Group. She is a Director of Climate Museum UK and an accredited conservator of archives, photographs, film and sound.

Alberto Benato is a paper conservator with nearly 20 years of experience in the field and technical director of the Restoration Laboratory at Praglia Abbey, near Padua. He also teaches at Ca' Foscari University in Venice, where he lectures on Chemistry and Restoration of Paper Materials. At the Abbey of Praglia, he oversees a laboratory founded in 1951 by Benedictine monks to save ancient volumes damaged during the devastation of the Second World War. Under his guidance, the laboratory continues its tradition of excellence in the conservation of paper and parchment artefacts, as well as works of art on paper. Throughout its history, the workshop has carried out interventions of great cultural significance. These include the recovery of over 4,000 volumes damaged by the floods in Florence and Venice in 1966, and recently the restoration of a rare parchment diploma issued by Charlemagne in 808 for Piacenza Cathedral, the restoration of the first Franciscan manuscripts in the Library of the Sacred Convent of Assisi, the conservation of illuminated volumes of great historical and artistic importance, and the restoration of numerous drawings and works on paper by important authors, including contemporary ones.