Conservator helps museum staff

Diana Hobart Dicus, a conservator from Boise, worked with the museum staff recently

The Mountain Home Historical Society recently received a National Endowment for the Humanities grant to assist the museum with immediate preservation concerns and establish long-range plans for the Mountain Home Museum collections.

Through the NEH grant, the museum was able to bring in Diana Hobart Dicus, a conservator from Boise.

Dicus was onsite last week to work with museum director Nancy Marshall, board members, staff and museum docents for three days.

Prior to establishing her private practice as a conservator, Mrs. Dicus worked at the Detroit Historical Museums in Michigan, the Canadian Conservation Institute in Ottawa, Ontario, the Bishop Museum of Anthropology and Natural History in Honolulu, the British Museum Organic Conservation Section in London, and the Helen Allen Textile Collection at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

She holds a conservation certificate with distinction from the University of London, a Museum Studies Certificate from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, a Masters of Science from University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Bachelor of Arts cum laude from Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Ore.

Dicus works currently in the Intermountain West, with collection-holding institutions and with private collectors. She has conducted collection assessments and workshops in Canada and the United States. She is a Professional Associate of the American Institute of Conservation, a member of the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections, and a member of the Idaho Association of Museums.

"This assessment of our large variety of collections and onsite workshop will help us develop an exhibit plan for the museum and understand ways we can preserve our collections within the historic 1908 Carnegie Building," Marshall said.