Conservation Laboratory Staff

James Reid-Cunningham is the associate director for digital programs and preservation at the Boston Athenæum. He was conservator of the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University before serving as chief conservator of the Athenæum from 2003-2011.. He studied history and art history at Johns Hopkins University and Tufts University, and is a graduate of the bookbinding program at the North Bennet Street School in Boston. He is a Professional Associate of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works, and  was the president of the Guild of Book Workers from 2006 to 2010. He has taught bookbinding and conservation workshops across the country, and is the adjunct lecturer in book conservation at the art conservation department of Buffalo State College. 

His recent publications include:

“Surface Gilding” in The Bonefolder, vol. 6, no. 1, 2009.

“The Book Protector: a Novel Conservation Innovation of the 1960s”, (with Rebecca Smyrl), Guild of Book Workers Newsletter, February 2011.

"Pierced Vellum Bindings," Guild of Book Workers blog.

“Eye, Hand, Tool: The Collision of Art, Craft and Conservation in Contemporary Book Art,” Miniature Book News, no. 142 (86), March 2011, p. 11-17.

Dawn Walus is the associate conservator at the Boston Athenæum. Previously, she worked as a book conservator at the Weissman Preservation Center, Harvard Library and has held conservation internships and positions at The Preservation Society of Newport County in Newport, RI; The Brooklyn Museum of Art; The New York Academy of Medicine; Rieger Art Conservation (Works on Paper) in New York City; and The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, CA. She received an MA/CAS in art conservation from the Buffalo State College Art Conservation Graduate Program in 2009 and a BA in fine arts from Rutgers University in 1995. She is a member of the American Institute for the Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (AIC), and the Guild of Book Workers.

Anne Corrsin is the assistant conservator at the Boston Athenæum. She received a BFA from the Tufts/School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Anne was trained in book conservation at Harvard University (Widener Library Lab) and at the Boston Athenaeum.  She has attended seminars and workshops presented by the North Bennet Street School, the Weissman Preservation Center at Harvard University and the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts in Philadelphia.  She is a member of the New England Conservation Association, an Associate Member of the American Institute for the Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (AIC), and a member of the Guild of Book Workers.

Fionnuala Hart Gerrity is the 2011 Von Clemm Intern in Book Conservation. She is a graduate of the bookbinding program at the North Bennet Street School in Boston, and previously interned at Boston College.

 The book conservation fellowship is underwritten by the the Michael and Louisa von Clemm Foundation.

Ashleigh Ferguson is a first year student in the art conservation program at Buffalo State College. She previously worked in the conservation department at the University of Kansas Libraries, and as a wallpaper conservator at the Upper Town Heritage Foundation in Paducah, KY. Ashleigh has a B.F.A. in art history from the University of Kansas.

Dawn Mankowski is a first year student in the art conservation program at Buffalo State College. She was a conservation assistant at the Yale University Archives, and has a B.F.A. in art history from the University of Arizona at Tucson.