Preventive Conservation’s Evolution: A Brief Reflection

Abstract

Preventive conservation grew out of the understanding that external forces such as temperature, humidity, light, pollutants, pests, and human actions or inactions impact materials in collections. How to anticipate, monitor, and mitigate those forces in ways that have the broadest impact on preservation became known as preventive conservation. The development and evolution of the teaching and practice of preventive conservation and how it is represented in the field is briefly sketched including the recent transition to the increased use of the term preventive care.