Jazmyne preparing a book for a spine replacement by lifting the book cloth. Image credit: Sanai Broxton

Greetings from the Mellon Opportunity for Diversity in Conservation Program,

We’re excited to share the progress of another one of our past participants: Jazmyne Daily-Simpson! Jazmyne joined the summer 2024 Mellon workshop before completing an internship at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in DC this past summer. Please see below for her story.

All our best,

The Mellon Opportunity Team

Weekly Gallery Cleaning at the Museum. Image Credit: Sanai Broxton

In Jazmyne’s Own Words

Hello everyone! My name is Jazmyne Daily-Simpson and I was a part of the 2024 Mellon workshop cohort and 2025 internship cohort. This past summer I had the pleasure of interning at the National Museum of African American History and Culture(NMAAHC) focusing on book and paper conservation. I wanted my internship experience to give me the opportunity to work with objects and stories that felt culturally significant to me, which is why NMAAHC ended up being the perfect place for me to spend the summer. The conservation lab at NMAAHC is shared between all of the different specialties for the museum, so I was able to learn about textile, photography and objects conservation as well.

Typically at the start of the week on Monday, I would be at the museum with the other two conservation interns and Kate Smokowitz, the lab’s conservation technician to clean the open display objects throughout the galleries. Gallery cleaning quickly became one of my favorite parts of the week, because we got to interact with objects that were currently on display.

Cleaning Oprah’s dress in the Arts and Culture Galleries. Image Credit: Nina Perdomo

Cleaning Chuck Berry’s Car in the music gallery. Image Credit: Nina Perdomo

I spent a lot of time in the lab, where I learned about the various techniques used in each conservation specialty. Taught by textile conservator Laura Mina and photograph conservator Mirasol Estrada, I was able to practice mounting techniques used in photograph conservation and stitches that are used in textile conservation.

Practicing non-adhesive photo mounting with a personal picture.

Stitch sampler of hand stitching techniques used in textile conservation.

NMAAHC’s book and paper conservator, Christine Manwiller guided me during every step of my big project of the summer. I treated an architecture book from the museum’s collection that belonged to Julian Able Cook Sr., one of the first prominent African American architects in the United States. This gave me hands-on conservation experience and made me more familiar with the structure and anatomy of a book. The treatment involved a lot of firsts for me, including my first time making wheat starch paste and re-sewing an existing binding.

In addition to treating a book from the collection, I also practiced bookbinding by making a hardcover and softcover book by hand. This made me more confident in understanding how books are sewn and held together.

Treating one of the architecture books from NMAAHC’s Cook collection. Image Credit: Christine Manwiller

The four books I made this summer: A longstitch binding, exposed tape binding, and two case bindings.

While the majority of my time was spent doing hands-on work, I also was able to learn about the extra work that is involved in conservation such as condition reporting and exhibition prep. It gave me a clearer idea of all of the responsibilities conservators take on in addition to treating objects. I also had the opportunity to present some of my treatment work at the Smithsonian Interns and Fellows Symposium at the Museum Conservation Institute(MCI). I had never done a conservation focused presentation, and it helped me learn how to translate the manual work I was doing in the lab into a clear and concise presentation for an audience.

Presenting at the Museum Conservation Institute. Image Credit: Jeremy Norwood

In between all of my conservation activities, I also had time to explore the other museums and monuments in DC. My internship gave me my first experiences of working in a conservation lab day to day, and helped solidify that this field is something I want to pursue.

The view of the Mall from NMAAHC’S balcony.

Sitting under the Mothership in the Music Galleries. Image Credit: Kate Smokowitz

Since the summer, I have been working as a conservation assistant with Penn State University libraries and finishing up my final chemistry requirements! Thank you to the Mellon program for helping guide me throughout this experience and helping me move forward in my conservation journey.

Mending a Vietnamese Scroll from Penn State’s collection. Image Credit: Kavya Parameswar

My nametag and a letterpress printed card.

Congratulations on all of your accomplishments Jazmyne!

To learn more about the program please visit the website below.

https://mellondiversityconservation.org/