Kendra Lovette Fund
WCG’s Kendra Lovette Fund is used to sponsor continuing education activities for mid-career conservation professionals in all specialties in the DC metro area. The first grant from the Kendra Lovette Fund will be awarded in May, 2008. The application deadline is April 1, 2008; see the application instructions below.
Kendra Lovette was a long-time Washington area conservator. In 1977, she began working at the Library of Congress where she was the conservator in charge of treatment for the architectural drawings for the U.S. Capitol. Four years later she accepted the position of paper conservator at the Baltimore Museum of Art where she worked for five years. After that, Kendra was in private practice until the mid-1990s when ill health forced her into early retirement. Kendra died March 6, 2003, after a prolonged struggle with multiple sclerosis. The Kendra Lovette Fund was set up in her honor by friends and colleagues.
Donations are accepted on an ongoing basis. Please donate by clicking the "Donate" button below or by mailing a check payable to Washington Conservation Guild to the WCG postal address (below), noting “Kendra Lovette Fund” on the check. Thank you for your support.
Kendra Lovette Fund Washington Conservation Guild P.O. Box 23364 Washington, DC 20026
Kendra Lovette Fund 2008 award
WCG will award up to $350 from its Kendra Lovette Fund this year. Applications
are due April 1, 2008; the winner will be announced at the annual business meeting
on May 1, 2008. The winning project may take place any time from May 2008 through
May 2009.
The Kendra Lovette Fund was established with WCG in 2003 to honor the memory of Washington-area conservator Kendra Deerenee Lovette. The fund is to be used to sponsor continuing education activities for mid-career conservation professionals in all specialties in the Washington, DC, area. The activity should benefit a wide audience of conservators.
Examples of appropriate projects include, but are not limited to, hosting a workshop, panel discussion, or lecture meeting open to DC-area conservators. The award cannot be used to support an individual to attend a conference or event; the activity should benefit a group of people rather than an individual. The funds may be used to pay partial or matching costs of an activity that has funding from other sources.
How to Apply
Send a letter describing the project for which the funds will be used. Include the full contact information for the principal organizer of the project, the name and qualifications (short bio or resume) of any speaker(s) or instructor(s) as appropriate, a budget indicating how the funds will be spent, the location of the activity, the intended audience of the activity, and the proposed date for the activity.
Applicants must be WCG members. Applications must reach WCG by April 1, 2008.
Submit all materials in one package by email to wcg@washingtonconservationguild.org or by postal mail to:
WCG – Kendra Lovette Fund P.O. Box 23364 Washington, DC 20026
Biography of Kendra D. Lovette (1947-2003)
Born on 2 March 1947 in St. Louis, Missouri, Kendra Deerenee Lovette was raised
by her grandparents. She began her career in book and paper conservation at
the age of seventeen at the Missouri Botanical Garden. During her time at the
Botanical Garden, she made extended trips to New York in order to study with
the noted book conservator, Laura Young. In 1977, she relocated to accept a
position at the Library of Congress in Washington. At the Library, she was the
conservator in charge of treatment for the architectural drawings for the United
States Capital. Four years later she accepted the position of paper conservator
at the Baltimore Museum of Art where she worked for five years. Following her
appointment at the Baltimore Museum of Art, Kendra was in private practice until
the mid 1990s when ill health forced her into early retirement.
Kendra had an enormous reserve of curiosity and an insatiable hunger for knowledge that was not limited to her own conservation interests. To that end, she amassed an extensive library on book and paper conservation, paper technology, papermaking, and related technologies--photography, textiles, printing, printmaking--with a special emphasis on the history of paper from the 18th century onward. It included encyclopedias, scientific and technical treatises, histories, art books, paper samples, postcards of paper mills, and periodicals in many languages. Her library was catalogued and open to all who came in search of information. More likely than not, it was Kendra who proffered the answer citing chapter and verse. Her conservation studio was replete with fine hand tools and unusual finds discovered in far-flung places. It belied Kendra's packrat instincts, as well. For instance, when the AIC office was being moved from the Klingle Mansion, she rescued many boxes of back publications that were being thrown away. Likewise, when the BMA stripped the Cone Collection galleries of their linen wall covering, she scavenged the linen in hopes that a paper maker could use it.
With a broad and open face, robust bearing, and generous spirit, Kendra was a natural teacher and a warm colleague. She lectured for the students at New York University, accepted interns, and always spared a moment for fellow conservators, curators, volunteers or whoever came her way. She was committed to continuing education and applied the highest standards of professional development to herself. Thus, each day began with a concentrated period of study among her beloved books.
As her strength waned, Kendra wanted to see that her tools, equipment and supplies could be useful. At a time when she was running out of money, with mounting medical bills, she gave her workshop and library for the benefit of our field. With the assistance of the MacArthur Foundation and the Center for Marine Conservation, Amparo de Torres arranged for Kendra's workshop to be given to the National Library of Science and Technology in Cuba. So great was the donation that many other institutions in Cuba benefited as well, including the National Archives, the Institute for Language and Linguistics, the National Library, the Museum of Cuban Art, and numerous provincial archives and libraries. The rescued AIC publications were distributed throughout Latin America. The AIC President's Commendation Award that was given to Kendra in 2000 acknowledged the gift of her workshop.
Kendra also wanted a place for her library that would meet the following requirements: The Library should go to 1) a place in the middle of the country, 2) a place where her collections would be accessible to both conservators and to the interested public, and 3) a place that might eventually use her library for the training of new conservators. The Library was given to the Gerald R. Ford Conservation Center of the Nebraska State Historical Society in Omaha, Nebraska early in 2001.
M. Susan Barger, Peggy Ellis, and Jeanne Drewes (2003)
