Press Release
Press Release · Wednesday, May 9, 2001

College Park, M.D. . . .Doris A. Hamburg has been selected as Director of Preservation Programs at the National Archives and Records Administration. As the new Director, Ms. Hamburg is responsible for overseeing preservation, conservation, and reproduction programs at National Archives 24 facilities nationwide. She will create standards and policies relating to the preservation of all archival media, including paper, photographic film, magnetic tape and objects.

In making the announcement, Dr. Michael Kurtz, Assistant Archivist for Record Services said, "we are very fortunate to have Doris Hamburg joining the National Archives. She has spent the majority of her professional career at the Library of Congress, where she was head of Preventive Conservation for six years. Ms. Hamburg developed and managed a program that oversaw the preventive preservation of 110 million items, including books, manuscripts, drawings, photographs, maps, three-dimensional objects, and recordings. As a leader in the preservation field she will be of enormous help in preserving our nation's documentary heritage for future generations. The National Archives is at a very critical juncture as we embark on a major project to re-encase the Charters of Freedom and assess emerging technologies in the world of preservation. We look forward to Ms. Hamburg's leadership in this area."

In addition to her other responsibilities at the Library of Congress, for the last three years, Ms. Hamburg served as Chair of the Preservation and Security Planning Team which developed minimum standards for preserving Library collections and completed an assessment of the preservation status of custodial divisions; she also served as the Preservation Manager for building their new high density storage facility. From 1985 to 1995, Ms. Hamburg was the head of the Paper Conservation Section of the Library of Congress where she developed and managed all programs related to lab treatments and assessments related to the conservation of paper-based media. Ms. Hamburg earned a B.A. from Mount Holyoke College in Medieval Studies, a M.A. from Columbia University in Art History, and a M.S. from the Winterthur Museum Art Conservation Program at the University of Delaware in Paper Conservation and Museum Studies. She has served on numerous board and peer review committees and has published more than fifteen professional articles and papers in the field of conservation.

For additional PRESS information, please contact the National Archives Public Affairs staff at (301) 837-1700 or by e-mail.

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