September 21, 2001

Meeting cancelled due to the events of 9/11/2001.

"The Use of Shellac and Starch as Protective Coatings in the Early 20th Century"
Frank S. Welsh
Welsh Color and Conservation, Inc.
Bryn Mawr, PA

Shellac and starch are products familiar to most people. Both have unique properties that made them very popular for architectural coatings in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Literature from that period that illustrates the sources of materials and manufacturing of both products will be discussed and exhibited. This slide presentation will be supplemented with demonstrations of several analytical techniques in association with case studies.

Bio Sketch
Frank S. Welsh is a conservation microscopist and the president of Welsh Color & Conservation, Inc. in Bryn Mawr, PA. He holds a BA degree from West Chester University in Pennsylvania. He also has studied at Drexel University and the University of Pennsylvania, as well as the McCrone Research Institute.

He began his professional career in 1972 with the National Park Service at Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia. In 1974 he founded Welsh Color & Conservation, Inc. as a consulting firm specializing in the investigation and analysis of historic architectural coatings. The company provides on-site consulting, investigation and microanalysis of historic finishes, color matching, documentation, and recommendations for restoration of historic buildings in the United States and abroad.

Frank Welsh served as a visiting faculty member of the Preservation Institute: Nantucket, a summer program in historic preservation sponsored by the University of Florida at Gainesville. He also served as adjunct Assistant Professor in the Master of Arts in Historic Preservation Program at Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland. He has conducted workshops for historic site administrators, preservation groups, and restoration crews.

Awarded a Charles E. Peterson Fellowship for advanced study in 1992-1993, Welsh undertook research on early American paints, colors and pigments, and wrote a chapter, "The Early American Palette: Colonial Paint Colors Revealed," for the book Paint In America. This chapter features period color samples from many national historic landmarks. He has written and lectured extensively, drawing on over 25 years of experience in the field and work on over 1200 restoration projects.

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"The Secret Garden"
Albert G. Richards

"About X-rays and Floral Radiographs and the Man Responsible"
A Book Review by Bill Mikuska