#  Conservation Staff Profiles: Amanda Maloney 

 





March 27, 2026

 

 

Amanda Maloney is a collections conservator working at the Weissman Preservation center. She specializes in paper and photographic materials.

   ![A woman wearing white gloves using a wide brush to clean a large glass photographic negative. ](/sites/g/files/omnuum11066/files/styles/hwp_1_1__360x360_scale/public/2026-03/AMaloney_FarlowNegative.jpg?itok=VqOWw7gn) 

 

**What led you to this job/the field?**

In high school and college, I enjoyed processing my own gelatin silver and alternative process photographs. Photography is fascinating from a material standpoint with seemingly magical image formation and a huge diversity of processes. In college, I pursued an interdisciplinary major which allowed me to blend philosophy, sociology, and art history with a focus on photography. Photography holds a unique place as both documentation and artistic expression and is often deeply personal. When I realized I could pursue a career helping to preserve photographs it felt like a perfect fit, especially once I realized I actually wasn’t terrible at chemistry!

**What do you do every day?**

Given the vast number of photographic materials across Harvard Library and their unique vulnerabilities, much of my time is spent planning for their long-term preservation by advocating for proper housing materials and storage conditions in collaboration with the collection stewards at the repositories. There are also items that come to the Weissman Preservation Center for treatment to make them safe for access, which could be researcher consultation, use in a class, digitization, or exhibition either at Harvard or another institution. Depending on the object it might need something as straightforward as customizing a housing or as complex as dozens of hours of consolidation. Probably the most common treatments are cleaning, flattening, and mending tears.

   ![A woman taking a rolled paper item from a pile on a table in a library. ](/sites/g/files/omnuum11066/files/styles/hwp_1_1__360x360_scale/public/2026-03/MCZ6_AMatMCZ_0.jpg?itok=G3O86sn-) 

 

**What is your favorite project/object/treatment you’ve worked on?**

I honestly don’t have favorites. Every project is so unique and provides an opportunity for me to learn about it as I do my best to make sure it can be safely accessed now and into the future. However, some particularly interesting collections that I’ve been able to work on are test photographs from the [Polaroid Corporate Records at Baker Library](https://hollisarchives.lib.harvard.edu/repositories/11/resources/8400) and the [Houghton Library collection of Black American portrait photographs](https://hollis.harvard.edu/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=01HVD_ALMA212513340200003941&context=L&vid=HVD2&lang=en_US&search_scope=everything&adaptor=Local%20Search%20Engine&tab=everything&query=lsr01,contains,99155801059103941&mode=basic&offset=0), which had some remarkable oversize hand painted tintype portraits.

**What do you think people should know about the importance of conservation?**

Conservation is a key component in providing access to collections today and into the future. Conservation can:

- advise about the stability and cost to maintain a collection to inform acquisition
- provide in depth analysis about the materials in the collection, for example how they were made and used
- provide treatment to make items accessible
- advise on housings and environmental conditions to ensure long term preservation.

   ![A woman sitting at a desk with an open binder full of photographic negatives.](/sites/g/files/omnuum11066/files/styles/hwp_1_1__360x360_scale/public/2026-03/202511_AMaloney_HOU_0.jpeg?itok=abyKAsjk) 

 



 

 

 



 

 See also:- [ Conservation ](/hlps-tags/conservation)
 
 

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