Art Conservation (MS)

Requirements for the MS Degree

Courses carrying an ARTC designation are generally open only to art conservation graduate students. (Permission of instructor is required for other students.) There is no thesis or language requirement in the program. A  research/technical study paper is done in the second year. Comprehensive examinations are given at the end of the first and second years, and a portfolio of third-year work and a final oral presentation and oral examination are required before graduation. Two eight-week summer work projects are part of the required curriculum.

Students are permitted one three-credit elective per semester for the second year of study (a total of six elective credits within the 68 credits required for graduation). Elective course work should focus on the following topics: (1) history of the technology of cultural property; (2) connoisseurship and provenance studies; (3) reconstruction studies in studio arts and crafts; (4) museum studies. Elective courses may include course offerings in Art Conservation and other relevant departments/programs including Art History, Anthropology, Art, Museum Studies and the Winterthur Program in American Material Culture or courses offered via cooperative agreements arranged by the Art Conservation Department or other University departments with other higher education institutions. Independent study topics may be negotiated between faculty and students. Independent study topics may not duplicate the content of existing University of Delaware courses. A total of six credits of independent study may be permitted during the first two years of study.