MACCH Board Member Biographies
Eric Alstrom is the head of conservation at the Michigan State University Libraries. He is responsible for the care of both the general, circulating collections and the rare book and special collections. Previously he headed the conservation labs at both Dartmouth College and Ohio University. Eric apprenticed under James Craven at the University of Michigan, where he received a Masters of Information and Library Studies (MILS).
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Carol Fink is the Rare Book Librarian at the Library of Michigan, an agency of the Dept. of History Arts, and Libraries in Lansing. She has more than 25 years experience working in school, public, and university libraries. Carol has experience writing disaster preparedness plans for libraries and archives and is knowledgeable about the care and preservation of paper-based materials. She earned a certificate in Preservation Management from the Preservation Management Institute at Rutgers University.
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Teresa Goforth is the Executive Director of the Michigan Museums Association (MMA). She has worked in the museum field for over ten years and holds a Master's Degree in American History from Michigan State University. Her expertise includes exhibit design and development, small museum administration and management, collections care and storage in small museums, and historical research. She has taught American History at Lansing Community College and Exhibit Design and Development at Michigan State University.
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Barbara Heller has more than 30 years experience as Chief Conservator at the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA). She is responsible for the conservation research, scientific analysis, and treatment program for the DIA. As an advocate for works of art, Barbara collaborates with curators, mechanical engineers, and architects by recommending appropriate environmental conditions for exhibition and storage, and providing guidelines and training for their proper care, handling, display, packing, and transport. She also serves on the Board of Directors of various national and international conservation, preservation and artistic organizations.
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Jerald A. Mitchell is the founder and president of the Model T Automotive Heritage Complex, (T-PLEX), a non-profit corporation dedicated to the preservation and restoration of the Ford Picquette Avenue Plant, the birthplace of the Model T. Jerald has restored the Edison Avenue home of Henry and Clara Ford in Detroit, is secretary to the Boston Edison Development, Inc., a non-profit corporation committed to preserving homes in Detroit’s Boston Edison Historic District, archivist and historian of the Historic Boston Edison Association, and former archivist for the Scarab Club.
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Katie Nelson earned a Museum Studies Certification in 2005 and completed her internship at Mackinac State Historic Parks. She is the Outreach Coordinator and Collections Manager at Kingman Museum in Battle Creek, Michigan. Katie oversees all outreach programs to groups and special events for the museum including the recruiting, training and supervision of volunteers. Katie's Collection Manager duties include the oversight of all collection management activities, including inventories and processing. She serves on committees in the Battle Creek area, statewide organizations and is the state representative for the Midwest Registrar Committee.
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Jennifer Radcliff holds a B.A. degree in sociology from Wheaton College (Ill.), with post-graduate classes in architecture. She has managed projects ranging from the acquisition of historic recognition for communities to the relocation and restoration of an 1857 home. Jennifer was the primary lobbyist for the 1998 passage of Michigan's state tax credits. She is an active member of several boards, committees and commissions in Oakland County and throughout the state.
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Ronna Rivers-Featherstone is a paper conservator in private practice specializing in the conservation and care of prints, drawings, books, photographs, and historic documents. A graduate of the Winterthur Museum/University of Delaware Art Conservation Program, Ronna was an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fellow in Conservation at the Detroit Institute of Arts and has held positions as Conservator and Chief Preservation Officer of the Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University, and as Head of Paper Conservation at the Nebraska State Historical Society. Her teaching experience includes posts as Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Nebraska Museum Studies Program and at Wayne State University Library Science Program as well as many workshops.
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Nancy Robertson is the State Librarian of Michigan. She has over 15 years experience working in several types of libraries. Her expertise includes the selection, cataloging, preservation, and care for rare printed materials. Nancy was the chair of the Library of Michigan's preservation committee when the committee oversaw the completion of the library's first disaster preparedness plan for collections recovery. She had a leading role in the design and construction of the Library of Michigan's rare book room, a complex that includes offices, reading and display rooms, and a conservation area completed in 2003. Nancy is a member of the Michigan Library Association and the American Library Association.
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Elaine Robinson has worked for Commonwealth Cultural Resources Groups as Senior Architectural Historian and Preservation Planner for more than ten years. With over 25 years of active involvement in historic preservation at the local and state levels, Elaine has considerable experience working with nonprofit organizations. Although the bulk of her work has been with Section 106 projects, Elaine has also undertaken preparation of National Register nominations, the designation of local historic districts, and consulted on tax credit projects.
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Josephine Shea is curator of the Edsel & Eleanor Ford House, an historic house museum outside of Detroit. As curator, Josephine manages ongoing conservation of the collection and oversees the duties of collection care staff. Her background includes over twenty years of arts-related experience, including registration and collection care, and she was a co-presenter for Michigan Museum's ABCs of Collection Care. A candidate for a MA in the History of Decorative Arts, she complemented her undergraduate art history studies by attending the Attingham Summer School for the study of the English Country House.
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