Lisa Young is a Supervisory Conservator at the National Air and Space Museum and has worked with the conservation unit since 1999.  She has a BA in Anthropology and Historic Preservation from the University of Mary Washington, a BSc (Honors) in museum conservation from the University of Wales, Cardiff and is a PhD candidate at Durham University, UK (2022).  She currently leads a team of conservators working on treatment of objects scheduled for exhibition related to the renovation of 23 galleries at the Museum.  She has conducted primary research on the degradation, preservation and display of spacesuits and related space history objects. She served as conservation lead to the Save America’s Treasures project in 1999 and the Smithsonian’s Kickstarter campaign to return Neil Armstrong’s Apollo 11 spacesuit to display in 2019.  She has performed treatment and research on Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo spacecraft in the collection and traveled with the Apollo 11 Command Module “Destination Moon” show for three years. She has advised on the preservation, transport, and display of aerospace objects.  She has presented her work at numerous national and international conferences, and has published written articles, contributions to books, blogs, and technical reports on these topics. She has participated in public outreach to professionals, school groups, and the public on conservation and spacesuits. Lisa is a current member of the Washington Conservation Guild (President 2005 to 2007), American Institute for Conservation (Fellow 2016), and the International Institute for Conservation (Fellow 2022).  Current research topics include display mannequins for spacesuits, maintaining preservation standards while displaying aerospace artifacts, and finding ways to stabilize aluminum alloys in the collection. 

Publications

Chemello, Collum, Mardikian, Sembrat and Young (ed.) 2017.  Aluminum: History, Technology and Conservation-Proceedings from the 2014 International Conference.  Smithsonian Scholarly Press, Washington, D.C. (forth coming 2017).

Young, Lisa and Amanda Young, 2001. The Preservation, Storage and Display of Spacesuits. Smithsonian Institution, Collections Care Series, Volume 5: 23 pages.

Young, L. 2022, “Challenges of Conserving and Displaying Spacesuits at the National Air and Space Museum”, ICOM-CC, Metal 2022: Helsinki, Finland: September 6, 2022.    

Young, Lisa et al. 2016 “Finding a Suitable Method for Chloride Removal and Preventive Storage of Spacesuit Gloves at the National Air and Space Museum” in Aluminum: History, Technology and Conservation. Smithsonian Scholarly Press, 2016 (forthcoming).

H. Wellman and L. Young 2013 “Professional Outreach and Public Conservation: Examples from the Washington Conservation Guild” in The Public Face of Conservation. London: Archetype Publication, pp. 251-255.

Young, L and M. Avino 2013 “A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words: Using X-radiographs of the National Air and Space Museum’s Spacesuit Collection to Promote Preservation” in The Public Face of Conservation. London: Archetype Publication, pp. 49-56.

Shashoua, Y., U. Schnell and L. Young, 2002. “Deterioration of Plasticized PVC Components in Apollo Spacesuits” in Plastics in Art: History, Technology and Preservation. Munich: Siegel: pp. 69-79.

M. Breuker, C. McNamara, L. Young, T.D. Perry IV, A. Young, and R. Mitchell  2003  “Fungal Growth on Synthetic Cloth from the Apollo Spacesuits” in Annals of Microbiology 53: 47-54.

Young, L. 2002 “Saving America’s Treasures: Threatened Artifacts from the Apollo Era”. AIC Joint Objects-Textile Specialty Group Post Prints (9).