Academic Accreditation

San Gemini Book & Paper Conservation School

The San Gemini Book & Paper Conservation School (SGB&P) is a new program being offered by the International Institute for Restoration and Preservation Studies (IIRPS) in San Gemini, Italy. Currently SGB&P is not accredited by a US university.  We offer a graduate certificate of participation and an evaluation of the student’s work.

This course is the first part of the larger idea aimed at creating a professional training school in the field of conservation that meets the requirements of rare book libraries, archives, and museum archives. The common thread of these programs will be the medium of paper. Each program will be a year long. This first program will be offered in the academic year 2025-2026. We will add the second and third programs to the school each consecutive year.

  1. Book and Paper Conservation

  2. Art on Paper Conservation

  3. Conservation of Photographic Materials and Modern Reproduction Media

SGB&P will provide students with the skills and knowledge to be a professional conservator. As certain types of work positions require degrees from accredited universities, students applying should carefully evaluate their future needs for both professional skills and academic credentials before applying to SGB&P, given its present state as a non-accredited school.

We are currently having encouraging conversations with US universities around creating either a master’s program or graduate certificate associated with the school. We hope that in the near future this situation will be realized.

Note:

For the last 15 years, IIRPS has sponsored a summer field school , the San Gemini Preservation Studies (SGPS) Program. This program offers 4-week introductory courses in the field of book and paper conservation. All courses in the SGPS program are currently approved credit-bearing courses by the Department of Art History At West Virginia University in Morgantown. SGPS students have the option of receiving academic credits by applying to the program through the West Virginia University.