Ballard, Mary
Fellowship Advisor Museum Conservation Institute staffBallard, Mary
Fellowship Advisor Museum Conservation Institute staffTextile preservation and technical studies, particularly the light fading of dyes on fabrics; textile cleaning methods; and the biodeterioration of textiles.
Positions
- Senior Textiles Conservator, Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute 1984 -
Background And Education
Education And Training
Publications
Selected Publications
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Article
- Diaz-Granados, Katja, Bergemann, Laura J., Ballard, Mary, Newsome, G. A., Kavich, Gwénaëlle M., Caldwell, Joshua D., and Cleland, Timothy P. 2025. "Investigation of Natural Dyes and Taxonomic Identification of Fibers Used in Chancay Textiles by Vibrational Spectroscopy and Mass Spectrometry." Journal of Proteome Research, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jproteome.4c00809. 2025
- Diaz-Granados, Katja, Bergemann, Laura J., Ballard, Mary, Newsome, G. A., Kavich, Gwénaëlle M., Caldwell, Joshua D., and Cleland, Timothy P. 2025. "Investigation of Natural Dyes and Taxonomic Identification of Fibers Used in Chancay Textiles by Vibrational Spectroscopy and Mass Spectrometry." Journal of Proteome Research, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jproteome.4c00809. 2025
- Ballard, Mary, Newsome, G. Asher, Simpson, Elizabeth, and Burke, Brendan. 2023. "Ancient Chromophores and Auxiliaries: Phrygian Colorants from Tumulus MM at Gordion, Turkey, ca 740 BCE." Heritage, 6, (2) 2220–2246. https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage6020118. 2023
- Simpson, Elizabeth, Ballard, Mary W., Newsome, G. A., and Burke, Brendan. 2023. "King Midas’s Textiles: Dyeing and Weaving Technology in Ancient Phrygia." The Textile Museum Journal, 4–31. https://doi.org/10.7560/TMJ5001. 2023
- Ballard, Mary, Chase, Thomas, and Odell, Scott. 2021. "Eleanor McMillan, 1937-2021." AIC News, 46, (6) 25–26. 2021
- Ballard, Mary W., Newsome, G. Asher, and Heald, Susan. 2019. "An Ongoing Mystery: Copper Kettles And Chilkat Blue." The Textile Specialty Group Postprints, 29 99–113. 2019
- Ballard, Mary W., Newsome, G. Asher, and Baglia, Regina A. 2019. "Ghost Images in Living Color." Collections Quarterly, 3 18–20. 2019
- Koestler, Daniel, Ballard, Mary W., Charola, A. Elena, and Koestler, Robert J. 2018. "Does argon anoxia cause a color change in Prussian blue pigment?" Journal of the American Institute for Conservation, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/01971360.2018.1478534. 2018
- Ballard, Mary W., Gentry, Allison, and Dalela, Namrata. 2018. "Opening a Plexiglas Pressure-Mounted Archeological Silk Sandwich." "pre-publication", 1–5. 2018
- Bolin, Courtney Anne and Ballard, Mary W. 2017. "Assessing LED Lights for Visual Changes in Textile Colors." Journal of the American Institute for Conservation, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/01971360.2016.1275928. 2017
- Bolin, Courtney Anne and Ballard, Mary W. 2014. "Assessing Lights for Textile Colorants." Textile Specialty Group Postprints, 24 85–95. 2014
- Moini, Mehdi, Klauenberg, Kathryn, and Ballard, Mary. 2011. "Dating Silk by Capillary Electrophoresis Mass Spectrometry." Analytical Chemistry, 83, (19) 7577–7581. https://doi.org/10.1021/ac201746u. 2011
- Solazzo, Caroline, Heald, Susan, Ballard, Mary W., Ashford, David A., DePriest, Paula T., Koestler, Robert J., and Collins, Matthew. 2011. "Proteomics and Coast Salish blankets: a tale of shaggy dogs?" Antiquity, 85 1418–1432. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00062141. 2011
- Ballard, Mary W. 2008. "Textile Conservation: A New World." AIC news : newsletter of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works, 33, (3) 8–11. 2008
- Ballard, Mary W. 2007. "Natural dyes: Sources, tradition, technology and science." Studies in Conservation, 52, (4) 318–319. 2007
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Chapter
- Baglia, Regina A., Newsome, G. Asher, and Ballard, Mary W. 2018. "Ambient Mass Spectrometry Analysis of Alizarin-Dyed Textile and Dye Transfer to Paper." In The Textile Specialty Group Postprints: Papers Delivered at the Textile Subgroup Session: American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works, 46th Annual Meeting, Houston, Texas, May-June 2018, Volume 28. Eng-Wilmot, Kira, Casteneda, Alison, Frankel, Nora, Getts, Anne, Schmitt, Emma, and Urick, Jessica, editors. 127–139. Washington, DC: Textile Specialty Group of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works. 2018
- Ballard, Mary W., Gentry, Allison, and Dalela, Namrata. 2018. "Old and New Solutions to Dissipate Static Charge for Plexiglas Pressure Mounts." In The Textile Specialty Group Postprints: Papers Delivered at the Textiles Supgroup Session: American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works, 46th Annual Meeting, Houston, Texas, May-June 2018, Volume 28. Eng-Wilmot, Kira, Casteneda, Alison, Frankel, Nora, Getts, Anne, Schmitt, Emma, and Urick, Jessica, editors. 173–177. Washington, DC: Textile Specialty Group of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works. 2018
- McClean, Taylor, Bolin, Courtney A., and Ballard, Mary W. 2017. "The Effect of Light Emitting Diode Lamps (LEDs) on 19th century Dyed & Printed Cotton Fabrics." In Textile Specialty Group PostPrints 43rd AIC Annual Meeting Miami, Florida May 2015. Getts, A., Shaeffer, E., and Zaret, C., editors. 1–10. Washington, DC: AIC. 2017
- Ballard, Mary W., Bolin, Courtney, Ohno, Yoshi, McClean, Taylor, and Lena, Nick. 2015. "LED Lighting in Museums: Conservation and Color of Textiles." In 2015 Proceedings of AATCC Internationa Conference. 71–101. Research Triangle Park, NC: American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists. 2015
- Ballard, Mary W., France, Christine A. M., Moini, Mehdi, and Solazzo, Caroline. 2012. "Dating Silk and Other Innovations in Mass Spectrometry." In The Textile Specialty Group PostPrints: Papers Delivered at the Textile Subgroup Session (AIC 40th Annual Meeting) Volume 22. Holden, Amanda, Stevens, Sarah, Carlson, Julia, Petersen, Glenn, Schuetz, Emily, and Summerour, Rebecca, editors. 55–62. American Institute for Conservation. 2012
- Ballard, Mary W., Burke, Brendan, and Simpson, Elizabeth. 2012. "Gordion Dokumalari: Gordion Textiles." In Frigler, Midas'in ulkesinde, anitlarin golgesinde : Phrygians, in the land of Midas, in the shadow of monuments. Sivas, Hakan and Tufekci Sivas, Taciser, editors. 360–375. Beyoglu, Turkey: Yapi Kredi Yayinlari: Tupras. 2012
- Ballard, Mary W. 2012. "Measuring Your Color Vision with a Glenn Colorule." In The Textile Specialty Group Postprints: Papers Delivered at the Textile Subgroup Session (AIC 40th Annual Meeting), Volume 22. Holden, Amanda, Stevens, Sarah, Carlson, Julia, Petersen, Glenn, Schuetz, Emily, and Summerour, Rebecca, editors. 103–105. Washington, DC: American Institute for Conservation. 2012
- Ballard, Mary W., Alden, Harry, Cunningham, Roland H., Hopwood, Walter, Koles, Joseph, and Dussubieux, Laure. 2010. "Appendix 8: Preliminary Analyses of Textiles Associated with the Wooden Furniture of Tumulus MM." In The Gordion Wooden Objects, Volume 1 The Furniture from Tumulus MM. Simpson, Elizabeth, editor. 203–223. Leiden; Boston: Brill. 2010
- Ballard, Mary W. 2009. "Update: Detergency & the Aqueous Cleaning of Antique Textiles." In Postprints of the Textile Specialty Group. 89–101. Washington, DC: American Institute for Conservation. 2009
- Ballard, Mary W. 2007. "Microbial Growth on Textiles: Conflicting Conventions." In Facing Impermanence: Exploring Preventive Conservation for Textiles: Preprints, North American Textile Conservation Conference 2007, Washington, DC, November 6-9, 2007 = Enfrentando la Inestabilidad: Explorando la Conservacion Preventiva de Textiles: .... Thomassen-Krauss, Suzanne, editor. 60–65. North American Textile Conservation Conference. 2007
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Conference Paper
- Ballard, Mary, Mina, Laura, Zaret, Cathleen, and Grissom, Carol. 2016. "A Biological Disaster to Costume." from The Textile Specialty Group Postprints: Papers Delivered at the Textiles Subgroup Session: American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works, 42th Annual Meeting, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, May 2016. 26, 75–88. Washington, DC: American Institute for Conservation. 2016
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Webpage
- Ballard, Mary W. and Koestler, Robert J. 2014. Thirty Years of Pest Control in Museums: Policy & Practice. 2014
Editor Of
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Book
- Ballard, Mary W. and Dignard, Carole , editors. 2009. Proceedings of the Forum on the Conservation of Thangkas: Special Session of the ICOM-CC 15th Triennial Conference, New Delhi, India, September 26,2008. Rome: International Council of Museums, Conservation Committee. 2009
Presentations
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Presentation
- Baglia, Regina A., Ballard, Mary W., and Newsome, G. Asher. 2018. Ambient analysis of historic textiles by DART-MS [presentation]. American Institute for Conservation 46th Annual Meeting, May 1, 2018. Houston, Texas: American Institute for Conservation.
Contact
Location
- Museum Conservation Institute Academic Department
