Rebecca A. Kaczkowski is the Museum Conservator at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History (NMNH), where she manages conservation activities across the museum, including treatment and research, exhibit and loan support, developing guidelines and policy, leading special projects, and teaching. Prior to her current role, she was the Anthropology Conservator at NMNH and previously the Preventive Conservator at the Smithsonian’s Museum Conservation Institute, and brings to NMNH broad experience with exhibits conservation, museum environments, collections care and storage, and training. She earned an M.S. in art conservation from the University of Delaware and holds a B.A. in art history and German language & literature and an M.A. in museum studies from The George Washington University. Becky is a Professional Member of the American Institute for Conservation; she currently serves AIC as Chair of the Materials Selection & Specification Working Group (MWG).

Article

• O'Hern, Robin, Hiebert, Miriam E., Colebank, Sadie, Lepsik, Stephanie, and Kaczkowski, Rebecca A. 2025. "A Comprehensive Review of Recent Glass Condition Surveys for Understanding Glass Collections on a Global Scale." Studies in Conservation, https://doi.org/10.1080/00393630.2025.2529046. 2025
• Hiebert, Miriam E., O’Hern, Robin, Colebank, Sadie, Baburi, Sarah, and Kaczkowski, Rebecca. 2024. "Standardizing Collections Record Data for Increased Understanding of Glass Collections Across the Smithsonian Institution." Studies in Conservation, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/00393630.2024.2345421. 2024
• Kaczkowski, Rebecca. 2022. "Materials Working Group (MWG) Update." AIC News, 47, (2) 18–20. 2022
• Heald, Susan, George, John, Osmond, Lauren, Elston, Sarah, Kaczkowski, Rebecca, Kavich, Gwenaelle, and Newsome, G. Asher. 2021. "A COVID-Redirect – Investigation and Mitigation of Adhesive Off-gassing and Crystal Formation Inside Exhibition Cases Takes an Unexpected Detour." Collections Quarterly, 11. 2021
• Alvarez-Martin, Alba, George, John, Kaplan, Emily, Osmond, Lauren, Bright, Leah, Newsome, G. Asher, Kaczkowski, Rebecca, Vanmeert, Frederik, Kavich, Gwénaëlle, and Heald, Susan. 2020. "Identifying VOCs in exhibition cases and efflorescence on museum objects exhibited at Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian-New York." Heritage Science, 8. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40494-020-00454-4. 2020
• Kaczkowski, Rebecca, King, Melissa, and Imamura, Lisa. 2020. "Materials Working Group: Building Community & Collating Resources." AIC News, 45, (2) 1–26. 2020
• Kaczkowski, Rebecca and Davies, D. 2020. "Preservation Environments Subcommittee: An Update." Smithsonian's Collections Quarterly, 14. 2020
• France, Christine A. M., Kaczkowski, Rebecca A., Kavich, Gwénaëlle M., and Epitropou, Anastasia. 2020. "The effects of cyclododecane and subsequent removal on δ¹⁵N, δ¹³C, and δ¹⁸O values in collagen and bioapatite of a modern bone." Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 31 Article 102367. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2020.102367. 2020
• Alvarez-Martin, Alba, McHugh, Kelly, Martin, Cali, Kavich, Gwénaëlle, and Kaczkowski, Rebecca. 2020. "Understanding air-tight case environments at the National Museum of the American Indian (Smithsonian Institution) by SPME-GC-MS analysis." Journal of Cultural Heritage, 44 38–46. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.culher.2020.01.004. 2020
• Kaczkowski, Rebecca A. 2018. "A New Working Group: Materials Selection & Specifications." AIC News, 43, (3) 24–25. 2018
• Vicenzi, Edward P., Kaczkowski, Rebecca A., and Dajnowski, Bartosz A. 2018. "Laser Cleaning Iron Meteorite Corrosion, A Microstructural and Compositional Examination." Microscopy and Microanalysis, 24 2160–2161. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1431927618011285. 2018
• Kaczkowski, Rebecca A., Makos, Kathryn A., Hawks, Catharine, and Hunt, Michael. 2017. "Investigation of Residual Contamination Inside Storage Cabinets: Collection Care Benefits from an Industrial Hygiene Study." Journal of the American Institute for Conservation, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/01971360.2017.1326242. 2017

Blog Posting

• Kaczkowski, Rebecca. 2022. "Best Practices: Are we following the wrong rules? Part 2." What Is Conservation University of Delaware Art Conservation Department. Feb 21, 2022. https://whatisconservation.com/idea/are-we-following-the-wrong-rules-part-2/. 2022

Chapter

• Kaczkowski, Rebecca A., Dajnowski, B. A., and Vicenzi, Edward P. 2017. "From Earth to Outer Space: Laser cleaning semiprecious quartz and a novel application for meteoritic metal." In Lasers in the Conservation of Artworks XI: Proceedings of the International Conference LACONA XI, Krakow, Poland, 20-23 September 2016. Tagowski, Piotr, Walczak, Malgorzata, and Pouli, Paraskevi, editors. 47–62. Torun, Poland: Nicolaus Copernicus Press. https://doi.org/10.12775/3875-4.03. 2017

Report

• Herrmann, Jennifer, Davis, Andrew, Kaczkowski, Rebecca, Neumann, Antje, Brogdon-Grantham, Shannon, France, Fenella, Kim, Dong Eun, Liu, Yun, Lubick, Amy, Ormsby, Mark, Shpargel, Sara, and Tilford, Charles. 2021. Trajectory of Anoxic Encasements in Museum Use. 2021