Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections September 2019 - 33

Profiles
Member Profile Ingela Chef Holmberg
by Ann Pinzl
Our members play many different roles, from collection
management and conservation, to databasing and informatics, to research and education. Many of our members come
from a traditional research background while many of our
new members are coming into the field from museum studies programs. Our hope is to introduce our membership to a
variety of individuals who are playing very dynamic roles in
their museum's activities. We are casting our net broadly and
selecting individuals from institutions of all sizes and backgrounds.

Snapshot
What is your name?
Ingela Chef Holmberg
Where do you work, and what is your position?
Advisor, at the Department of Conservation, Swedish National Heritage Board.
What is your working history?
I served as Conservator at the Swedish Natural History Museum from 1994 to 2010. Then from 2010 to 2014, I worked as
a conservator at the Swedish National Heritage Board. Starting in 2015, my position at the Heritage Board was changed
to advisor within the Department of Conservation.
When did you join SPNHC?
1992

In-depth
What drew you to the museum field, and the natural history field in general?
I have had a keen interest in museums and cultural issues all
my life. I went to museums throughout my childhood, which
led to my university studies in Classical Archaeology and
then Osteology.
Unfortunately, you can't find many jobs in Sweden in Classical Archaeology so I needed something else to fall back on. I
then started training in conservation.
The year I applied to the Conservation Program at Gothenburg University, the theme was Natural History Conservation.
Soon, I was hooked. I received both a bachelor's and master's
degree in conservation from the university. My area of study
was geological conservation and bone material.

During one semester, in the spring of 1992, I had an internship at the Museum of Comparative Zoology in Cambridge,
Massachusetts.
There I found information about SPNHC and the annual
meeting, which was in Nebraska. I decided to go, and met
so many people with whom I continue to maintain contact.
SPNHC is a wonderful group. I was still in training, but very
well looked after by them.
After my education, I began working in Stockholm at the
Swedish Natural History Museum. In the beginning, the work
was mostly about active conservation and registration. During
the last five years, I worked mainly with preventive conservation together with collection management issues for the entire
museum.
In 2010, I moved to Gotland (an island in the Baltic Sea) and
got a job at the Swedish National Heritage Board. At that
time, the Heritage Board had received a new assignment to
focus on issues related to the care and preservation of collections in all Swedish museums and to work directly with these
museums.
The Swedish National Heritage Board, under the auspices of
the Ministry of Culture, has served since the 17th century as
Sweden's central administrative agency in the area of cultural
heritage and cultural or historic environment. Cultural heritage protection and management in Sweden aims to preserve
and manage sites of historical, architectural or archaeological
significance and to empower cultural heritage as a force in the
evolution of a democratic, sustainable society.

September 2019 * 33

Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections September 2019

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