Photo by Jon Atherton, Yale

Paul Messier is a photograph conservator working at Yale and in private practice in Boston. He is the founder and Pritzker Director of the Lens Media Lab at Yale’s Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage.  Established in 2015, the focus of the LML is the creation, dissemination, and interpretation of large datasets derived from museum and reference collections of artist materials. Notable among these is the LML’s collection of historic photographic papers which is the largest of its kind in the world and was assembled by Paul over the course of decades.  Paul’s Boston-based private conservation practice was founded in 1994. The practice serves collectors, galleries, auctions houses as well as public institutions included leading museums, libraries, and archives worldwide.  This practice has served as a training platform for numerous pre- and post-graduate interns all of whom have filled photograph conservation positions within prestigious cultural intuitions, including the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, the Smithsonian Institution, the Library of Congress, and the National Archives.  Paul has published widely, holds two patents covering innovative techniques for the characterization of cultural materials, served elected terms to the Board of Directors of the American Institute for Conservation, and recently completed a multiyear Mellon-funded initiative to establish a department of photograph conservation at the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

Presented by: Melissa Banta

Melissa Banta is Projects Curator at the Weissman Preservation Center, Harvard Library, where she works to preserve, exhibit, and publish photograph collections throughout Harvard’s museums, libraries, and archives. Ms. Banta was formerly Director of the Photographic Archives at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard. She also serves as consulting curator at Baker Library, Harvard Business School and at Mount Auburn Cemetery. Her exhibitions and publications include From Site to Sight: Anthropology, Photography, and the Power of Imagery; A Timely Encounter: Nineteenth-Century Photographs of Japan; The Invention of Photography and Its Impact on Learning; A Curious and Ingenious Art: Reflections on Daguerreotypes at Harvard; and At the Intersection of Science and Art: Edwin H. Land and the Polaroid Collection, The Formative Years.

Karen Haas

The Lane Curator of Photographs at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Presented by: Arno Minkkinen

Photographer and Educator

Phillip Prodger

Phillip Prodger, is an art historian, writer, curator and head of the photography department at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts

Presented by: Jared Bowen

Jared Bowen will present the award to Phillip Prodger

Stephen Jareckie

Stephen Jareckie, is currently the Photographic Advisor for the Fitchburg Art Museum and Curator of Photography Emeritus for the Worcester Art Museum.

Presented by: Kristina Durocher

Kristina Durocher will present the award to Stephen Jareckie.

Susan Mosser

Susan Mosser, is Special Services VP of the New England Camera Club Council.

Presented by: Barbara Rozavsky

Barbara Rozavsky will present the award to Ms. Mosser.

Alan Taylor

Web developer Alan Taylor created the photo blog The Big Picture for The Boston Globe/Boston.com.

Presented by: Finbarr O’Reilly

Chief Photographer, West & Central Africa, Reuters O’Reilly will present the award to Taylor.

Rosalind Smith

Rosalind (Roz) Smith, a native of Newton, is a features writer for Shutterbug, Photographers Forum, View Camera, Black and White and Camera Arts. She has also written feature articles for the Robb Report, Photo District News, and the Boston Globe. She has written articles on scores of photographers including Richard Avedon, James Nachtwey, Ron Haviv, John Isaac, Jill Enfield and Duane Michals.

Presented by: John Isaac

Photographer, John Isaac will present the award to Roz Smith.

Henry Horenstein

Henry Horenstein, Photographer, Author and Educator

Presented by:

Award-winning hosts of Car Talk on National Public Radio

Clifford Ackley

Ruth and Carl J. Shapiro Curator of Prints and Drawings and Chair of the Department of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs at the MFA, Boston

Presented by: Susan Paine

President of the Board of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston

Barbara Hitchcock

Cultural Affairs Director, Polaroid Corporation and Curator, Polaroid Collection

Presented by: David Levinthal

Photographer presents award to Barbara Hitchcock