Helen Burgess

Helen Diana Burgess (28 July 1951 – 24 August 1999), was a Canadian conservation scientist. Burgess spent her career at the Canadian Conservation Institute ("CCI"), where she was a Senior Conservation Scientist. She was a researcher in paper and textiles conservation processes and an expert in the areas of cellulose degradation analysis, conservation bleaching, washing, enzyme applications on paper, as well as aqueous and mass deacidification of paper.

Career

Helen Burgess obtained her Bachelor of Science (Chemistry) (Honours) from the University of Lethbridge in 1973. Burgess subsequently went to the University of British Columbia, where she graduated with a Masters of Science in bio-organic chemistry. She then went on to obtain a Masters of Conservation from Queen's University, specializing in conservation science. Burgess was the first conservation-restoration scientist to classify the chemical analysis of treated specimens, and to find an application for bleaching agents in paper conservation. Burgess published numerous articles in a variety of academic journals and industry publications. Burgess was also a frequent presenter at conservation, restoration, and scientific conferences. She was one of the scientists featured on a 1990 episode of The Nature of Things, "Turning to Dust", about the deterioration of paper in old books around the world and efforts to preserve them.

Burgess died a year after her retirement, in 1999.