A project is underway to protect the portrait collection at Upstate Medical University from the dangers of dust, accidents and the ravages of time. Fifty-five paintings and one woven carpet, some pieces many decades old, are undergoing a preservation survey, which will document their condition, plan their future care and hang them in appropriate places, explains Cara Howe (at right in photo), Upstate‘s curator of historic collections, who is overseeing the project. These portraits of Upstate notables are being unframed, reframed, photographed from different angles and checked for cracks, dirt and other problems, says Susan Blakney (at left in photo), an art conservator and restorer with West Lake Conservators of Skaneateles, who describes her work on the project.