Our History

We were originally established in 1987 as the Conservation Division of Information Conservation, Inc. (ICI) in North Carolina. The ICI Conservation Division was renamed Etherington Conservation Services (ECS) in 2005 upon completion of a merger of ICI Binding and the Heckman Bindery, forming the parent organization, HF Group, LLC.

The original staff included Don Etherington and just three assistants. Over the years, the staff has grown and changed to reflect our current capabilities and we now have labs in two separate facilities.

Our professionally trained and educated Senior Conservation Staff can proudly demonstrate more than 100 years of combined conservation experience treating valuable historic and artistic works. With conservation centers in North Carolina and Indiana, as well as corporate and binding facilities in Ohio, North Carolina, Indiana, Nebraska and Boston, we offer conservation services to clients throughout the United States.

Our mission is to offer high quality, economical, and timely preservation and conservation services for libraries, archives, museums, historical societies, and other collection holding institutions, as well as for individuals and private collectors. We provide professional conservation treatment of books, documents, art on paper, and photographs from single items to large collections meeting the preservation goals of our clients.

Our staff of conservators and conservation technicians comply with the Code of Ethics and Guidelines for Practice of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works. For further information on the AIC Code of Ethics, please visit the AIC web site.