Barbara Appelbaum and her firm, Appelbaum and Himmelstein, consult for museums and other collections-holding institutions in the United States and around the world. Based in New York, Appelbaum was trained at New York University and began her career as a conservator at the Brooklyn Museum. In addition to her museum-consulting activities, Appelbaum maintains an active conservation practice where she has worked on innumerable masterwork paintings and objects of all kinds. Projects of note have included George Washington's leather portfolio, a Marcel Duchamp urinal, and a Marilyn Monroe dress. She is also the author of the ground-breaking text Conservation Treatment Methodology, which presents a unified approach to conservation treatment decision-making.