For nearly 21 years Robert Mikesh worked at the National Air and Space Museum (NASM) in Washington, DC — http://www.nasm.si.edu/. He has written a book that captures the conservation, preservation, and restoration principles and techniques he developed and practised during his long career at the NASM. Restoring Museum Aircraft [Mikesh] is the source for much of the content of this primer, and the reader is advised to refer to the book for a thorough treatment of the topics introduced here.

Early in Restoring Museum Aircraft, Mikesh asks the question of how far a restoration project should go in taking a museum artifact and preparing it for display. He quotes a Restoration and Policy statement drawn up as long ago as 1969, but reiterates its applicability to today's museum restoration projects. No two restoration projects are the same, but as we begin the work of restoring the North Star, the advice given in that policy statement is worth considering. The statement says in part, "During the restoration process extreme care should be taken to preserve, intact, existing fabric and other materials. In making the specimen 'like new' we can destroy the research value of the specimen. ... The general tendency for laymen to 'restore' vintage aircraft to like-new condition should be resisted at all costs. ... we should expend the time and energy necessary to preserve the original materials and details."

Although restoration and conservation can be the same thing, restoration is generally more extensive and more intrusive than conservation.