Preservation of The Museum of Modern Art's collection is the principal responsibility of the Conservation Department. The department handles all aspects of the preservation and restoration of the Museum's collections in all mediums except library books, archival materials, and films—the latter is handled by and stored at the Museum's Celeste Bartos Film Preservation Center. Although hands-on restoration is the unique responsibility of the Conservation Department, it also advises on specific environmental controls and needs, special exhibitions, travel, packing, and installation requirements. These activities, part of an overall preventative conservation program for the Museum's collections, seek to prevent damage to and degradation of the collections through considered care and handling of the works of all times.

The Conservation Department was established after the Museum's 1958 fire; a modest painting conservation facility was opened in 1960 under the direction of Jean Volkmer. Before that the collection had been restored by a number of private conservators in the New York area, principally Sheldon and Caroline Keck. The department expanded seven years later to include a paper conservation laboratory overseen by Antoinette King and a sculpture conservation facility headed by Anton Conrad. All of these facilities were expanded in the 1980 renovation and expansion of the Museum, at which time the department was overseen by Ms. King. The conservation department now also includes a photo conservation section as well.

In recent years the department has established a scientific research program, dedicated to the study of materials and techniques of artists in the collection. Twentieth-century art uses of a wide range of materials in a wide range of ways, and identification and characterization of these materials are now essential parts of research, scholarship, and restoration program in the department. MoMA's Conservation Department is also committed to the education of new conservators of modern art, an emerging discipline within the field of conservation as a whole.