The Straus Center provides analysis and treatments for the collections of the Harvard University Art Museums. These collections include more than 150,000 objects in all media, ranging in date from antiquity to the present, and coming from Europe, North America, North Africa, the Middle East, India, Southeast Asia, and East Asia. The collections are divided among ten curatorial departments and are comprehensive and encyclopedic within their areas. Together, they comprise one of the finest University art collections in the world, with resources rivaling or exceeding those of many major city museums.In addition to serving the conservation needs of the Art Museums, the Straus Center also operates as a regional conservation facility providing fee-for-service treatments, surveys, and consultations for other museums, libraries, historical societies, historical sites, and private art collectors.

Training and education are fundamental activities of the Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies, maintaining a tradition established at its founding over sixty years ago when it became the first institution in this country to offer instruction in art conservation. The Advanced-Level Training Program conducted by the Straus Center provides formal hands-on training in the conservation of works on paper, paintings, objects and sculpture, and conservation science. This program was formalized in 1972 with support from the National Endowment for the Arts and offers three ten-month internships each year. Supervised by the Straus Center's conservators and conservation scientists, interns refine their practical and analytical skills as they examine and treat works of art from important collections from within the Art Museums and around the country and publish their original research.

The Straus Center is a pioneer in the use of sophisticated examination and instrumental techniques to analyze the structural and chemical nature of works of art and historical objects. As a research institution, the Straus Center specializes in performing integrated technical and art historical studies of works of art and publishes its significant findings in its own journal. Its facilities support a comprehensive range of analytical services, including pigment, stone, ceramic, and metal identification; spectroscopic analyses of organic materials including pigments, paint binding media, and surface treatments and coatings. Much of the analytical staff's time is devoted to providing support for student, faculty, and curatorial research.

The Center for Conservation and Technical Studies was established in 1928 by Edward W. Forbes, Director of the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University. It is the oldest fine arts conservation treatment, research, and training facility in the United States. In 1994, the Center was renamed the Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies in honor of Philip A. and Lynn Straus, longtime benefactors of the Art Museums. The Straus Center specializes in the conservation of works on paper, paintings, sculpture, decorative objects, and historic and archaeological artifacts.

The Straus Center for Conservation plays a leading role not only in preserving specific works of art but also in developing new methods and techniques for the field of conservation and in training the next generation of conservators.