Mary Jo (MJ) Davis graduated from the State University College at Buffalo in 1994 with a Masters in Art Conservation and a Certificate of Advanced Study in Paper Conservation. From November of 1995 to March of 2004, Ms. Davis worked part-time for the Vermont Museum and Gallery Alliance heading up their collections care program and working with the small historical societies, galleries and museums around the state.

Since 2004, Ms. Davis has been busy running her private paper conservation lab full time. Davis is also a partner and conservator on staff for the non-profit organization Curtains without Borders which stabilizes historic theater scenery around the New England region since 1998 to the present. Other areas of expertise and interests are workshops on collections care, emergency response and preventive conservation planning for cultural institutions.