20 Museums Galleries Australia Magazine – Vol. 27(1) – Summer 2018
Some guidance for appraising conservation challenges
Conserving collections: ‘finding joy in detail’[1]
above:
Marcelle Scott.
right:
In 2017 the Yackandandah Shire map was conserved by The University of Melbourne’s Grimwade Centre conservators and members of the Yackandandah and District Historical Society. The work was done in the local Public Hall, where the map is now on permanent display. The project was a collaborative one, supported by the Indigo Shire Council and the Yackandandah and District Historical Society. School students visiting the Public Hall to see the map and talk about its conservation. It proved to be a perfect talking point, with conversations ranging from how the map was made and how it was being conserved, to why they like knowing about where they live.
Marcelle Scott
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Henderson, Jane, 2018. ‘Managing Uncertainty for Preventive Conservation’, Studies in Conservation, Vol. 63(S1), pp. S108–S112. The National Trust, UK (n.d). ‘Conservation Principles’. Available at: <https://www. nationaltrust.org.uk/features/ our-conservation-principles> ibid. The National Trust, 2011. The National Trust Manual of Housekeeping: Care and conservation of collections in historic houses. The National Trust, Swindon, United Kingdom. First published in 2005. Reynolds, Fiona, 2011. Foreword, in The National Trust Manual of Housekeeping…, ibid. Abey-Koch, Madelaine, 2011. ‘History of Housekeeping’, in The National Trust Manual of Housekeeping…, pp. 21–33.
n 2003, the UK National Trust revised their definition of conservation: from the concept of ‘permanent preservation’ to ‘the careful management of change’.[2] This significant step, taken the same year as the UK recorded its (to date) highest-ever temperature, was emblematic of the Trust’s ‘response to social, economic and environmental change’.[3] In recognising that you ‘can’t stop the clock’, the Trust locates conservation within a wider ethos of stewardship. This is a valuable, more people-centred perspective of conservation that I think we can all relate to, regardless of our role, training, collection, budget, or even the hemisphere in which we live. On their own, however, definitions lack the detail required to help put theory into practice. Two years after revising their definition of conservation, the UK National Trust produced a clearly written reference book that aims to do just that. With more than 900 pages of practical advice on the conservation of an extensive list of object and material types, the new revised Manual of Housekeeping is both an enjoyable read and a detailed primer for anyone with an interest in conserving collections — in museums or houses, public or private.[4] In her Foreword to the National Trust manual, Fiona Reynolds, then Director-General of the UK Trust, describes housekeeping as a ‘pragmatic word for a deeply skilled and vital task’.[5] With these few words, Reynolds addresses the concern that the
important work of conservation might be trivialised by what some might see as a somewhat old-fashioned term. She sets the tone for the book that both pays homage to the traditional housekeeping practices and recognises the knowledge, experience, and skills required to manage and conserve the things we value. She has also captured the essence of conservation: its practical, complex, and essential aspects.
Mould, insects ‘and other hurt or spoyle’; the agents of deterioration While the ‘careful management of change’ was a new, more meaningful way of defining conservation, the idea was neither simple nor new. In her will of 1601, Elizabeth ‘Bess of Hardwick’ (Countess Shrewsbury) gave clear advice as to how her tapestries and other furnishings were to be looked after and kept in situ: … have speciall care and regard to p’serve the same from all manner of wett, mothe and other hurt or spoyle thereof and to leave them so preserved to contynewe at the sayed several houses …[6] Like housekeeping, and other professions that have changed over time, conservation practices have also changed, as have the contexts. It relies on highlytrained technical specialists with specific materials knowledge and developed analytical, and practical
