#museumpathways

Last October I began an 18 month programme called Museum Pathways funded by HLF (Heritage Lottery Fund) and ran by the British Museum. It’s almost been 6 months into the programme and already the experience has been unlike any other, through various training sessions the BM (British Museum) and our programme leader have created a vast range of areas for us to learn new skills.

One such session was conservation, more specifically preventative conservation and from my understanding this is the principle, that by taking measures to prevent any damage or deterioration you are taking better care of the objects and creating a safer environment during storage, display and movement.

  Preventative conservation looks at elements which may cause damage to objects through short-term or long-term exposure, so conservators access things such as agents of deterioration, dissociation, pests, IPM (integrated pest management), contaminants, pollution monitoring and prevention, temperature and relative humidity. A number of different tools are used to gather the data from these test and the results would indicate where a particular problem was occurring. Whilst other test such as the ODDY tests (Accelerated Corrosion Tests) test all materials in displays and stores to see if they are inert (chemical free). Although all these methods when written down in this manner seem extensive some of the basic methods of preventative conservation are observations.

For example one of the key components in causing damage to objects is light, the big and beautiful British museum has a lot of light and it is surprising to consider that most the light in the galleries is intentional (I don’t mean switching on the light). When looking at light pollution it is important to think about the damage caused to your objects and how you will be able to counter or control the light. The damage caused by light to objects is cumulative and irreversible so it can be disastrous to objects. You can observe how much light your object case/objects are actually absorbing by using a LUX reader (measuring luminance). These equipments can be expensive and so sometime it’s about consider whether it is best to display your object elsewhere.

  There are various areas that are considered when using preventative conservation at museums and historic houses, and this will vary depending on the size of the institution and the nature of their collections. For example the template for preventative conservation I’m discussing is from the British Museum and so applies to the large scale institution. My placement location is very different from the BM; Bexley Heritage Trust is an organisation that looks after 2 historic houses and a historic garden in the borough of Bexley and is considerably smaller as an organisation. But as the collections manager (who is also my manager) has reminded me it’s about making do with the stuff you have to the best of its ability to protect our objects. Besides the difference in size between the two institutions there is also a funding issue. Things in the museum world can cost eye watering amounts of money and there isn’t a lot to go around between all the organisations everyday running. So smaller organisations such the Bexley Heritage Trust have to be creative and economise/recycle or steal (no they don’t steal) but they do have amazing networking skills, and a lot of museums and trusts share resources/material and ideas.

This of course makes things a little easier but as a smaller organisation Bexley Heritage Trust’s resource is very different to that of the British museum. There are some key factors to consider during preventative conservation such as environmental monitoring, periodic light surveys, material testing, pest identification, preventative conservation research,  assisting with stores surveys, liaise on loans (object loans) exhibition and gallery refurbishments, training and outreach for museum staff and analytical requests of  data collected. In the BM there is a dedicated preventative conservation team who look at all these aspects and they work with others in the organisations such as museum assistants, object conservators, curators, conservation engineers and housekeeping staff to insure shared responsibility. In Bexley the responsibility of conservation and methods of preventing damage to objects can vary depending on available resources and staff. For instance Bexley does not have a dedicated conservation department but they do have a very proactive collections manager who has her bases covered in a resourceful ways. There house keeping staff and other members the museum staff keep a look out any signs of problems.

  Although both institutions sometimes have struggles in terms of meeting standardised prevention conservation by organisations such as “CCI” Canadian conservation institution (http://www.cci-icc.gc.ca/discovercci-decouvriricc/preventive/15-eng.aspx) they have also proven to be resourceful using and developing methods that both suit and work in their respective organisations. From working at both these museums I have learnt that the most common causes of damage are insects, pollutants, physical forces, relative humidity and light and because these factors can vary depending on the environment your objects are being stored in or being displayed in.

  Each organisation has similar goals when it comes to preventative conservation just different standard practices or methods when it comes to executing them, though this is mostly dependent on the time and resources available to the museum. It is clear though that conservation can be the saving grace of many objects and the organisations that house and look after them. However it seems to me that the ideal and best way to protect our objects is through continuous and vigilant Preventative conservation.