A Moving Story - Conservation Under Construction!
The conservation studio is often a favourite stop on tours of the archives. So come with us on this hard hat tour to experience the difference a new build will make.
Our current conservation studio is continuing to function as our centre of collections care as it has done since 1986. Thousands of documents have passed through the studio since then, as well as a fair number of conservators, technicians, volunteers, and visitors.
Access to our collections is at the heart of what we do. The studio is where we assess the condition of any documents thought to need a bit of extra care and create treatment plans that will allow people to see and use them.
Many items entering the studio will often just need preventive care, a bespoke box or folder - or in the case of photographic prints and negatives, and flat maps and plans, transparent polyester sleeves to protect them.
Documents in a poorer condition will receive conservation, that is interventive treatments. This can include removing decades (sometimes centuries!) of surface dirt, washing away damaging acids, and repairing tears and holes. This is where a new studio will be a real game changer.
We will no longer contend with south-facing single glazed windows, swapping them for north facing floor to ceiling windows. The perfect alignment for a conservation studio - allowing more of the light we need and less bright and damaging light in.
We will also leave behind a studio with no environmental controls and insulation - wildly fluctuating temperatures and humidity were never ideal for our collections or our conservators!
We are exchanging extremely low ceilings for walls that are tall enough (at over three metres) to install a 3 by 2 metre illuminated light box on one wall. We will finally be able to conserve our larger maps, plans, and posters.
We will be able to expand the scope of the conservation treatments we can do, conserving a greater variety of material in our care.
We will have space to comfortably host groups of visitors for talks, school group visits, practical demonstrations, and workshops.
We look forward to being able to show and tell you more about our fit for purpose studio designed for the future very soon.
By Angela Suegreen, Conservator
