Two people sit at a table in an archive research room, carefully removing pencil sketches from cardboard mounts.
Behind the scenes project work: demounting and repackaging original artwork from the Shepard Trust collection of art by illustrator E. H. Shepard.
#archiveconservation #ehshepard #archives
A large brown pendant seal, lying in a round carboard container and wrapped in transparant plastic.
The underside of the cardboard container, advertising 'other popular flavours', such as 'Luxury Candies', 'Peppermint Creams' and 'Jersey Toffees'.
The Great Seal of Elizabeth I, with the plastic wrapping removed. It depicts her standing, holding the orb and sceptre.
The verso of the Great Seal, showing Elizabeth I astride a horse, holding the orb and sceptre.
We wouldn't necessarily recommend storing a Great Seal in an old sweets box and wrapping it in plastic, but we can't deny that it kept this magnificent seal of Elizabeth I safe!
#seal #archiveconservation #16thCentury
⚠️ Job Alert ⚠️
❓ Conservator
📍 Suffolk Archives, Ipswich
🗓️ Closes 17 Aug
🔗 www.suffolkjobsdirect.org#en/sites/CX_...
#conservation #culturalheritage #heritage #conservationjobs #heritagejobs #museumjobs #archivejobs #archiveconservation
A small bundle of sheets of paper, held together with a safety pin. A second safety pin is hanging from the first and is very rusty. Rust stains are visible on the paper.
A close up of the safety pins, showing clearly how rusty they are.
The same bundle of papers, with the safety pins removed. These are now held together with a piece of linen thread that has been fed through the existing hole made by the safety pin.
This is why we don't use metal fastenings with any of our records! Metal rusts, leaving stains that eventually destroy the paper. These documents have now been loosely sewn (through the existing holes) with unbleached linen thread.
#ArchiveConservation
A sheet from a self-adhesive photo album. A large black and white photo is lying on a piece of black card and is covered with a sheet of sticky plastic. The plastic is badly wrinkled.
The same page from the album: a hand is carefully peeling off the layer of plastic.
The same page from the album: a thin bone folder has been placed in between the photo and the backing card, ready to carefully pull the photo off the sticky backing.
Several photos which have all been removed from the album. They are now housed in archival polyester sleeves.
Do you still have photos in self-adhesive type albums? Please rescue them by carefully pealing back the plastic and teasing them off the sticky card. They are much safer in albums where they don't touch any adhesive, or in archival polyester sleeves.
#ArchiveConservation
A table with yellow registration cards and conservation cleaning materials, with the hands of our volunteer who is busy removing surface dirt.
A lovely morning working with one of our volunteers on a project to clean and rehouse hundreds of early 20th century student registration cards.
A chance to explore some forgotten stories and have a natter!
#archivevolunteers #chat #wellbeing #studentlife #archiveconservation
I don’t work in conservation but shout out to those who do! Professionals in their own right and help archivists to keep making materials accessible #ArchiveConservation #Archive30
Architectural plan by Flitcroft and Brazier showing Montagu House in Bloomsbury, the first home of the British Museum
This plan from 1725 shows the layout of the drainage system of Montagu House, 1st home of the British Museum. Made of vellum, it had been bound into a volume, creating a seam in the centre. Recently conserved, it’s now preserved for future generations. #Archive30 #ArchiveConservation #britishmuseum
A Study of Man's Environmental Impact on Shell Creek and Sand Gulch; Conservation Workshop Presented to Donald Searcy From Gary Hassebrook August 6, 1973
Shell Creek was first described during the Major Stephen Long expedition up the Platte River in 1819 and 1821. His expedition crossed the creek about six miles up stream from where it enters the Platte River and described it as being "...about eight yards across; its bed muddy and the current moderate. Its course it circuitous, traversing...tracts of fertile and well wooded bottom land...'' The same description would still fit today but the water has changed. Many miles of Shell Creek are now very polluted and virtually dead. Shell Creek begins about five miles northwest of Newman Grove and runs about fifty stream miles before it enters the Platte River east of Schuyler. The flow is small for the first fifteen miles until it is replenished by Artesian wells creating a creek bed about 30 feet wide and 1½ feet deep near its mouth. The first fifteen miles of the creek are now dead. Mr. Mal Sutherland, Conservationist with t he United Stated Department of Agriculture in Columbus, reports that he used to trap beaver and other fur bearing animals along Shell Creek in the Lindsay area but now those animals are gone apparently driven away by the polluted water. On June 15 and 16, 1972, Mr. Alan Carson and Mr . Lee Rupp of Nebraska's Fish and Game Commission took stream survey samples at various spots along the creek. At a spot 2 1/2 miles south and 2 miles east of Lindsay, they found the water
to be very green and odorous and containing only one specie of fish, thirty-three very tolerant fathead minnows. Farmers along the creek report that cattle will not drink the water unless it is absolutely necessary. The first investigation of the source of the pollution began when a complaint was received by the Department of Environmental Control (DEC) concerning the red color of Shell Creek. The results of this investigation are taken from letters to Mayor Kenneth Hansen of Newman Grove from Mr. Ronald Benson and Mr. Richard Walsh, both of the Water Pollution Central Division of the DEC and from sewage and stream sample charts. On June 8, 1972, Mr. Walsh, Mr. Carson, and Mr. Rupp met in Newman Grove to determine the source of the red color. The suspected cause ot the discoloration was a chemical put into the lagoon about six days earlier to remove roots from the lines. Further investigation showed that the lagoons appeared to be severly overloaded, discolored, and quite odorous. Large patches of grease globules mixed with dead algae were present in the corners of the lagoons. A slough to the south of the lagoons contained water that was gray and turgid and choked with grease. This type of material was being discharged into Shell Creek. Mr . Carson and Mr. Rupp made a series of oxygen tests to determine the amount of dissolved oxygen in the creek. Above the lagoons a normal reading of 8 ppm (Parts per million) was observed but below the lagoons the reading was less than 1 ppm of oxygen content. This low reading continued until the last test site at Lindsay.
We hold lots of environmental & conservation work, mostly 1970s. This 1973 paper declares Shell Creek dead. Full txt: openspaces.unk.edu/spec-coll/50/
Massive cleanup = 1st stream delisted from EPA's Impaired Waters list: www.nacdnet.org/2018/08/09/n... #Archive30 #ArchiveConservation #Conservation
Whitchurch Hospital administration block with the bowling green and trees in front. Windows are boarded up and some broken with a plant growing out of the chimney. Blue cloudy skies above
Day 4 #Archive30 is #ArchiveConservation
One building that definitely needs #conservation is #Whitchurchhospital which stands #abandoned and #neglected 😢
@arascot.bsky.social
📷photo taken in November 2024
We forgot to take a 'before' picture but this beautiful and intricate board from the "Family Album" of James Young Simpson had completely detached. Our conservators did a grand job of remounting the original board, as well as extensive paper repairs! #Archive30 #ArchiveConservation
A female senior officer instructs five pairs of female officers in self-defence holds in a gym, while others look on. They all wear the 1946 Bather uniform, though two hats have been knocked off. It is signed and dated by the artist, with the caption "Women Metropolitan Police recruits at Peel House Westminster learn the art of self-defence - ju jitsu practice under expert instruction - ".
Last year we had a set of eight sketches of Met training at Peel House conserved and remounted, including this one. They were made for an Illustrated London News article in 1950 by Bryan de Grineau, previously a war artist on the Western Front in both 1916 and 1940. #ArchiveConservation #Archive30
Sometimes #ArchiveConservation is as simple as removing historic rusting paperclips, staples and rubber bands. We went through 8 boxes, pulling out all this.... #Archive30 @arascot.bsky.social
#Archive30 #ArchiveConservation
at #Burgerbibliothek #Bern we were about to eliminate this badly damaged publication on the taxes imposed by the City of Bern in 1800. however, City Archives wanted it and will now have it properly conserved 😊
We've been slowly cleaning the club correspondence files from the 1930s and 40s. Can't have researchers leaving sooty fingerprints on them when they're handled (yes they were that filthy!)
Once cleaned we make fresh new folders and box them up!
#Archive30 #ArchiveConservation
Dirty document with a clean smoke sponge placed on it.
Cleaned document with a dirty smoke sponge placed on it.
For archivists, the phrase ‘dusty archives’ is fighting talk!
Behind the scenes cleaning & collections care helps to give documents the best chance of long-term survival
We've been hard at work with a smoke sponge, de-griming those documents ready for researchers!
#Archive30 #ArchiveConservation
During our two week closure period at the start of the year Ginny spent several days condition-checking and repackaging over 800 of our oversized items. A lot of these required flattening and putting in melinex slips before being returned to the plan-chests
#ArchiveConservation #Archives
Volume with decorated original full leather binding and strap
This month’s highlight focuses on the unique bookbinding techniques of an account and rental book, which has captivated the interest of our Senior Conservator. #ArchiveConservation #Archive30
Read the blog to find out more: bit.ly/4iDAfSc
I have 8 Bibles including a #WW1 one, a beautiful inscribed one from 1860 and one with important family dates in.
Union badges from the shipwright union Liverpool
Letters from a great uncle. He emigrated to Oz in 1910. Sadly died at Gallipoli.
We have quite literally 100s of photos. My husbands grandparents and their two children emigrated to the US in 1929. Here’s his uncle on passage!
#Archive30 theme #ArchiveConservation ...
I inherited fantastic family ‘archive’. Family Bibles,letters,documents, medals, autograph books, union badges, Lusitania ephemera and more. No museum wants it. I’m blogging to conserve it
historicalclues.blogspot.com/2022/01/a-fa...
Day 4 #Archive30 #ArchiveConservation is a perpetual concern for museums. This 1885 letter from T Cranfield of the Fine Art Repository describes the portraits in #RCPI as being “in very bad condition…very dirty”. Thanks to the efforts of RCPI, this is happily not the case today!
A page in a bound volume of the Buxton Advertiser from 10 July 1975. Just over half the page is wet.
The top edge of a bound volume of the Buxton Advertiser. Ice has formed along the edge.
A page from the Buxton Advertiser is being repaired by a conservator.
A repaired double page of the Buxton Advertiser. There is no sign of any staining or water damage.
When this volume of bound #1970s newspapers got wet our conservators froze it to stop any mould from forming and to keep it safe until they could rescue it. It looked a bit cold when it came out of the freezer, but all the pages have now been repaired.
#ArchiveConservation #Archive30
Conservator Sarah and a visitor doing paper repairs.
A very damaged paper document before conservation.
Conservation assistant Julie and a visitor cleaning documents using a smoke sponge.
Conservator David and a visitor looking at materials.
Today's #Archive30 theme is #ArchiveConservation ...
In March, our Conservation team held a workshop showing members of the public how we mend and clean archive documents. Some visitors then had a go themselves!
@arascot.bsky.social
A large leather medical bag. The top is open to show a glimpse of the medical instruments inside
A photograph taken from above the medical bag so the contents can be seen. A fabric pouch lies on the top and underneath can be seen some syringes and various other fabric pouches containing instruments
Medical bag of Henry Lillie, surgeon to the Scottish whaling fleet. He highlighted cruelty to whales and campaigned for new whaling laws. His book The Path through Penguin City (c.1955) is one of the most influential books in whaling conservation tinyurl.com/4mbnz87h
#ArchiveConservation #Archive30
As part of the Welsh Gov funded Capital Improvement Programme project, we have made big changes to the #ArchiveConservation studio and store. We have kitted out the store with double wide shelving & dedicated roll racking so we can store & retrieve materials in a much more manageable way. #Archive30
Controversy or conservation? 🤔 David’s still on a mission—carefully 👀 debinding our massive trove of 155 years of @dmuleicester.bsky.social press cuttings for @arascot.bsky.social #ArchiveConservation! 📜✂️ #DMUat155 @librarydmu.bsky.social @dmuforlife #dmuhistory @exploreyourarchive.bsky.social
Sometimes #ArchiveConservation can be a big project such as rebinding a volume or fixing a letter torn into pieces, but sometimes its as simple as cleaning a very dirty map.
#Archives #Dundee #Archive30
In today's #Archive30 we would like you to share your experiences of #ArchiveConservation. Have you had an item conserved recently? Are there any projects you are currently working on? Or maybe something that needs the attention of a conservator.
#archive30 #day4 #archiveconservation
In a 230 year old hospital with a lot of history, it's hard to keep everything of historical importance safe. With the archive we try to find & log everything to help conserve our amazing history - like these pics from from Med. illustration
#Archive30 #ArchiveConservation: Before and after conservation.
This is why archivists really "love" standard adhesive tape. 😠😢
Please never use it on (historical) documents or books!
