PARAGON REVIEW

Issue 5

Starting from scratch: the new conservation unit

Although Hull University College began to collect archives and manuscripts as early as 1928 it has never had its own staffed conservation unit. This situation changed earlier this year with the arrival of Jonathan Farley, former conservator to the Hampshire Archives Trust, who explains what he has been busy doing since his arrival.

Historically, most archive repositories have had some kind of department where documents have been sent for treatment. Originally such treatment was very limited, and came in two forms: binding into volumes, and rebinding damaged volumes. It was not long, however, before repairing documents became a necessary addition to the departments function, and so the 'Bindery' became a 'Repair Room'. In comparison with today's conservation standards, original document repair techniques were extremely primitive. No thought was given to the method by which the damage had occurred, and neither was it felt that the repair itself was likely to cause further long-term damage. It was only when a greater understanding of the mechanical and chemical processes that caused damage led to attempts to treat their root causes that the 'Repair Room' evolved into the 'Conservation Unit'.

Most conservation units in Britain have grown from these origins, beginning as a book bindery and acquiring tools and equipment to enhance their function as and when they were needed. It is very rare indeed for a Unit to be built in an institution from scratch, but with the help of grants from the Non-Formula Funding for Research Collections in the Humanities programme, the Brynmor Jones Library has recently done so. Since April of this year, room 122 - which in the past has served as the library staff lounge, and until not so very long ago the Record Lending Library - has been undergoing construction work to turn it into the new Conservation Unit. With the installation of necessary equipment, such as a Schimaneck board chopper, fumigation chambers, a hardbed hot press, an enhanced cold suction table, a sealing machine, nipping and laying presses, and so on, the Unit is now fully functional.

A concise definition of conservation is: 'the process by which the longevity of an object may be extended'. An archive conservator is concerned with the preservation of any media used for retaining information. To most conservators this is currently taken as books, paper and parchment, but with the advances in the mechanisms of information storage, photographic, video and audio media as well as electronic or machine-readable data are all now candidates for archival storage. Today's conservator therefore has to be familiar with the methods of deterioration of many different kinds of object, their structural and mechanical form, as well as having an appreciation of their aesthetic appearance. The conservator also has to be familiar with all of the techniques and processes likely to be required for the materials held in the repository and has to keep up to date with any improvements made within those fields. As a consequence of this, a conservator has to be equipped with a diversity of skills ranging from bookbinder and paper maker at one end to biological and chemical analyst at the other. As a result, the modern Conservation Unit tends to end up being an odd mixture of laboratory, craft workshop and art studio and this usually requires large amounts of floor space to house it in, which is why room 122 - adjacent to the Library exhibition area - was chosen for the site of the new Unit.

All artefacts deteriorate, and for a variety of different reasons. These may include inherent defects in the material itself and external (environmental) factors such as pollution, temperature, humidity, light or biological attack. It is the job of the conservator to halt these deterioration processes so as to prolong the life of the object as much as possible. Usually this is achieved by using repair techniques that conform to an ethical standard set out by the British Standards Institution in their document 4971, Repair and Allied Processes for the Conservation of Documents, originally published in 1973. Conservation should never be confused with restoration which attempts not to stabilise, but to make an object appear 'as new', frequently destroying historically important features in the process.

Whilst a conservator is mainly occupied in repair work, attention must also be given to the environment within which the document is kept. By controlling that environment, the effects of deterioration may be minimised. It would be self defeating for any conservator to repair a document and then return it to a situation that will cause further damage. This process is known as passive, or non-interventional conservation and its tasks range from monitoring and controlling the atmosphere to the extermination of biological hazards such as fungi, insects and rodents using methods not harmful to the collections. It is also within the jurisdiction of a conservator to maintain a continual state of preparedness against any potential disasters that might befall the collections, or 'disaster planning', as it is known. The risks of fires or floods for example may be minimised, but they can never be ruled out. A conservator must continually prepare for such happenings so as to ensure that in the unlikely event of a disaster occuring damage is limited as much as possible.

The most potentially damaging factor for an archive document, however, does not come from detrimental atmospheres or ravenous rodents, but the result of the effect that humans can have. A conservator may repair documents, control environments and plan against disasters, but will never be able to stop the damage that can be caused through one moment's carelessness on the part of the user. So the final, and most important, task of all conservators is to see that any researcher using an archive resource is made aware of the proper methods of document care and handling.

Jonathan Farley