from Archive Awareness Campaign, UK
"Impact Assessment and Evaluation Report" for AAC 2004
go to report (PDF format, 1.52 MB)

A report on the Archive Awareness Campaign 2004 in the UK, previously posted here, has been released. A few interesting points to note in the findings, bearing in mind the UK context:

- Most archives users are above 55 years; and
- Archive users are primarily repeat-users.

With the campaign, there was some very minor success in encouraging younger users. However, the real paid-off seems to be in terms of encourage new users, although repeat-users still predominate.

from IIC Nordic Section
Museum Storage Buildings : Physics and Function

Following Morten Ryhl-Svendsen's original e-mail announcement on the IAQ-Museum list, attached are the 3 English extracts from the postprints:

- "Designing a museum store" by Tim Padfield
(PDF format, 155 kb)

- "Managing collections in store" by Suzanne Keene
(PDF format, 278 kb)

- "Storing objects for future use" by Jonathan Ashley-Smith
(PDF format, 471 kb)

from CNN news
Visible storage catches on in museums
go to article

With the move towards greater access and display of museums' collections, museum displays have adopted what is known as visible storage. Besides the North American museums mentioned in the article, European museums have also long been incorporating such display methods in the overall museum presentation - such as the Victoria and Albert museum, the British Museum and the Pitt Rivers museum (in Oxford). It is also not surprising that museums in Europe have adopted visible storage display methods even before it became "fashionable", if we understand the origin of museums as "curosity cabinets".

Conservation Physics
go to web-site

Tim Padfield, previously retired from the National Museum of Denmark, had put together a revamped web-site / online book looking at physics as applied in the field of conservation of cultural heritage. Topics covered include:

- basic concepts in climate;
- light and photochemistry;
- properties of material;
- air-conditioning and building physics;
- microclimate; and
- sensors and measurement.

from The Guardian
Preserving listed buildings - on computer
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If a building is seen as a bloated artefact, then perhaps a digitised image may sometimes suffice for structures with lesser significance. However, it must surely be understood that a building will not adequately exist outside of its immediate physical context in terms of context and the human scale.

from The New York Times
Sending the F.B.I. to Art School
go to article (PDF format)

It might be that conservation students could well be looking forward to a career as a special agent investigating stolen art:

"When the agency set up the art crime team, it decided to train agents in art styles and conservation." (emphasis added)

from Science News online
Venetian Grinds: The secret behind Italian Renaissance painters' brilliant palettes
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The discovery of an ancient inventory from a Venetian seller of artist's pigments throws new light on the palette of Italian Renaissance painters and address the question that has always baffled conservation scientists. How did Venetian Renaissance painters create the strong, clear, and bright colors that make objects and figures in their paintings appear to glow?

Prompted by this inventory lead, a re-examination of Venetian paintings yielded an answer -- glass. Artists such as Lorenzo Lotto and Tintoretto used it extensively in their paintings. Not only did the artists use glass to fill gaps in their palettes, but the materials' optical effects—intentionally or not—also brought their paintings to life in unprecedented ways. The article then proceeds to highlight the aesthetic and material significance this finding yields for the field of conservation.

The Search for Kota Purba Linggiu (Old City of Linggiu)
go to compilation of articles (PDF format)

Following the recent news in The Star of claims by a researcher that the ruins of a "lost city" is very likely located in Johor, there had been developments and interest generated right up to the Cabinet of the Malaysian Government. Three exploration teams have been given the task of searching for the "lost city" starting in March 2005 and a report is expected by August 2005. The above links to a compilation of various news articles since.

from Deutsche Welle
Mending Modern Masters
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Making reference to a recently concluded conference held in Cologne, on the conservation of contemporary art. Yet more examples of how a better understanding contemporary art in a more holistic manner by conservators (in terms of materials, production, theory and presentation, amongst others) will go a long way to enable better decision-making in the conservation treatment of such artworks.

from SCMRE
Efficient New Methods for Embedding Paint and Varnish Samples for Microscopy
go to article (PDF format)

A recent article written by Melvin Wachowiak, Senior Furniture Conservator at SCMRE, for the Journal of the American Institute for Conservation (issue number 43), which looks at some possible new methods and materials for use in embedding samples for microscopy analysis.