Organics conservation

The work of this section is characterised by the wide range of object and materials types we deal with:

• organic materials include anything made from animal or plant constituents
• the objects we treat are all ages, from prehistoric to present day
• they can represent any culture, from ancient Egypt to 21st century designer chic, from local history to rainforest Indian

Organic materials also include carbon-based man-made products, like plastics and rubber. Unfortunately some of these degrade quickly and disastrously. An Art Deco comb may be reduced to crumbs and beyond conservation within 75 years. However, our latest storage system incorporates a colour indicator. This allows us to recognise when an object is starting to degrade. We can then take action to slow down the process and quarantine the ‘sick’ item. This can prevent the reaction being set off in similar objects.

A more sensitive area involves human remains in the ethnographic and antiquities collections. The section is working closely with the curators to provide secure storage for these items and to ensure they are treated with respect and dignity. They are segregated from the rest of the collections and accessible only by a few staff. Their high quality storage units also offer physical protection from impact, vibration, light, dust and pollutants.

In treating ethnographic collections, such as those from the Americas, Asia, Oceania and Africa, cultural contexts are important and can present challenges. The presence of significant substances on the surface of such objects is not always obvious. Some of the things we have to look out for include:

• curare (a poisonous resin) may remain on poison darts
• clay, oils or even bodily fluids applied ceremonially, perhaps to invoke supernatural powers, may appear to be no more than dirt
• a sticky coating on hide may represent original water-proofing rather than old museum leather dressing

This is why our work often involves cleaning without removing ethnographic ‘dirt’. On the other hand, some objects were meant to be allowed to degrade and revert back to nature. Here we may need to consider how to reconcile conservation of the physical object with respect for cultural intention.

Further information

• read some frequently asked questions to an organics conservator
• see the organic objects on display in the Reveal gallery at the National Conservation Centre
• find out how we prepared an Inuit suit for display

Contact the department

Click here to send an email to organics conservation

In this section

• the next conservation department is paintings
• conservation departments home page

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