Conservation Cats: An Exhibition

‘Cats on the Page’ is a free exhibition now open in the front entrance hall of the British Library running until Sunday 17 March 2019. Have you ever wondered how all the items for an exhibition are prepared? Once the exhibition concept has been approved and the curators have chosen all the items that they would like to display in the exhibition, conservation becomes involved. We start by examining each item and checking for the following things: Condition: is it in a condition that is stable for display? Treatment: does it require any conservation treatment to make it stable for display? If so, how much? Display: How is it going to be displayed, does it need any special mounting? Vulnerability: Is it particularly sensitive to light or environmental changes? Touring: Is it suitable for display at multiple venues? Any exhibition can have between 100 – 300 items selected for display and are spread over many different departments, so assessing each item can be time consuming.   Once everything has been assessed anything that requires treatment is arranged to be delivered to the conservation studio, this will usually be about 4-5 months prior to the install of the exhibition (or longer if needed due to high amounts of treatment required). All items arriving in the conservation studio are brought up on a ticket which has a special code for the conservation department. Not only this, but everything is also entered into our ‘tracker’ book, which allows everything to be signed in and out of the studio. The types of treatments that we undertake in preparation for an exhibition can range from simple treatments such tear repairs to the opening page or more in-depth treatments such as board attachments and pigment consolidation. Due to the high number of items that need preparation for exhibition, anything that requires more than 10 hours of treatment will generally be removed from the exhibition list and handed over to the Conservation collection care teams for full treatment. This copy of ‘Puss in Boots’ is a pop-up book that was just one of the items that required treatment prior to going on display. Pop-up books are inherently fragile because of the moving parts but this book is also made from very poor quality card that has become very acidic and brittle over the years. It required some minor treatment in preparation for its inclusion into the exhibition.   The Exhibitions team order custom made book supports for each book, specific to the page opening. The book is strapped to the book cradle, using Melinex® strapping to help it stay open during the exhibition. It is then ready to be installed into the showcase by the Exhibitions install team with the other material. The variety of different books and artworks have highlighted the love of our furry friends, ‘Cats on the Page’ is open for three months and free to visit, so don’t miss this lovely exhibition!   Alexa McNaught-Reynolds, Conservation Exhibition and Loan Manager

from Collection Care blog https://ift.tt/2zmzklH