Communicating Conservation: deliberate damage, destruction and vandalism of cultural heritage

Poster designed by H.H. 2011
See more here

Check out this page to see the amazing work that UCL Institute of Archaeology students have done.






As part of their assessed work for ‘ARCLG141Issues in Conservation: Contexts of Conservation Conservation’ students were asked to design a poster communicating an aspect of deliberate damage to cultural heritage of their choice. The following broad themes were suggested but students were encouraged to explore other possibilities as well:

• Different kinds of vandalism/deliberate damage
• Their motivations and/or implications
• Common misunderstandings and oversimplifications surrounding these actions
• The gap between how heritage professionals react to deliberate damage and the perceptions of the agents of these changes(and the groups they represent)
• Relationships between deliberate damage and art
• Roles deliberate damage may play in the understanding of the past/present
• Prevention and responses

 See all the posters here.

And watch this space, we will be commenting writing about these posters in the next few days.

Relaunch of the Journal of Conservation and Museum Studies (JCMS)

I am delighted to inform that the Journal of Conservation and Museum Studies (JCMS), an Open Access and fully peer-reviewed journal, is being relaunched with a newly constituted international editorial board.  

We are currently welcoming contributions focusing on:

·         Collection and exhibition management  

·         Critical approaches to conservation, museum collections and exhibitions

·         Learning, communication, interpretation and evaluation of museums

·         Materials science and technical studies of objects, collections and conservation materials

·         Participatory processes

·         Professional and ethical issues

·         Remedial or preventive conservation

Check the JCMS website and get in touch with Renata Peters and/or Anastasia Sakellariadi if you wish to contribute to the relaunch.

Archaeological Conservation Summer Internships (2 internships) at Agora Excavations, American School of Classical Studies at Athens

Archaeological Conservation Summer Internships (2 internships) at Agora Excavations, American School of Classical Studies at Athens

Application deadline:  Monday 19 December 2011

The internships will give students an opportunity to treat freshly excavated archaeological finds and to participate in an active on-site conservation laboratory. Applicants must currently be enrolled in a graduate or equivalent conservation program. 

See more details here

Pudding anyone? Check your kitchen cupboard!

A Christmas pudding tin, thought to be the sole survivor of a batch of puddings sent to sailors in 1900, is now on display at the Navy Museum in Portsmouth.  Apparently, it was found at the back of a kitchen cupboard! The tin still contains the original pudding but no studies have been reported -- very clear instructions can be read though:

"This pudding is ready for use but may be boiled for an hour if required hot." 

Read more on the Guardian

Conservation and Source Communities: Research, Objects and Treatments

There is still time to register for ‘Conservation and Source Communities: Research, Objects and Treatments’. A conference organized by the ICON Ethnography group, to take place at the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, on 16th November. 

US withdraws from UNESCO after Palestinian approval

I first read about this news in a piece that appeared yesterday in the NY Times, "Unesco Accepts Palestinians as Full Members."

This article struck me as so timely considering our discussion tomorrow of UNESCO and other like-minded organizations. What impact do you think the withdrawal of US funding will have on UNESCO's preservation aims? I wonder if UNESCO was "caught in the middle" of US/Palestinian/Israeli negotiations, or is being actively utilized as a mediator by the organization's participants.