In October 2018 Dorset County Museum closed for a multi-million pound redevelopment, incorporating new galleries, a learning centre, library and visitor facilities. Whilst designing the new galleries a number of archival items were identified as requiring conservation treatment before they could be put on display.
Forty documents that will be exhibited in the Hardy’s Dorset, People’s Dorset and Artist’s Dorset galleries were brought to Dorset History Centre to be conserved. These items include famous names such as Thomas Hardy’s manuscripts and drawings, Mary Anning’s commonplace book, a diary belonging to Sylvia Townsend Warner and poetry by William Barnes, but it also included fascinating documents relating to Dorset life such as a poster concerning smallpox, a volume called ‘Useful Hints for Agricultural Labourers’ and a hand-drawn map showing preparations for a Napoleonic invasion.
Some of the items just needed minor paper repairs or consolidation of materials, such as this reward poster asking for information about an assault and missing mare. Here, the paper was dry cleaned and tears were supported with Japanese paper. Missing areas were filled in with a sympathetic Japanese paper that tonally matched the original paper but is a shade lighter to indicate that’s it’s ‘added material’.
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Other items required more interventive work, including this volume of Far from the Madding Crowd, where the front board had detached from the text-block and the leather was beginning to tear. The volume required the spine to be re-lined, thus providing bridging material to support the leather tear. This also provided an extension of material to close the broken joint. The green endpaper was adhered back into place and Japanese tissue was used to support the joint.
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This book belonging to Mary Anning required paper repairs to several pages, additional sewing to support loose sections and a new spine. The spine material was tinted to match the original covering material and was used to reattach the loose boards.
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Two music books belonging to Thomas Hardy’s father and grandfather are fascinating examples of home-made books and these shall be explored further in a future blog.
When the Dorset County Museum re-opens to the public, it will be possible to view these and other remarkable items relating to the history, natural sciences, people and arts of our county. Visit their website for more information.