In July, Dorset History Centre welcomed a new trainee Conservator…
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Hello to all the blog readers! I’m Helen, a masters conservation student at Cardiff University and I am currently in the middle of an 8 week placement here, at the Dorset History Centre! As a local girl I was really keen to come back to Dorset for my university placement and see what conservation was like in a local archive.
As a conservation student I have spent my time in the conservation lab at the history centre, and so far, my main focus has been cleaning and repairing some railway plans from the 1860s. The plans are in large booklets of around A2 size sheets, bound on one end and are in various states of preservation. I’ve been giving them a good cleaning with a latex smoke sponge that can lift off the top layer of dirt without damaging the ink underneath. I have also been making repairs to any tears or weaker areas using wheat starch paste and Japanese washi paper. Most of the repairs are around the areas where people are most likely to turn the pages so strengthening these areas to allow for future usage is important.
I’ve also spent some time doing preventative conservation i.e. what we can do to prevent damage from occurring to the collection in the first place. This included counting the pests in the pest traps to ensure there are no infestations that could pose a threat to the archive; and collecting and downloading the data from environmental loggers to ensure the humidity and temperature are remaining at safe levels.
It is also important that as a conservator I understand mechanically how books are constructed, so Fridays have become bookbinding Fridays! I have spent these days learning different techniques and methods in bookbinding. The first book I’ve made is a case binding. The process involved making sections and sewing these together into a textblock. Then adhering these together at the spine and shaping to a nice curve. I also learnt to sew endbands at the top and bottom of the spine.
Fabulous work! Enjoy the rest of your placement, hopefully you’ll get to do some gold tooling soon 😌