dk nkf - Nordisk Konservatorforbund Danmark

physical evidence through replacement, restoration
and wear on the work done by Peter Mann, amongst
others, acknowledging that there was no “nice
comfortable middle road, a compromise, on which
everyone could agree” [4] but that open discussion,
thinking through all the options before any
interventive treatment of an object took place, was
the responsible way forward. “Ideally all the options
should be explored by a team of conservator, curator
and if possible a Devil’s Advocate.”[5]
A restoration approach for some objects, where the
gain in information outweighed the loss of evidence or
where the evidence was preserved in another similar
object, was advocated by Moncrieff and continued
by Suzanne Keene, head of collections care. They
recommended selecting new objects for operation
on a case by case basis, letting the importance and
condition of the object and the quality of the evidence
for an earlier state guide the decision, with restoration
matching the quality of the original. In addition, Keene
conducted a survey of the already working machines
in the Science Museum and found that, out of 140
objects, only 2 were in such condition that they needed
to be removed from operation. It was felt that the rest
should continue to be operated; since a decision had
already been made historically to compromise the
primary evidence, losing the function as well would
render the object valueless. A maintenance programme
and record-keeping system for the working objects
was instituted; unfortunately, as this was only practice
recommended but not enforced or carried out by the
conservation and collections care section, the practice
quite soon drifted to a stop. It wasn’t until 2008 that
a maintenance manual, training manual and working
exhibits database was completed and fully integrated
into the responsibilities of the metals conservator at the
museum.
By 1997, the pragmatic approach to the conservation
of scientific and industrial objects was well-entrenched
at the Science Museum. In a paper presented to
the Industrial Collections Care and Conservation
conference held in Cardiff, 9-11 April 1997, Hazel
Newey, now head of conservation, discussed the
approach and how it appertained to working exhibits
and replicas. While the Science Museum still had no
written policy on the appropriateness of operating
104
objects from its collections, the practice had not
ceased, even if , in the intervening years, fewer
objects than in the past were working exhibits. Poor
maintenance, neglect and careless handling were less
a factor for the decreasing number than the need for
increased resources. “The resource implications of
caring for industrial collections becomes higher than
anticipated because of the cost of storage, maintenance
and display.” [6] Objects such as vehicles which
required higher levels of maintenance in order to
remain functioning as opposed to those such as models
of engines gradually became static exhibits.
However, the decision-making process for selecting
an object for operation had developed along the lines
advocated by Mann and Moncrieff . Whereas once
an iconic object might be chosen to be operated, as
was the case for the 1888 Benz, the oldest car in
Britain, which was acquired in 1913, fully restored
in 1957 and entered in the Brighton Run where it was
damaged after running out of petrol and crashing
into an MG saloon, the conservation in 1997 of
the first petrol-engined motor car to run on British
roads, the 1895 Panhard et Levassor, produced a
static exhibit with its original paintwork and engine
condition revealed. The assessment of the extent of
the 1997 conservation project was undertaken by
curator together with conservator with the historic
and iconic value of the object one of the primary
criteria for final use.
The Guidelines for Operation:
the Management Tool
By 2007, there were only 101 exhibits designated
as working in the Science Museum at South
Kensington. These were often historic models, with
a number of full-sized engines, run on compressed
air or mechanical drive. But only two vehicles in
the collection remained in running order. These two,
the 1904 Krieger electric Brougham and the 1958
Dennis F12 pump escape fire engine, stored at the
Science Museum’s large objects store in Wroughton,
had both entered the collection in working order.
The Kreiger came in 2003 on loan and the Dennis
was acquired straight from owner in 2005. The
conservation staff was made responsible for the
maintenance and for the operation of the vehicles