dk nkf - Nordisk Konservatorforbund Danmark
dk nkf - Nordisk Konservatorforbund Danmark
dk nkf - Nordisk Konservatorforbund Danmark
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at the (very) occasional public openings of the site<br />
although the donor of the fire engine did arrange to<br />
return yearly at his own cost to do the maintenance<br />
overhaul and cleaning.<br />
However, there was a certain amount of dissatisfaction<br />
at there being only two operating vehicles in the whole<br />
of the Science Museum’s collection where, once upon<br />
a time, many had been operational. The then-curator<br />
of Transport had expressed an interest in 2006 in<br />
running some of the buses in the collections and senior<br />
museum management had requested the conservation<br />
manager at Wroughton to investigate the possibilities.<br />
A timely attendance at the BigStuff conference held<br />
in Bochum in 2007 offered the opportunity to hear<br />
from and to discuss with museum peers the current<br />
attitudes and approaches to working objects. During<br />
the lively proceedings in the workshop “Restoring to<br />
working glory; to work or not to work?” [7], Joanna<br />
Barr, Principal Conservator, Artlab Australia, gave<br />
a summation of her major research project for her<br />
master’s degree: “The Conservation of Working<br />
Objects: Development of a Conservation Management<br />
Tool” [8] This conservation management tool had<br />
evolved over a number of years; the writing of it had<br />
been prompted by a request by the National Motor<br />
Museum of Australia for ‘mothballing’ a motorcycle.<br />
“Whilst this seemed to be the most appropriate option<br />
for this particular vehicle, Artlab felt that these sorts<br />
of decisions should be based on rigorous research,<br />
assessment and decision- making processes rather<br />
than the ‘whim’ of the current curator.” [9]<br />
The knowledge of this document, which was in the<br />
process of being altered from an academic paper to a<br />
type of user guide, prompted the decision to develop<br />
not only a process for running vehicles from the<br />
Science Museum’s collection but to review the ad<br />
hoc approach to the selection and operation of any<br />
historic object from the collections and to formalise<br />
the procedures within a policy document.<br />
The policy would reconsider the museum’s past<br />
criteria for selection and operation and bring them<br />
into line with contemporary museum practice for<br />
exhibit risk management. In addition to taking into<br />
account the collection’s care needs and the integrity<br />
of individual objects, there were the issues of limited<br />
resources, health and safety factors, including<br />
current regulations, and available skills. In order<br />
to assure a consensus of approach within those<br />
industrial and technological museums currently<br />
revising their own approach towards working<br />
objects, it seemed sensible to build on Barr’s work,<br />
which was already being considered for use by a<br />
number of museums. Although unpublished at that<br />
point, she had generously shared her research and<br />
her document and this has provided the framework<br />
for developing our policy and procedures.<br />
The Draft Policy<br />
After reviewing all the conservation management<br />
literature cited by Barr as well as other papers already<br />
gathered throughout twenty years of conservation<br />
practice, researching existing related policies of<br />
both the Science Museum and other institutions and<br />
exhaustively reading Barr’s document, a draft policy<br />
was produced. It was realised during the process<br />
that the policy of the Science Museum was to<br />
operate objects; all else was process for responsible<br />
operation and would be itemised in the procedures.<br />
So the policy itself was short and to the point:<br />
“The Science Museum holds one of the world’s<br />
pre-eminent collections in science, technology and<br />
medicine. These collections provide an unequalled<br />
record of the first and second industrial revolutions<br />
and beyond. They contain not only unique icons<br />
of international significance, but also the everyday<br />
items that show the impact of science on how human<br />
lives are lived.<br />
As leaders in science communication and learning,<br />
the Science Museum remains committed to operating<br />
historic objects, recognising that the high levels<br />
of interest and the educational value in “working<br />
objects” make a meaningful connection between the<br />
museum’s visitors and the collections.<br />
The Science Museum’s selection, risk assessment,<br />
and review processes are based on the tenets of<br />
the National Heritage Act, 1983, in order to ensure<br />
that working objects are used in a safe, secure and<br />
sustainable way, according to best practice, now and<br />
for the future, without compromising their physical,<br />
historical and technological integrity.”[10]<br />
105