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Chapter 1 : Basic Concepts
1.1 Introduction
Our heritage is all that we know of ourselves; wha t we preserve of it, our only record. That record is o ur beacon in
the darkness of time; the light that guides our steps. Conservation is the means by which we preserve it. It is a
commitment not only to the past, but also to the future (Ward, 1989). To secure our records for the future is not an
easy task. Libraries and archives all over the world face serious preservation issues. Whatever continent we focus
on, we can find cultural heritage of many types, in many forms, each of which requires different preservation
methods. It would be very difficult, therefore, to formulate a uniform policy for preservation. However, we cannot
afford to sit on our hands.
Conservation has not a very long history as a full-grown profession. The world of paper and book conservation
became manifest only some 30 years ago. Today conservation is an established profession. Yet, this development
is mainly in the developed countries, since the developing countries had more pressing matters to concentrate on.
But it is only now that western conservators have started to realise that the problems their colleagues face at the other
end of the globe are different and often more complex than their own.
At the same time western institutions needing solutions for m ass conservation prob lems profit the m ost from
the advances in conservation sciences. Let us hope that this will change in the future. Developing countries often
suffer from specific threats to their cultural heritage. Extreme temperatures and relative humidities often cause largescale
infestation of country-specific insects and moulds. In addition, non-western written traditions, including the
writing materials, are frequently different from western ones. Although individual governments and multilateral
institutions give support and aid, it is mainly according to western preservation strategies. National programmes for
preservation, including specific research projects, are being established. Care should be taken not to impose the
solutions to western conservation problems on developing countries. Preservation research should rather aim at a
better understanding of typical non-western conservation problems (Porck et al., 2000).
To be informed on current conservation affairs will cost money. Many libraries and archives have had to end
subscriptions to professional magazines because of cut backs in their budgets. However, with the arrival of the
internet a lot of information is becoming more freely accessible and will contribute to a better and cheaper
dissemination of knowledge.
Conservation in tropical climates is not a simple job. In 1966 the French archivist, Y ves Pérotin said: ‘What an
uphill struggle is the work of the tropical archivist.’ But let us not forget that failure is the mother of success.
The following paragraphs review some basic concepts and approaches that are relevant to conservation problems
in the tropics. As there is much talk of tropical climate, attention is p aid to what is actually understood by tropical
climate. It is also explained that this bibliography is not only meant for conservators in archives, but that colleagues
working in libraries and museums can profit from this study too. In fact quite a few references come from those
fields of conservatio n. Many surveys have been published on almo st all continents. They are a useful tool to make
conservation needs manifest in a particular region. The same holds for the countless regional and country repo rts.
To give an impression of international cooperation several impressive examples are listed at the end of this chapter.
Without this international cooperation the field of conservation remains very limited for both the rich and the poor
countries.
1.2 Problems in the Tropics
In general high tropical temperatures (and relative humidities) play a major role in accelerating the rate of chemical
and biological d egradation as well as providing a conducive atmosp here for the multiplication of tropical insects
(Arnoult et al., 1995). According to the director of the National Preservation Office of the Australian National
Library, Jan Lyall, there are several factors that make archival life very difficult in the Asia / Pacific region but they
are applicable to most developing countries as well
• tropical climates;
• political unrest/war;
• the lack of acknowledge ment of the need to preserve by the go vernment;
• selling of valuable heritage material to fulfil basic needs of the local population;
• physical isolation;
• differences in language and literacy skills.
Governments must acknowledge the importance of libraries and archives and the need to preserve a nation’s
documentary heritage before truly effective preservation programmes can be developed. Funding of library activities,
including preservation, is critically linked to the political system in operation. Governments in most developing
countries allocate a very low priority to libraries. Library and archive budgets are often so low that there are
insufficient funds to acquire adequate supplies of library materials, to provide suitable housing for the collections
or to operate no rmal library or archive services: preservation is seen as a luxury. Even in developed countries
budgets for libraries and archives are shrinking and preservation activities frequently are drastically cut (Lyall,
1997). In this respect preservation p roblems in L atin America are, in fact, often not that different from North
American. However, the scale of some problems in Central and South America can appear more daunting as the
human and material resources available are often extremely limited (Rap hael, 1993). Yet, lack of funds is surely not
the only problem although it is often put forward as an excuse for a policy of ‘laissez-faire’ (Strickland, 1959).
The deterioration process in the tropics is very complex, and it is difficult to determine whether there is one
culprit at work at a time, or whether several forces are simultaneously active (Agrawal, 1984). These destructive
forces can be classified into three groups – the physical (heat, sunlight, dust, sand), the chemical (moisture, gases,