The recently established Institute of Conservation Science (ICS) celebrated its formation with a conference held in Edinburgh in May 2002, attended by conservation scientists and conservators from European, American and Australian museums, archives, universities and research institutes.
The energy of formation of ICS, supplemented by support from the National Museums of Scotland, Action G8 of COST (European Cooperation in the Field of Scientific and Technological Research) and Historic Scotland, has resulted in this fully refereed publicaiton of 42 papers which present current research, strategies for cultural heritage management and risk assessment, case histories and reviews. The role of conservation science in the understanding of material properties, the selection of conservation treatments and the evaluation of past treatments is common to all.
The book is divided into three sections. The first, Preventive Conservation, includes contributions on the deterioration of historic textiles; the movement of painted wooden panels; dimensional changes in bark paintings; showcase environments; particles and dust in museums etc. This is followed by the section on Conservation Methods, which includes laser cleaning; chromatography; adhesives for textiles; mortars for mosaics and corrosion inhibitors for iron artefacts. In the final section, Non-Destructive Testing, the reader is taken into a world of acronyms - XRF, SEM, LA-ICPMS, PIXE, THM-GCMS, ATR, CPSEM-EDX - while some more easily written techniques including dendrochronology, colorimetry, eddy current testing, accelerated light testing, neutron radiography etc. are discussed. These techniques are applied to a range of materials - from Rembrandt to Roman coins; from aero engines to alkyd resins; from hats to hallmarks; manuscripts to mercury.
This volume will be appreciated by all those interested in the examination of works of art and objects in collections, their interaction with their present and past environments and the quest for improved methods of preserving them.
Papers from the conference held in Edinburgh, Scotland 22-24 May 2002.
Foreword
I Preventive conservation
Preventive conservation: the research legacy
Susan Bradley
Monitoring dust in historic houses
David Howell, Peter Brimblecombe, Helen Lloyd, Kate Frame and Barry Knight
Monitoring of deposited particle levels within the Royal Museum of Scotland: distribution patterns and the effects of nearby construction work
Stuart Adams, Katherine Eremin and James Tate
Ceramics threatened by acid-induced salts
Lieve Halsberghe
Improvement of showcase environment at the Silberkammer, Vienna
Jan G. Holmberg and Wolfgang Kippes
Assessment of materials used for anoxic microenvironments
Vicen Carrio and Suzie Stevenson
Museum collections: data sheets for improved management
Giorgio Accardo, Carlo Cacace, Elisabetta Giani, Annamaria Giovagnoli and Maria Pia Nugari
Risk Map: a project to aid decision-making in the protection, preservation and conservation of Italian cultural heritage
Giorgio Accardo, Antonella Altieri, Carlo Cacace, Elisabetta Giani and Annamaria Giovagnoli
Practical applications of reactivity monitoring in museums and archives
Chris Muller
Inhibiting the deterioration of plasticised poly (vinyl chloride) in museum collections
Yvonne Shashoua
The monitoring of painted wood panels by fibre Bragg grating sensors
Riccardo Falciai, Cosimo Trono, Giancarlo Lanterna and Ciro Castelli
Dimensional change of Australian Aboriginal bark paintings using non-destructive monitoring techniques
Nicola Smith, Kylie Roth and Vincent Otieno-Alego
II Conservation methods
The sulphur threat to marine archaeological artefacts: acid and iron removal from the Vasa
Magnus Sandstrom, Farideh Jalilehvand, Ingmar Persson, Yvonne Fors, Emiliana Damian, Ulrik Gelius, Ingrid Hall-Roth, Lovisa Dal, Vicki L. Richards and Ian Godfrey
Electrochemistry as a conservation tool: an overview
Virginia Costa
The potential of inverse chromatography for investigating the interactions of consolidants and solvents with archaeological materials
Theo Skinner
Laser cleaning of natural history specimens and subsequent SEM examination
Lorraine Cornish and Chris G. Jones
Comparing the bond strength of adhesive support treatments for textiles: peel strength versus work of adhesion
Irene F. Karsten, Nancy Kerr and Zhenghe Xu
Laminated materials from the National Anthropological Archives
Claire M. Grundy and Tara D. Kennedy
Characterisation and development of mortars for the conservation of Byzantine floor mosaics
Ioannis Karatasios, David Watt and Belinda Colston
The application of science in the conservation of historic buildings and monuments
David Watt and Belinda Colston
Evaluating the use of bioremediation techniques in the conservation of hydrocarbon-contaminated stone monuments
Maria Kliafa, Belinda Colston and David Watt
A scientific approach for the conservation of the outdoor bronze monument of Theodoros Kolokotronis
Vasilike Argyropoulos, Andreas G. Karydas, Aggeliki Vossou Domi, Thanasis Karabotsos, Eleni Kapatou, Vasilis B. Perdikatsis, Giorgos Economou, Charalambos Zarkadas and Dimitrios Charalambous
Investigation of a potentiostatic reduction treatment for leaded copper alloys
Helen Spencer
The effects of conservation treatments on the subsequent tarnishing of silver
David Thickett and Marilyn Hockey
Disodium salt of secacic acid: a non-toxic corrosion inhibitor for ferrous artefacts in citric acid wash solutions
Vincent Otieno-Alego, David Thurrowgood, Dudley C. Creagh and George Bailey
III Non-destructive testing
Monitoring the deterioration of historic textiles: developing appropriate micromethodology
Paul Garside and Paul Wyeth
Conservator safety - mercury in felt hats
Graham Martin and Marion Kite
Paper conservation chemistry: a review of chemiluminescence studies of cellulose stability
Matija Strlic, Jana Kolar and Jozef Rychly
Insight into early photographic processes: quantitative XRF approach
Dusan C. Stulik and Herant P. Khanjian
Infrared spectroscopic studies of photographic material
Herant P. Khanjian and Dusan C. Stulik
Non-destructive investigation of 19th-century Scottish photographs
Katherine Eremin, James Tate and James Berry
Non-destructive analysis of a 16th-century manuscript from the Gospel Book of Robert Quercentius
Sophie Denoel, Georges Weber, Dominique Allart and Bernard Gilbert
Image recovery of worn-off hallmarks on silver and gold objects
Paul L. Benson and Robert S. Gilmore
Non-destructive characterisation of gilded bronze using swept and pulsed eddy current techniques
Johanna R. Bernstein and Blythe McCarthy
'Crystals from an aged Merlin'. Corrosion deposits found in the engines of the historic Avro-Lancaster bomber, G-for-George
Graham A. Heath, Alison J. Edwards, Meta Sterns, George Bailey and Vincent Oteino-Alego
The investigation of degradation effects in silvered copper alloy Roman coins (AD 250-350)
Constantina Vlachou, J.Gerry McDonnell and Robert C. Janaway
The chemical characterisation of alkyd resins by thermally assisted hydrolysis and methylation-gas chromatography mass spectrometry and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy
Francesca Cappitelli
Fourier transform interferometric imaging spectrometry: a new tool for the study of reflectance and fluorescence of polychrome surfaces
Andrea Casini, Franco Lotti, Marcello Picollo, Lorenzo Stefani and Alfredo Aldrovandi
Neutron activation autoradiography of paintings by Rembrandt at the Berlin Picture Gallery
Claudia Laurenze-Landsberg
Unequal Lovers at the laboratory: non-destructive analysis of a 16th-century Netherlandish painting
Cecile Oger, Dominique Allart; Pascale Fraiture and Georges Weber
Low vacuum scanning electron microscopy at the National Museums and Galleries of Wales
Mary Davis
Development of protocols for a large analytical database project for historic pigments
Nicholas Eastaugh, Valentine Walsh, Ruth Siddall, Tracey Chaplin and Henryk Herman
