Caring for collections
Collections are at the heart of museums' work and value. They are important in helping communities make meaning about who they are and where they live. They foster a spirit of enquiry and discovery. Ensuring that the region's unique collections are well cared for, are relevant to the communities in which they're located, and are attractively displayed and accessibly interpreted is an important part of the work of Renaissance. Promoting excellence in scholarship and curatorial skills is vital in achieving this. The aim is to ensure the region’s collections are better kept, but also better shared.
The SHARE scheme was re-launched in April 2009 and has fast become a major benefit to the sector, with practical advice, skills sharing, work placements, special project work, mentoring support and training opportunities all being delivered through the scheme. For a full description of the offer and how to book training see the SHARE pages.
Ensuring that collections are well cared for by providing training programmes and specialist support is an important element of the SHARE scheme. Some examples are listed below.
Renaissance Regional Conservation Officers
There are four Renaissance-funded SHARE conservators covering the East of England working to promote the care of collections in the region's registered and accredited museums. They do this by making contact, getting to understand the issues museums face and offering practical, affordable, hands-on help and advice in all matters relating to the care of collections.
On or off-site, the conservators can provide advice, training and support on:
- Handling and packing
- Labelling and marking
- Environmental monitoring and control
- Emergency planning and salvage
- Pest monitoring and control
- House keeping
- Object conservation
- Storage
- Accessing further specialist assistance
If you want to talk to your local conservator, just email or pick up the phone:
Robert Entwistle
Essex and Suffolk
robert.entwistle@colchester.gov.uk
01473 433549
Libby Finney
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire
libby.finney@stalbans.gov.uk
01727 751827
Sarah Norcross-Robinson
Norfolk
sarah.norcross-robinson@norfolk.gov.uk
01603 493637
Deborah Walton
Cambridgeshire
dw259@cam.ac.uk
0782 4835229
Support for natural history collections
The Natural History Project Officer post is another significant development in collections care. In addition to providing specialist training and advice, the post-holder is surveying the region’s natural history collections. The results will be disseminated via a new website in 2010 which will offer a valuable resource to scientists, curators, students and the general public. Having a clearer picture of the region’s holdings in this field will also enable more joint working. For more information contact:
Trish Irwin
trish.irwin@btinternet.com
In the frame
Piloted in 2008-09 this SHARE project continues this year, focusing on the care of framed collections of works on paper. In Essex the project will look at identifying works, assessing their condition and related conservation issues, while in Cambridgeshire there will be further training for volunteers and staff, collections assessments and a touring exhibition highlighting problems and solutions. For further information contact:
Kate Brown, Museum Development Officer
Cambridgeshire
kate.brown@cambridgeshire.gov.uk
01223 715473
Ashleigh Jayes, Museum Development Officer
Essex
ashleigh.jayes@essex.gov.uk
01245 244613
Loans in the East: Collaboration with the British Museum
Renaissance East of England is forging a new partnership with the British Museum to enable smaller museums in the region to borrow objects from the BM’s collections. A pilot project has been set up involving Dunwich Museum, Welwyn Hatfield Museum and Ely Museum with a view to them borrowing a BM object in 2010. The project will be fully evaluated and the results publicised in 2011. For more information contact:
Natasha Hutcheson, Regional Museums Development Manager
natasha.hutcheson@norfolk.gov.uk
01603 228993
East of England touring exhibitions programme
The successful touring exhibitions programme is being continued and extended. In total 10 high-quality exhibitions have been developed through partnerships between Museums Luton and Stevenage Museum, Colchester and Ipswich Museum Service and Epping Forest District Museum, and the Fitzwilliam Museum. Subjects covered include the Tudors and Stuarts, the Great War, dinosaurs, conservation, slavery and abolition and childhood in the Victorian period. All have good links to the National Curriculum and a family-friendly focus. The exhibitions are available for FREE to Accredited museums in the East of England, or those working towards Accreditation. To read more about the exhibitions and information on how to book, click on the pdf below.
Touring Exhibitions Details (PDF 27KB)
Buildings
Museums in the East of England include some of the region’s most iconic buildings – from the ancient castles of Colchester and Norwich to Norman Foster’s Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts and the state-of-the-art eco buildings of the Stockwood Discovery Centre in Luton.
Renaissance support has helped many museums in the region improve the fabric of their buildings and make them more accessible. It has an impressive track record of providing seed funding enabling museums to draw down funding from other sources. In particular Renaissance has a close and fruitful relationship with the Heritage Lottery Fund in the region – the Stockwood Discovery Centre is just one example of partnership working and funding between the two. Museums Luton has produced four leaflets describing how they transformed Stockwood Park Museum into the Discovery Centre. Pdfs of these
If you are thinking about making an HLF bid, talk to your Museum Development Officer first as they have a great deal of experience to share. You can also contact us to see if Renaissance can help by advising you on your bid.
Natasha Hutcheson, Regional Museum Development Manager
natasha.hutcheson@norfolk.gov.uk
01603 228993