Conservation and Heritage Management Award

The Museum of London is the 2001 recipient of the Archaeological
Institute of America's Conservation and Heritage Management Award.
This award was instituted in 1998 to recognize the exceptional
achievement of an individual or an institution in the areas of
archaeological conservation, conservation science, heritage
management, or education and public awareness of archaeological
conservation through teaching, lecturing, exhibitions, or
publications. For many years, the Museum of London has devoted
considerable time, effort and resources in many of these areas and
is deservedly this year's honoree.

The Museum of London was formed in 1976, from the merger of the
Guild Hall Museum and London Museum, through the encouragement of
Sir Mortimer Wheeler.  It cares for vast archaeological collections
excavated in London and is the largest and most comprehensive city
museum in the world, with 14 galleries devoted to the fascinating
story of London from prehistoric times to the present.

Over the years, the Museum of London has made a strong and
consistent commitment to historic and archaeological conservation,
promoting conservation as a vital function of all its activities,
both in the field, as in the "Save the Rose" theater project, and in
the museum in its displays and installations. The Museum has
consistently emphasized the importance of conservation in its
educational and public outreach efforts, perhaps most spectacularly
demonstrated in its recent Spitalfields sarcophagus project
(1999-2000). By excavating, cleaning and conserving the sarcophagus,
its skeleton and associated grave goods in an exhibit gallery, the
Museum allowed the public to see how archaeology and conservation
are done and participate in the process, demonstrating how important
conservation is not only in preserving the past, but also in
interpreting it.  Not surprisingly, this was one of the Museum's all
time most popular exhibits, with lines of visitors waiting to file
past the conservators at work.

Two special collections cared for by the Museum are the Greater
London Archaeological Archive, which contains the objects and
records from excavations in London over the past 50 years, and the
Port and River Collection, which will be displayed in the new Museum
in Docklands. The Museum of London has taken a leadership role in
presenting the various aspects of archaeological conservation to the
public and thereby raising public awareness of the excitement and
importance of saving our cultural heritage.

Catherine Sease
    Chair, Conservation and Heritage Management Committee
    Archaeological Institute of America
Senior Conservator
Peabody Museum of Natural History
P.O. Box 208118
New Haven, CT 06520
203-432-3965
Fax: 203-432-9816


                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 14:40
                 Distributed: Friday, January 26, 2001
                       Message Id: cdl-14-40-006
                                  ***