Conservation Awards

Conservation Awards 2007

The 2007 Conservation 'Oscars': Short-lists

Three outstanding--and very different--survivors of Britain's
heritage have been short-listed for the prestigious Conservation
Awards, the 'Oscars' of the conservation world, which are supported
by Sir Paul McCartney. Having made it through to the 21st century,
their future has been safeguarded thanks to the expertise of British
conservators.

An elegant 400-year old doublet in pale golden silk has been
meticulously conserved by The Scottish Conservation Studio and put
on display in Perth Museum for the first time ever, together with a
replica--for trying on--and a pair of matching breeches. Once an
essential part of a fashionable man's wardrobe, few garments of such
quality have survived the centuries. This Scottish treasure was in
the hands of the McBain Menzies family for many years and is thought
to have come originally from the Stewarts of Killiecrankie,
Perthshire.

An even earlier survival is a magnificent embroidered table cover
made for Bess of Hardwick in 1579, now on show at Hardwick Hall,
near Chesterfield. Reconstructing the Tobit table carpet was a
labour of love for the National Trust's textile conservators, who
spent nearly 18 years removing earlier defective restorations,
restoring it to its former size and revealing the glory of the
original design with its riot of fruit, flowers, birds and animals.
Now displayed at full length in a custom-built case, the carpet
bears witness to the splendour of Elizabethan banqueting.

Brunel's ss Great Britain, the world's first screw-propelled,
iron-built passenger liner, rescued from the Falklands in 1970 and
towed across the Atlantic to her 'birthplace' at Bristol dry dock,
has been transformed by the innovative application of conservation
research and technology into a leading visitor attraction. By 1998,
parts of the iron hull resembled lacework barely able to support the
ship's weight. The solution for this rampant corrosion was a giant
climate- controlled chamber sealed by a glass 'sea', upon which the
ship appears to be afloat, while allowing visitors on board via an
airlock.

These three exceptional projects will compete to win the coveted
Award for Conservation of UKP15,000, one of five Awards offered this
year. This Award celebrates excellence in the conservation of the
cultural heritage in the UK.

The short-listed finalists for the five Conservation Awards are:

    Award for Conservation 2007
    Eura Conservation, Cardiff University and the ss Great Britain
    Trust
    Brunel's ss Great Britain

    The Scottish Conservation Studio for Perth Museum and Art
    Gallery
    A rare silk early 17th-century doublet

    National Trust Textile Conservation Studio
    The Tobit Table Carpet

    Award for Care of Collections 2007
    Durham University Library
    The North East Collections Care Scheme

    Book and Paper Conservation Studio, Dundee University Library,
    for The Linnean Society of London
    The Linnaean Correspondence Project

    Beamish Museum and Tyne and Wear Museums
    The North East Regional Resource Centre

    National Preservation Office
    A national assessment of preservation need

    Student Conservator of the Year Award 2007
    Rachel Morrison and the Courtauld Institute
    Surface cleaning of unvarnished paintings

    Sarah Maisey and Northumbria University
    Materials and ageing of the miners' Cavell banner from Bowburn

    Julie Eklund and the Institute of Archaeology, UCL
    Effects of preparation and conservation treatments on DNA

    Anna Plowden Trust Award 2007
    Professor Norman Tennent, Fyne Conservation Services, and Dr
    James Nobbs, University of Leeds
    Colour-Matching for Ceramic Conservation

    Dr James Tate, National Museums Scotland, and Dr Laurianne
    Robinet, The Universite, Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris

    New Light on Ancient Glass: development of Raman spectroscopy

    David Watkinson and Paul Lewis, Cardiff University
    Dry storage of chloride-infested iron

    Digital Preservation Award 2007
    The British Library
    LIFE (Lifecycle Information for E-Literature)

    National Library of New Zealand and The British Library
    Web Curator Tool software development project

    The National Archives of the UK
    Active Preservation at The National Archives: PRONOM Technical
    Registry and DROID file format identification tool

    Bodleian Library, University of Oxford and John Rylands
    University Library, University of Manchester
    PARADIGM (The Personal Archives Accessible in Digital Media)

    CRL, RLG-OCLC, NARA, DCC, DPE and nestor
    Digital Repository Audit and Certification

For further details of the Digital Preservation Award short-list,
please see:

    <URL:http://www.dpconline.org/
        graphics/advocacy/press/award2007.html>

    **** Moderator's comments: The above URL has been wrapped for
    email. There should be no newline.

The Awards judges are now visiting all the short-listed projects and
will choose the winners later in the summer. The winners will be
announced at the British Museum on 27 September.

The Conservation Awards are the UK's leading awards for the
preservation of cultural heritage. They are sponsored by Sir Paul
McCartney and supported by key organisations in conservation and
collections care: the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA),
English Heritage, the Institute of Conservation (Icon) and the
National Preservation Office. The Digital Preservation Coalition and
the Anna Plowden Trust sponsor the awards in their names. For more
information see

    <URL:http://www.conservationawards.org.uk>

which includes links to information about the judges and the
supporting partners and sponsors.

Contact:

    Susan Hughes
    Administrator, Conservation Awards 2007
    +44 207 326 0995
    admin [at] conservationawards__org__uk


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 21:8
                  Distributed: Thursday, June 7, 2007
                        Message Id: cdl-21-8-001
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