Jamaican lace-bark

Emily Brennan <e.brennan1 [at] camberwell__arts__ac__uk> writes

>I am a student studying BA (Hons) Conservation of Organic Materials
>in London. I am writing my dissertation on Jamaican lace-bark and am
>interested in finding out about existing holdings of the material in
>collections, any provenance known, and any treatments at all that
>may have been carried out the material.

Samples of Jamaican lace-bark and tapa cloth were collected by
Captain James Cook on his voyages in the 18th Century.  The samples
he collected were later cut up and made into sample books entitled
'Catalogue of the Different Specimens  of cloth collected in the
three voyages of Captain Cook', published by Alexander Shaw in
London, 1787.  I believe around thirty five of these books still
exist and there should be several in collections in London.  One of
the books is in Special Collections at the University of Melbourne
and it includes a specimen of Jamaican lace bark. It would also be
useful to check the catalogue of the Economic Botany Collections at
Kew Gardens as I am sure they would have a collection of Jamaican
lace-bark.

Louise Wilson
Conservator of Paper
National Gallery of Victoria
180 St Kilda Road
Melbourne Vic 3004 Australia
+61 3 8620 2118
Fax: +61 3 8620 2555


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 22:60
                 Distributed: Saturday, April 18, 2009
                       Message Id: cdl-22-60-005
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