Paper and cardboard models

Marianne de Bovis <mariannedebovis [at] hotmail__fr> writes

>I am student in Brussels (Belgium). I am doing a thesis about
>restoration of architectural and scenery models in paper and
>cardboard. Very few articles deal with this subject ...

When I worked at the Museum of London during and after graduating,
we acquired a large scale model of a street called 'London Fields
East - The Ghetto'. It was created by a photographer and model maker
and constructed from a variety of ephemeral materials including
corrugated board, MDF, photo's and newsprint, with an approximate
size of 5.2m x 2.4m x 460mm. In addition there were integral
lighting and sound recordings.

The Senior Conservator, Johan Hermans and his deputy, Trish
Mahoney-Phillips collaborated on this, and presented their findings
to the IPC Conference in London in 1997 (you can find a transcript
of their work in the published papers).

As you'd expect, a great deal of time was spent assessing it prior
to any treatment, based on the transient nature of the object. Some
decisions were taken to minimise the risk to the item (changing the
type and location of the light source, for example) but mostly it
was agreed there would be a 'watching brief' after full
documentation, with remedial repairs carried out as and when
required. It presented an enormous challenge, but was a very
interesting and unusual piece. I'd love to know it's condition now, 16
years after its creation.

Seren Fisher, Paper Conservator
Natural History Museum
Cromwell Road
London SW7 5BD
+44 20 7942 5693
Fax: +44 20 7942 5559


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 23:42
                 Distributed: Wednesday, April 28, 2010
                       Message Id: cdl-23-42-007
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