Position at London Metropolitan Archives

Conservator (Fixed Term - 6 Months)
London Metropolitan Archives
City of London

Great Parchment Book Project
Funded by the National Manuscript Conservation Trust (Grade D)

Ref: CHL04
Salary: Starting at UKP30,450 pa. including Inner London Weighting

<URL:http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk>

LMA is the largest local government archive repository in the United
Kingdom. It is based in Clerkenwell and administered by the City of
London, and its holdings run to around 100km of documents dating
from 1067 - present. LMA holds local government and other records
for the Greater London area and the City of London. These
collections have been awarded designated status by the Museums
Libraries and Archives Council.

LMA is currently engaged in a major conservation, digital
reconstruction and online publication project on the Great Parchment
Book, an iconic item in the archive of The Honourable The Irish
Society lodged at LMA (CLA/049/EM/02/018). If successful, the
project will allow for the display of the Book (and its digital
recreation) in Derry in 2013, the 400th anniversary of the charter
of Londonderry and of the building of the city walls.

This important book records the results of a survey of the estates
of the Irish Society and City livery companies in Northern Ireland
begun in 1639 and has been referred to as "The Domesday Book of
Derry". A fire at Guildhall in 1786 caused extensive damage to the
historical collections of the Irish Society and resulted in
'shrivelling' and fire damage to the vellum pages of the Great
Parchment Book. This hugely important document has therefore been
unavailable to historians since this date.

Following a successful bid to the National Manuscripts Conservation
Trust, LMA is seeking a suitably experienced, self-motivated
conservator to carry out minimal treatment to the 165 burnt folios
of the Great Parchment Book to enable digital image capture. The
post holder will also assist in researching the physical nature of
the document and the issues involved in its treatment, and help to
communicate the knowledge gained during the project to a wider
audience.

Applicants will have a recognised qualification in the fields of
paper, archive or book conservation with PACR accreditation from the
Institute of Conservation or equivalent. They will have at least 3
years' experience of working in the conservation of parchment and
paper manuscripts and proven, practical, relevant and timely
experience of parchment conservation. Good communication,
presentation and report writing skills, together with experience of
research of conservation issues and treatments, would be an
advantage.

The post holder will work under the direction of the Studio Manager.

Closing date: Noon, 6 February 2012
Interviews: 21 February 2012

To request an application pack please contact the Corporate
Recruitment Unit on +44 20 7332 3978 (24hr answerphone) or email
cru<-at->cityoflondon<.>gov<.>uk quoting the reference number (CHL04).

A minicom service for the hearing impaired is available on +44 20
7332 3179

The City of London Corporation is committed to Equal Opportunities
and welcomes applications from all sections of the community.


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 25:34
                 Distributed: Sunday, January 22, 2012
                       Message Id: cdl-25-34-038
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