Category Archives: CMS
‘…lights, camera, action…’
‘…(Conservation in) Action stations!…’
Thursday’s at the House and Carriage Museum, have been extra busy recently. They have been our Conservation in Action days. This is a chance for staff to get hands on with the collection and also a chance to educate our visitors in all things conservation related. Following on from the success of last year’s conservation store – behind the scenes; we decided to expand the programme to include a different theme of work each week. In the session, we focussed on books.
The task was to clean and condition check a selection of our copies of The London Illustrated News. We set up a cleaning table and some equipment and set to it. One of the elements of the afternoon was to discuss handling techniques with visitors. The simplest way of removing a book from a shelf, is to pinch the top of the spine and pull backwards. Holding the top of the spine and pulling the book towards you, is the simplest, but also causes the most wear and tear.
The other main problems for books are; light damage, pests and environmental problems (Too high or low humidity). The best way is to gently the books push either side of the desired one, thereby exposing a portion to hold, or reach to the top back of the shelf and gently push your book towards you. This avoids the overused top of the spine and gives your book a fighting chance for the future. Pests to look out for are booklice and silverfish, but depends on what the pages and cover are made out of, as skin and leather for example, can attract other pests.
Another session saw us amidships, cleaning one of our many Napoleonic model ships from the collection. Principally mixed material objects, they are made with meal bones for the hull and hair and material fibres for rigging; they are among the most problematic objects we have. This is mainly because of their fragility and value as the collection was started by Rosalie Chichester; the last family member to live at Arlington Court. They are all small scale versions of ships that were well known to the model makers, who created them from memory with crude tools and in primitive conditions. They are a true testament to craftsmanship.
Our most recent session, focussed on pictures within the collection. As before, our main task was to condition check them while talking to visitors about handling techniques and cleaning procedures. Two of the best examples we had to discuss, were a painting depicting a yacht owned by the Chichester family and a portrait of an unknown man, both in gilt frames that have seen better days. Cleaning the surface of the gilt work can be a tricky task, so as with most conservation cleaning, if we assess if it needs cleaning at all rather than damage it.
Other pictures from the collection we had to check were; a light damaged print of a young lady, a gauche painting of a landscape in Italy, flecked with mould and a water colour painting of a Lily, showing the plasterwork of one of the showrooms in a different colour to how it is today. Cleaning a painting; whether it is on paper, canvas or board, is only to be carried out if needed. The cleaning can be done with a soft pony hair brush, in measured strokes, but care needs to be taken not to push dust underneath the frame edges. Good practice includes brushing the dust away from the edges to the middle and cleaning the centre area last. Ideally into a vacuum so the dust is removed rather than just moved.
Conservation in Action sessions are currently running on Thursday’s up to July 14th
‘…You’re the pest thing…’
It’s pest time again at the carriage museum. This is where we collect up all of our sticky blunder traps to see what and how many creepy crawlies are trying to eat the collection. They are called blunder traps as the wandering insects literally blunder on to the sticky pad of the trap and stay there.
We have around 100 traps to check, so this does take quite a while to collect, analyse, record and put back. The main reason sticky traps are used is to have evidence of which species we have, so we can act accordingly. It’s also to keep a record of numbers, to note any increase or change. Even the less trouble some ones like spiders can give us an indication of an environmental change, albeit a slight one.
It does help to have a fairly strong stomach for these tasks though, as when at the analysing stage, the traps do niff a little bit due to the fact you have a box full of dead and decaying insects under your nose!
To record the findings, we use an NT standard spreadsheet so we can detail each species, trap and its location. The most common culprits at the carriage museum are brown house moths. The larvae do love to try to munch on our textiles. Silverfish also graze on our collection and love damp environments, so an increase in them is a bit of a warning. Carriage interiors contain organic products over 100 years old (silk, wool, carpets, leather and horse hair) To avoid the interiors getting dusty during the open season, the doors are closed to protect the insides. This however, does mean that there are some nice dark undisturbed areas where the moths like to hang out.
As well as pest week every 3 months, we regularly check the collection and have a strict cleaning plan. This helps to keep them at bay as much as possible.
Unfortunately this process is not perfect and we do get the odd extra visitor that we would rather not catch in a trap, so every effort is made to stop this from happening. The sides of the traps in certain areas are taped up to prevent anything larger than a beetle stumbling in.
Once recorded, the contents are each given a blob of correction fluid, to note which specimen has been recorded. They then get put back into their locations and replaced with new ones if they are full. (yuk!) Ready for next time.
‘… Getting wound up…’
Thanks to a bit of networking at a recent training course, an opportunity to do a spot of job shadowing presented itself and Snowshill Manor looked a perfect place to do this. The Snowshill was donated to the National Trust in 1951 by Charles Paget Wade. Mr. Wade had bought the property when he left the Army in 1919 and soon started restoration work. The Manor house of Snowshill dates back to the 16th century when it was first built using glorious Cotswold stone. It was restored in the 17th and 18th centuries, but was in need of more repairs when Mr. Wade saw it advertised in a magazine, and undertook a labour of love. An Architect by trade, Mr. Wade had an eye for collecting. He amassed an astonishing array of artefacts that range from Japanned cabinets, to musical instruments, to Samurai Armour, to bicycles, to toys, to children’s carriages to masks, too many to mention. All of them the finest examples of craftsman-ship. Over the years his collection grew so much he chose to live in a small cottage next to the manor house where he repaired and restored his collection.
I was keen to see how collections management works at another property, and what the house team get up to behind the scenes. The plan was for me to spend two days, one closed, one open, job shadowing the acting House Steward Vicki. As luck would have it, the first day was integrated pest management day and I do like my bugs. All the sticky pest traps are collected, inspected and recorded on a spreadsheet to monitor numbers and act accordingly if they increase. This is a museum and NT standard procedure of monitoring which little beasties are attempting to use the collection as a walk-in buffet. As there were quite a few traps to inspect, it did sound as if we were playing a conservation version of bingo. ’… Woodlouse, silverfish, Death Watch beetle… ‘ then silence. Woodworm, clothes moth and furniture beetle are the worst culprits but there’s a variety of different species of each to look out for.
For the second day, after a spot of conservation cleaning, for the full Snowshill experience, Vicki suggested I could do the daily briefing for the volunteers. Although a little in at the deep end, this was a great way of meeting a completely different team of volunteers. But first there was one job that had been set aside for me. Winding the 18thcentury turret clock. This is a challenging task due to it being on the visitor route, over a doorway and you need to bolt a ladder to the floor get to it! This was probably the oldest and largest exposed clock mechanism I had seen this up close and personal. The large winding handle does present a slight issue when shifting your weight at the top of the ladder, but thankfully the risk assessment had already been discussed. Made by Thomas Mears II, the clock has a handless time keeping design painted on the wall underneath. It’s even more impressive when it’s working!
A good 2 day’s work I think!
Robin Hancock – Assistant House Steward
‘…Picture this…’
‘…Paraloid android…’
To say the winter has been a busy one at Arlington towers would be an understatement. Not content with the usual deep clean of the house and carriage museum, plans were made for an open season to remember. Amongst all of the hub-bub, there have also been some movers and shakers in the collection.
We now have on display in the Morning room, a rare picture of a teenage Rosalie Chichester, the last of the family to live at Arlington Court. This type of photograph is known as an Opalotype. This is a photograph printed onto a sheet of opaque glass and hand tinted. Having been re-discovered last year in a storage area she has been cleaned and re-framed for the new season.
In addition to a portrait of Catherine Chichester and Henry Chichester acquired and displayed last season, we now have another family portrait in the Dining room. This is of Charles Chichester of Hall (1722-98) who became a baronet at the ripe old age of 15. This meant a little re-shuffle to accommodate the painting, which included just as much ladder and picture chain movement as it did chin scratching. (Left a bit…right a bit… etc.)
The Dining room was also subjected to the smells of a strange and mystical chemistry. Was the room doubling as a laboratory for a play of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstien? No just Assistant House Steward Robin, doing a spot of inventory marking.
The reason for the alcoholic aroma (a bit early in the morning…) was a mix of solutions integral to the process. To mark an inventory number onto an object in the collection, a combination of Paraloid and Acetone are used to create a glue-like paste, to apply to the object for the number to be written on to. This is a process that can be easily reversed if need be. The trick is to get the mix just right. This did take quite a while. House and Collections manager Paula suggested aiming for a nail varnish consistency. Obviously this meant nothing …. (Ahem…) The solution is then applied once more over the top to seal in the number, and hey presto! A sealed in inventory mark that be removed if need be.
‘…the mother of inventory…’
The staff here at Arlington Court enjoy a rich and varied work schedule.
One of the more mammoth tasks we are involved in is a full and comprehensive inventory check. With just over 6000 objects it did seem a little daunting to start with. The plan is to start with the Carriage Museum, and then start the process at the house where the majority of the objects are.
To state the obvious, carriages are fairly easy to spot and so are the simple items to tick off the list. However there are always the smaller, more trickier objects to locate. Especially as some are not where we thought they would be! This is not down to carelessness however, (where did I put that wheel…) as we use for constant reference our collections management system. (CMS for short) The system is set up for staff to use to keep a constant record of where items in the collection actually are. There is a variety of information about each item with photo’s to aide any searching.
With a few clicks of a mouse we can use CMS to help compile a list of our collection, to use as an inventory check as the object details tell you which room or area they are in. Here’s where the fun starts. As it is such a huge task to complete, and different members of staff have been working on it at different times we are going for the comprehensive version this year. This involves taking one room at a time and with a CMS reference list, ticking each item as it’s seen. Time consuming but fun too. If you like that sort of thing. Which we do!
You can now play along at home by checking out the online version of CMS available at the following web address
The Arlington Court Blog 