August 2014
I arrived in the Conservation department on the 31st March 2014 as an Institute of Conservation (ICON) Preventive Conservation Intern.
I graduated in January 2014 and was delighted to be offered the ICON internship in Preventive Conservation at NMS. I gained knowledge in preventive conservation whilst studying for my Masters in the Conservation of Archaeological and Museum Objects at the University of Durham. I volunteered in preventive work for the National Museum of Wales and the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery prior to my internship.
I have been busy focusing on building up my experience in museums with the hope of becoming a respected conservation professional myself. I feel privileged to have this opportunity of working alongside a great team of professionals caring for such diverse collections throughout the county’s ten museums.
So far I have been involved in exhibition installations and de-installations, condition checking, packing, mount making, lighting, couriering, emergency planning, Insect Pest Management strategies and some remedial work. I have attended conferences and seminars and have visited fellow ICON interns. One exciting trip involved a visit to Manchester University to digitally X-ray four of our Ancient Egypt mummified animal specimens. This involved coordinating an object de-install, packing the items for transport, couriering and handling the objects at their destination.
Conservation cleaning of natural history specimens in preparation for a temporary exhibition.
Monitoring light levels in our temporary exhibition galleries.
All in all, I have had a great time working at NMS. The work is varied and everyone is very professional. I have learnt so much in five months but thankfully there is still a lot for me to learn over the next seven months! Watch this space for future posts!
My internship is supported by ICON with grant funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund HLF.
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