[padg] Press release - Conservation Awards 2007

The 2007 Conservation “Oscars” – Short-lists Announced Today

- London, 5 June 2007 –

Three outstanding – and very different - survivors of Britain’s heritage have been short-listed for the prestigious Conservation Awards, the “Oscars” of the conservation world, which are supported by Sir Paul McCartney. Having made it through to the 21st century, their future has been safeguarded thanks to the expertise of British conservators.

An elegant 400–year old doublet in pale golden silk has been meticulously conserved by The Scottish Conservation Studio and put on display in Perth Museum for the first time ever, together with a replica – for trying on – and a pair of matching breeches. Once an essential part of a fashionable man’s wardrobe, few garments of such quality have survived the centuries. This Scottish treasure was in the hands of the McBain Menzies family for many years and is thought to have come originally from the Stewarts of Killiecrankie, Perthshire.

An even earlier survival is a magnificent embroidered table cover made for Bess of Hardwick in 1579, now on show at Hardwick Hall, near Chesterfield. Reconstructing the Tobit table carpet was a labour of love for the National Trust’s textile conservators, who spent nearly 18 years removing earlier defective restorations, restoring it to its former size and revealing the glory of the original design with its riot of fruit, flowers, birds and animals. Now displayed at full length in a custom-built case, the carpet bears witness to the splendour of Elizabethan banqueting.

Brunel’s ss Great Britain, the world’s first screw-propelled, iron-built passenger liner, rescued from the Falklands in 1970 and towed across the Atlantic to her “birthplace” at Bristol dry dock, has been transformed by the innovative application of conservation research and technology into a leading visitor attraction. By 1998, parts of the iron hull resembled lacework barely able to support the ship’s weight. The solution for this rampant corrosion was a giant climate-controlled chamber sealed by a glass “sea”, upon which the ship appears to be afloat, while allowing visitors on board via an airlock.

These three exceptional projects will compete to win the coveted Award for Conservation of £15,000, one of five Awards offered this year. This Award celebrates excellence in the conservation of the cultural heritage in the UK.

The Awards judges are now visiting all the short-listed projects and will choose the winners later in the summer. The winners will be announced at the British Museum on 27 September.

Notes to Editors:

The Conservation Awards are the UK’s leading awards for the preservation of cultural heritage. They are sponsored by Sir Paul McCartney and supported by key organisations in conservation and collections care: the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA), English Heritage, the Institute of Conservation (Icon) and the National Preservation Office. The Digital Preservation Coalition and the Anna Plowden Trust sponsor the awards in their names. For more information visit the Awards website: www.conservationawards.org.uk, which includes links to information about the supporting partners and sponsors. For details of the Digital Preservation Award short-list, please see: http://www.dpconline.org/graphics/advocacy/press/award2007.html

The Short-lists

Images of the short-listed projects are available from http://www.picselect.com in the English Heritage/ Conservation Awards 2007 folder. The short-listed finalists are:

AWARD FOR CONSERVATION 2007

Eura Conservation, Cardiff University and the ss Great Britain Trust

Brunel’s ss Great Britain

The Scottish Conservation Studio for Perth Museum & Art Gallery

A rare silk early 17^th-century doublet

National Trust Textile Conservation Studio

The Tobit Table Carpet

AWARD FOR CARE OF COLLECTIONS 2007

Durham University Library

The North East Collections Care Scheme

Book & Paper Conservation Studio, Dundee University Library, for The Linnean Society of London

The Linnaean Correspondence Project

Beamish Museum and Tyne & Wear Museums

The North East Regional Resource Centre

National Preservation Office

A national assessment of preservation need

STUDENT CONSERVATOR OF THE YEAR AWARD 2007

Rachel Morrison and the Courtauld Institute

Surface cleaning of unvarnished paintings

Sarah Maisey and Northumbria University

Materials and ageing of the miners’ Cavell banner from Bowburn

Julie Eklund and the Institute of Archaeology, UCL

Effects of preparation and conservation treatments on DNA

ANNA PLOWDEN TRUST AWARD 2007

Professor Norman Tennent, Fyne Conservation Services, and Dr James Nobbs, University of Leeds

Colour-Matching for Ceramic Conservation

Dr James Tate, National Museums Scotland, and Dr Laurianne Robinet, The Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris

New Light on Ancient Glass: development of Raman spectroscopy

David Watkinson and Paul Lewis, Cardiff University

Dry storage of chloride- infested iron

DIGITAL PRESERVATION AWARD 2007

The British Library

LIFE (Lifecycle Information for E-Literature)

National Library of New Zealand & The British Library

Web Curator Tool software development project

The National Archives of the UK

Active Preservation at The National Archives: PRONOM Technical Registry and DROID file format identification tool

Bodleian Library, University of Oxford & John Rylands University Library, University of Manchester

PARADIGM (The Personal Archives Accessible in Digital Media)

CRL, RLG-OCLC, NARA, DCC, DPE and Nestor

Digital Repository Audit and Certification

2007 Judges

Chair: Dame Liz Forgan Chair, Heritage Lottery Fund

George Ferguson Chairman, Acanthus Ferguson Mann Architects

Maev Kennedy Arts Correspondent, The Guardian

Gillian Lewis Formerly Head of Conservation, National Maritime Museum

Georgina Nayler Director, The Pilgrim Trust

Alice Rawsthorn Design Critic, International Herald Tribune

Ros Savill Director, Wallace Collection

Anna Southall Vice-Chair, Big Lottery Fund

For further details of the Judging Panel, please see the Awards website: www.conservationawards.org.uk

[Table of Contents]

[padg] Press release - Conservation Awards 2007

[Subject index] [Index for current month] [Table of Contents]