Volunteering in the Collections auditing department at National Library of Scotland: a testimony By Imogen Fitzpatrick and Jeevan Sanghera Imogen and Jeevan’s time volunteering in the Collections auditing department has been a fun and rewarding experience. We have gained valuable insights into the heritage and conservation sector, providing us with possible career pathways and industry […]
Author: Paul Hambelton
Early photographic attempts; investigating a rare photograph from the collections of the National Library of Scotland
Ioannis Vasallos, Stephanie Jamieson The pioneers of photography, Fox-Talbot and Daguerre, revealed their photographic processes, the salted paper print and the daguerreotype respectively, in the year 1839. However, photographic practice and experimentation had long preceded that year, as the 19th century was a period of much photographic experimentation. The National Library of Scotland holds in […]
Project Update: #RescueMe
“Ready, rock-steady, go!” – (Conservation of the geological charts) By Shona Hunter, Library conservator The National Library of Scotland is committed to safeguarding the country’s cultural heritage so that future generations can enjoy it. The Collections Care team is responsible for preserving and treating the Library’s collections (from medieval manuscripts to modern magazines… and […]
Plans for the conservation treatment of the Stornoway Map
The ‘Stornoway Map’ is one of a group belonging to Stornoway Public Library, which were sent to the National Library of Scotland in 2017 for digitisation. However, this map could not initially be digitised due to its poor condition. It had been heavily conserved in the past, leaving the paper stained, skinned and distorted, with […]
Removing an outdated treatment: ABF
My name is Anna O’Regan and I have recently completed the MA Conservation of Fine Art (Works of Art on Paper) at Northumbria University in Newcastle. Before starting the course, I volunteered with the National Library of Scotland, doing basic conservation work on books, maps and pamphlets, including surface cleaning; surveying and auditing; re-housing collections; and […]
The Eternal Courier trip
I am the Library’s Exhibitions Conservator and some people might say I have the best job in the Library, travelling the globe and taking our collections with me, to let the rest of the world see what we have here in the National Library of Scotland. A recent trip couriering items to Rome – […]
Skills for the Future traineeship placement
Helena Robson began a two week placement in the Library’s Conservation Unit on 16 April. Helena had worked with the conservators as a volunteer in 2015, and she is about to complete her Skills for the Future traineeship on collections digitisation, as part of the programme run jointly by the National Galleries of Scotland and […]
One year in the photo-wilds of the National Library of Scotland
The Exploration of a Mountain of Photographic Material by an Icon Intern American pioneering mountaineer and explorer Fanny Bullock Workman’s book Two Summers in the Ice-wilds of Eastern Karakoram: The Exploration of Nineteen Hundred Square Miles of Mountain and Glacier was the inspiration for the title of this piece as I feel it accurately summarises […]
Researching the ‘Chimney Map’
From March 2016 to March 2017, the Library’s Conservation Unit undertook an ambitious project to conserve an extremely fragmentary map, resulting in unprecedented amounts of publicity. The map, known as the ‘Chimney Map’ because it was originally thought to have been found inside a chimney, was discovered during renovations at a house in Aberdeenshire, and […]
Conservator cleans up sticky situation
A conservator’s job often involves removing non-archival tapes which have been used for repairs; a letter of C. F. Gordon Cumming to John Murray from 1885, however, proved particularly challenging.