Of care and conservation
ROHINI RAMAKRISHNAN
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A course on Care of Museum Objects at the Government Museum proved to be both educative and informative too.
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Photo: R. Ragu
On display: At the Care of Museum Objects session.
Ancient’s man’s writing could not be taken from place to place as it was depicted on the walls of the caves. As time evolved, writing was embossed on clay tablets, stone, metal, bark, leather, bone, wood, ivory, conch shells, and cloth and on palm leaves. Now in a permanent form, these writings had to be preserved to stand the test of time. Writing comes in many forms and types, like in records, manuscripts, books and on palm leaves. As these records of writing
belong to different terrains, they have to be conserved by the materials and techniques available in that area. This art of conservation is called “Preservation”. And the care and maintenance of these is a vital aspect of archives, libraries and museums.
Refresher course
It is therefore a matter of pride to note that the Government Museum, Chennai has a conservation laboratory attached to the museum and a course on the Care of Museum Objects was designed for those who are working in museums and other institutions of the same kind. The 33rd Refresher Course on the Care of Museum Objects concluded recently and was followed by an exhibition. On the final day of the course, college students who attended the programme had a stimulating interactive session with the participants of the course, who had come from different parts of the country.
“Why do books become brown and crumble?”, “How do we remove rust from iron objects?”, “The precaution for fading pictures”, and “How do we preserve objects of art on textile” were the questions that were discussed. These were dealt with examples especially as the exhibition was concrete proof of what the participants had learnt at the refresher course. Pictures of the particular object were photographed before the treatment and cards displayed the method of conservation. Dull looking knives and swords were turned into gleaming wicked looking objects, lethal as they were meant to be. Brown pages of crumbling books were a shiny white. Likewise guns had been cleaned as were leather puppets, palm leaves wooden toys, masks and objects in bronze.
The discussion of traditional methods of preserving objects, like the use of Black Cumin, Cinnamon, Pepper, Cloves and Camphor reasserted man’s need to preserve his cultural heritage and be rightfully proud of his roots.
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