Series editors' preface - Wood Tools

cally be undertaken. Before embarking on a
treatment it is important to have a good idea of
the amount of time it will take to complete each
phase of the work, for example stabilizing and
aesthetic aspects of the treatment, and how
much time is available. A deadline may influence
the action taken. It should not influence
the quality of the action though it may affect
the quantity or extent of the work. If acceptable
work cannot be done with the resources available
then there are, for the institutional conservator
at least, various options. The conservator
could either use institutional mechanisms to bid
for additional resources, or not do the work at
all, or do the work to the best possible standard
ensuring that everyone concerned understands
the implications of the resource constraint. Not
all conservation professionals, especially those
at junior grades, will be able to control the
availability of resources but all have a role to
play influencing their allocation. Also all conservators
have a duty to develop more efficient
processes and to look for the best ways of
using their time. In the ethical context, the balance
between activities such as surveys, preventive
conservation and interventive
conservation is important. A question that can
be revealing is what am I not doing during the
time it takes to treat this object? Cost parameters
in the conservation of works of art are discussed
by Farancz et al. (1985).
When treating sets of objects, time may influence
treatment in other ways. Treatments may
spread over a period which is long enough to
include changes in approach to treatments,
conservation materials, or changes in staff. The
authors have personal experience of a treatment
spread over twelve years and seven conservators
each with a slightly different
approach. This can result in significant differences
in appearance. Even if the materials and
methods stay the same, the objects or early
treatments may have changed during the treatment
period. Multiple treatments spread over a
period may also result in an escalation of costs
that may no longer represent value for money
to the client. It would be naive to ignore the
fact that for some clients there is a correlation
between the financial value of an object and
conservation investment. Availability of space
for display also has a profound influence on
how resources are allocated. If there is insufficient
space for display, even very important
Conservation preliminaries 377
pieces may be retired to storage and be low on
conservation priority lists.
Do established courses of action need to be
adapted or new ones established? This raises
the question of whether and when it is acceptable
to be experimental. The profession can
only advance through experiment and innovation
and every practitioner has some responsibility
to contribute towards this. There are few
perfect treatments, there are always ‘problem’
objects and materials may be withdrawn for
health and safety reasons or be discredited for
use in particular applications. These are all reasons
why the profession must constantly look
to the future and think about improvements.
Are all my actions fully documented to a
known and accepted standard? While most
people agree that documentation is a necessary
and important part of conservation, it is
arguable whether there is a ‘known and
accepted standard’ even within most large
practices let alone within the profession.
Although there is evidence that such a standard
is beginning to emerge it has yet to be fully
documented and accepted as such. It is very
important that conservation professionals
should know what is appropriate for themselves,
for their clients and for those who may
need access to information about objects in the
future. Typically, documentation will include
the condition of objects before treatment, the
materials and processes of treatment, the condition
afterwards and the presence and location
of potential or actual instabilities. The
methods by which assessments, actions and
outcomes should be documented and the
means by which the viewer is to distinguish
between original and conserved parts need to
be carefully considered. Object-based documentation
typically includes photographs and
drawings, written descriptions, marking on the
object and technical information in the form of
samples and so forth. A fundamental ancillary
question is whether our records are accessible
to appropriate users and what steps we can
take to ensure that this is the case.
Documentation is further discussed below.
How will my action(s) affect subsequent
action(s)? A concern among conservators for
many years has been whether a treatment