Number 5 - Geological Curators Group

numbers of specimens, and have labels stuck onthe back of the paintings, so that their'rescue' can largely be a matter of restoration,revarnishine - and re~lacement in new storaee. InUcontrast, a geological collection, such asCheltenham was, suffers from interlockedproblems of poor curation, conservation andstorage; for example, removing uncuratedspecimens for conservation could lead to loss ofdata. A dirty specimen which is not getting anydirtier can often he safely left alone but thesame cannot be said about a drawerful of mixedspecimens and labels!Fig. 14. Sylvia Humphrey registeringspecimens on display in Cheltenham ArtGallery and Museum. This case, the soleremnant of the displays set up in 1931-1932by C. R. Mapp, was recently carefullydismantled to make way for the new galleries(AMCSW).MAT'S work at Cheltenham exemplifies many of thepractical problems of pastoral work ingeological collections, notably the need far abroader remit than, say, a fine art conservationservice. To oversimplify somewhat, fine artcollections tend to be much smaller in terms ofAfter consultation with the AMCSW, the Museumallocated f1OOO (45% grant-aided by the AMCSW)in the 1986-1987 financial year for basicdocumentation and sorting of the collection. Ageology graduate, with enough museum experienceto work largely unsupervised, was required.Miss Sylvia Humphrey was engaged to work forfive weeks, mainly at Bristol City Museum, undercontract to Cheltenham. Bristol had theadvantages of providing adcquate workingfacilities and help wirh specialistidentification. usine the Xuseum's lihrarv andstaff (~igs.14~18).The use of a Manpower Services Commission schemewas considered inappropriate in this case.Cheltenham and AMCSW certainly had to pay forthe work, but they benefitted from far greaterflexibility in selecting staff than is possibleunder MSC. In any case, it was just notpossible to provide the kind of day to daysupervision needed by an inexperienced worker,nor the training now demanded under theEmployment Training schemes which have replacedthe MSC. The many 'hidden' costs of time spentin application, supervision and generalbureaucracy were also avoided.Fig. 15. The former geological store in the annexe, showing a mixture of drawered cabinets, open drawetand fibre boxes on Dexion racking (AMCSW).-203-