Conservation Skills

Book excerpt: Conservation Skills provides an overview of the issues facing conservators of historic and artistic works. It not only describes the nature of conservation but also provides an ethical framework to which the conservation of objects can be related. Drawing on case studies of well-known objects such as the body of Lindow Man and the Statue of Liberty it addresses the following issues: * perception, judgement and learning * reasons for preserving the past * the nature and history of conservation * conservation ethics * recording, investigating, cleaning objects * stabilisation and restoration * preventive conservation * decision making and responsibilities.