Conservation
RAMM’s in-house conservation team is responsible for all aspects of caring for the museum collections.
Our work falls into two categories; preventive conservation and interventive or remedial conservation. Preventive conservation concerns all aspects of storing and displaying objects in the right environment and with appropriate packaging or mounting.
Monitoring light levels, humidity and temperature in the museum and the stores are a key part of this aspect of our work. It also involves checking on and improving conditions of our stored collections and managing museum pests.
Remedial conservation includes all work carried out directly on an object. This can range from simple cleaning to re-adhering broken pieces and filling in missing parts. The thorough examination of an object during its treatment helps us to understand an object better. We can reveal information about how it was made, what materials were used and why it deteriorated.
We also support RAMM’s busy schedule of temporary exhibitions by conserving objects for display and assisting with the installation of exhibitions. In addition, we condition check objects that were borrowed from other museums and galleries for one of our exhibitions or prepare our own objects for loan.
Much of our work is invisible, but each object you look at in the museum has been checked or treated by a conservator.