The Library and Archives team (20+ of us!) will be keeping busy at this year’s Science Uncovered event. You can come and find us at various spots around the Museum on the evening of the 26th September.

Why not let us know if you have seen us via twitter @NHM_Library using the tag for the evening #SU2014

Origins and evolution with unique special collections

We’ll be offering behind the scenes tours and showcasing some of our most beautiful and important library collections in the Earth Sciences Library  - come and spend half an hour with us as library staff talk about books, manuscripts and amazing artwork all relating to the theme of Origins and Evolution and take the very rare opportunity for a close up look . Tours are on the half hour and run from 6.00pm till 9.30pm. You can sign up on the evening outside the Library.

Women Artists and our art on paper collections

Staff will also be in the Images of Nature Gallery between 6.00pm and 10.00pm, allowing you the opportunity to stop in for a chat and find out more about the very special artwork we have on display, and  chance to learn more about the Library’s art collections. Explore the latest display of watercolours from the 18th to the 21st centuries, all completed by women artists, and discover how we look after the collections and preserve them for future generations. You can also have a go at drawing something from the collections yourself!

Behind the scenes with our Paper Conservator

At 5.00pm, join us in the Attenborough Studio for a very special Nature Live talk, where you can enjoy a rare behind the scenes glimpse into the Library’s Conservation Studio and see our Paper Conservator talking about and working on our collections via a live link.

Piltdown forgery

The Archives team will be out in the thick of things, sharing a table in the Origins and Evolution section with NHM scientists, showcasing some of the Museum’s amazing specimens relating to the great Piltdown forgery, and the letters, papers and images associated with it. Get a valuable insight into the  work of the Archives in collecting some of our most important treasures and documenting events in the world of natural history.

Soapboxes

Library staff will also be on their Soapboxes!  Join them and other researchers as they stand on their soapboxes to discuss issues that relate to their work and have your say in a dynamic exchange of opinions. You’ll have the chance to debate a variety of topics, in a style similar to Speaker’s Corner in Hyde Park on a Sunday afternoon. Keep an eye out for the Soapboxes throughout the Museum and join the event at any time. Library staff will also be in the Science Bar, where you stop by for a drink and discuss some of the burning scientific issues of the day.

Tring (Hertfordshire)

As part of a wider array of talks and tours on the night, the Walter Rothschild Museum, our sister Museum in Tring, will feature a talk at 8.45pm by our librarian Alison Harding entitled The Rothschild Library: yesterday, today and tomorrow. Discover the treasures of our library collections housed here and find out how this internationally important library is used by curators, scientists, and researchers from all over the world.

So keep an eye out for us at Science uncovered and come and say hello and find out more about our work…

Agarose is a rigid gel made of seaweed and it is a homogeneous polysaccharide. Rigid gel is water in solid form at room temperature and in this example we are using seaweed that is made up of over 95% of water. The advantages of using rigid gels in paper conservation is only a recent discovery.

The proceedure is as follows:

When the gel is placed over an object that is drier than itself, water travels through from the gel to the object. It is thanks to the process of osmosis that this takes place. 

Once the concentration of water is increased on the object, the water is pulled back into the gel, but this time it also drags any impurities from the object back with it into the gel. This allows us to clean an area locally without immersing the whole object in a bath.

The water is released on the object slowly. I used Agarose gel (4.5%) to surface clean an area on a watercolour. The area was affected by the adhesive underneath, which created stains on the surface of the artwork that subsequently attracted dirt. I placed gels on top of the affected area and left them for a while. The only area subjected to any moisture was purely the area that the gel pieces were place on.

The yellow discolouration faded and the dirt was removed.

A successful technique, involving minimal distruption and handling to this type of item from our collections.

by Konstantina Konstantinidou (Paper Conservator)

Eleanor Russell joined the Library & Archives team as our new Paper Conservator, on the 1st August.

She was previously at the British Library specialising in art on paper. Prior to this she worked at the British Museum, the National Archives and the St. Paul's Cathedral architectural archives. Eleanor originally trained at Camberwell College of Art, gaining a BA Hons in Organic Conservation (e.g. paper, wood, leather).

One month in Eleanor is thoroughly enjoying her new role. As many of us did, she remembers her visits to the Natural History Museum as a child and now loves the feeling of playing a part behind the scenes. Originally from Cornwall, as a youngster she developed an interest in collecting and the natural world, which led to an interest in the history of art.

She feels her new role is her 'dream job', and is particularly enjoying the mixture of interaction with different museum departments and staff, and is starting to get her head round the size and variety of the collections in the Library & Archives.

It has already been a busy month for Eleanor: visiting the Tate Britain to de-install NHM items loaned for their watercolour exhibition; and more recently installing an NHM item at the Royal Academy for their forthcoming exhibition 'Degas and the Ballet: Picturing Movement'.

Eleanor will next be concentrating on the forthcoming rotation of artwork in the NHM Images of Nature Gallery, and preparing a book handling course.

We look forward to Eleanor blogging in the future about the work she is involved in.