Hello! Before I begin talking about my time volunteering, I should do a short introduction about myself. I’m a MSc Care of Collections student at Cardiff University. It’s a one year masters program where you learn about how to do preventive conservation. What is preventive conservation, you may ask? Don’t worry, I only really understood Read more
I recently helped out at the National Museum of Wales’ (NMW) After Dark event held on the 19th of February. It was a really fun event, with a great turnout of 852 curious visitors coming to peruse the halls. The art conservators and the natural history conservators collaborated to show how natural history specimens could Read more
Welcome to Alumni Spotlight, a blog series focused on our alums – where they’ve been and where they are now. For this installment we interviewed Sophie Yamauchi. What degree did you complete at Cardiff? Did you pursue more education after you left, in any field? My experience at Cardiff University was a little Read more
Have you ever wandered around a historic landmark and marveled at the landscaping? Or wondered how often those statues in the museum have to be dusted and who does it? Have you ever walked into a small, local museum and noted how few ‘staff’ are present, or asked why it’s only open a few days Read more
Dating back to the 1st century AD and used all the way until the 19th century, iron gall ink was a common writing ink throughout Europe. It is made from iron sulphates, gum, tannins extracted from galls (generally oak tree galls), and water. There are different recipes and methods found throughout history to make iron Read more
Devin Mattlin and myself have been volunteering at the Glamorgan Archives for the last 3 months under the guidance of Lydia Stirling. We have been cleaning pamphlets and a leather bound book from the 1800s. The conservation lab at the archives is a beautiful room with large windows, lots of clean flat working spaces, and Read more