Volunteering

What students get up to as they help out in the heritage field

Volunteering at National Museum Wales (Preventive conservation)

Posted on 27 May 2020 by Amanda Chua

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
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Frequently Asked Questions in Taxidermy

Posted on 12 March 2020 by Ella Berry

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
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The Significance of Volunteering in the Heritage Sector

Posted on 6 February 2018 by Stephanie Whitehead

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
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Conserving Edward Thomas’ Herbarium

Posted on 24 October 2017 by Pamela Murray

This post was originally written for the Cardiff University Special Collections and Archives blog. They have kindly allowed us to share their post here on our blog as well.   Leaves and flowers are generally removed from archives or books collection, as this organic material encourages pests, stains paper and can be poisonous, but when
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Newport Ship Workshop

Posted on 12 June 2017 by Aliza Taft

Recently, four conservation students from Cardiff and three students from the University of Wales Trinity St. David (UWTSD) program in Nautical Archaeology met at the Newport Ship Centre to conduct a collections assessment under the supervision of Cardiff lecturer Eric Nordgren and ship curator Toby Jones. The aim of the three-day workshop was to assess the condition of artefacts
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Iron gall ink in the Edward Thomas manuscripts and its conservation at Glamorgan Archives

Posted on 6 May 2017 by Pamela Murray

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
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Working with The National Trust at The Carlyle House

Posted on 20 February 2017 by Pamela Murray

In late January I was privileged to join the Carlyle House Wallpaper Survey team with Andrew Bush (National Trust), Rebecca Ellison (National Trust), Johanna Payne (Independent Paper Conservator) and Linda Skippings (The Carlyle House Steward). We were tasked to survey the wallpaper condition in the hallway and stairway over two days and draw up a report with
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Shedding some light – using the Glamorgan Archives lightboard for map conservation

Posted on 31 January 2017 by Pamela Murray

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
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