Textile conservation has always been at the heart of the People’s History Museum in Manchester.
The museum holds one of the world’s largest collections of historic trade union and political banners, and is the UK’s leading authority on the conservation and study of banners.
“Often when a museum is set up, conservation is an afterthought,” says the museum’s senior conservator Jenny van Enckevort. “For us the need was there from the very beginning because of the fragile nature of the items in our original collection.”
Some banners were of high quality and made to last. Others were hastily assembled with whatever materials were to hand, and today need specialist care and repair.
The museum has a purpose-built textile conservation studio equipped to handle large and delicate items of this kind. It operates on a commercial basis so also takes on work for other museums and organisations, including technical mounting for display.
The studio features a viewing window where visitors can watch the conservators at work.
“Public engagement with conservation is something we’ve always done,” van Enckevort says. “In the future we aim to improve interpretation by using technology such as video cameras attached to microscopes, allowing the process to be live-streamed in the galleries.”
Around 30 out of some 400 banners are on show in the museum at any one time. Most are on open display, so conservators undertake weekly monitoring to check for dust and damage.
“We get comparatively little damage,” van Enckevort says. “There are tell-tale signs that visitors are getting too close. If, for example, we see the fringe on a banner has been disturbed, we’ll avoid hanging anything in that vulnerable spot in future.”
The museum has produced detailed guidelines for the care of banners and similar textiles.
The museum holds one of the world’s largest collections of historic trade union and political banners, and is the UK’s leading authority on the conservation and study of banners.
“Often when a museum is set up, conservation is an afterthought,” says the museum’s senior conservator Jenny van Enckevort. “For us the need was there from the very beginning because of the fragile nature of the items in our original collection.”
Some banners were of high quality and made to last. Others were hastily assembled with whatever materials were to hand, and today need specialist care and repair.
The museum has a purpose-built textile conservation studio equipped to handle large and delicate items of this kind. It operates on a commercial basis so also takes on work for other museums and organisations, including technical mounting for display.
The studio features a viewing window where visitors can watch the conservators at work.
“Public engagement with conservation is something we’ve always done,” van Enckevort says. “In the future we aim to improve interpretation by using technology such as video cameras attached to microscopes, allowing the process to be live-streamed in the galleries.”
Around 30 out of some 400 banners are on show in the museum at any one time. Most are on open display, so conservators undertake weekly monitoring to check for dust and damage.
“We get comparatively little damage,” van Enckevort says. “There are tell-tale signs that visitors are getting too close. If, for example, we see the fringe on a banner has been disturbed, we’ll avoid hanging anything in that vulnerable spot in future.”
The museum has produced detailed guidelines for the care of banners and similar textiles.
