Protection and transportation
This relates to both the collection and staff. If possible, protect outdoor sites to slow and manage deterioration of items. Use a gazebo or marquee as temporary shelter for items and staff. See ‘Storage‘ for useful equipment and materials.
Photography at site/on entry
Make as comprehensive a photographic record of the site as possible to manage the conservation of items later. The wider context forms part of the archival record and will also inform conservation planning and initial decisions.
You will also be able to highlight potential and visible condition or materiality implications of the items, including qualifying and quantifying conservation risk factors. These factors include damage, materiality, pest risk or activity, active mould and items already in an advanced state of decomposition, and can contribute to selection decisions (see ‘Documenting and selecting material‘).
Disposal of high-risk items
Certain items pose unacceptably high levels of risk if kept:
- food and drink items
- flowers and plants
- woollen textiles
- certain unstable plastics, rigid foams and rubber items, including balloons
- wooden items
- items containing batteries
- highly flammable materials and items containing gas or petrol
If possible, you should consult affected people when making decisions about conservation of items that will not be accessioned but which might be significant to them. You may be able to stabilise some items (for example, by removing the risk element like fuel or batteries) and give them to the people affected – more on this is available in ‘Engaging with people who have been affected’, on the ‘Longer-term management‘ page of this guidance.
Conservation documentation
You should support photographic documentation with written documentation. Together these form an accurate record of the collection as you continue to process it. As a minimum we suggest:
- on site assessment documentation to quantify the collection, provide basic materiality information and assign initial stability and condition ratings
- detailed conservation assessments for all items selected for preservation
- treatment reports for all individual items conserved
Transportation
Lidded plastic boxes or crates are best for temporary storage and protection, as well as for moving items. These should be lined with bubble wrap, bubble side facing in, and tissue sheets and packed with tissue puffs and rolls – Jane Henderson demonstrates making tissue puffs in this video. Do not overfill boxes. You should dry any wet item that has the potential to stick to packaging, such as photographic material, before moving it, if possible. The ‘Storage‘ page of this guidance has advice on useful equipment and materials.