1. Purpose of the policy
1.1 The National Maritime Acts, 1934 and 1989 invested in the Trustees of the National Maritime Museum, a statutory duty to care for the national maritime collection and our historic buildings on behalf of the public.
1.2 The Conservation Policy of the National Maritime Museum (NMM) provides direction for all conservation and collection care activities in support of our strategic priorities to:
- Fulfil our statutory obligations in caring for our collections and buildings, providing curatorial and conservation expertise.
- Ensure our collections, stories and expertise are accessible to as wide an audience as possible, on site, in store, online.
1.3 This policy supersedes all previous Conservation and/or Preservation policies.
2. Definitions
2.1 Preventive conservation (also called Preservation) is understood as action taken to slow or minimise deterioration of cultural heritage by appropriately managing risks and implementing mitigations.
2.2 Conservation is understood as action taken to arrest further deterioration and to make cultural heritage objects understandable with minimal sacrifice of the aesthetic and historic integrity, cultural value, or artistic intent.
2.3 Restoration is the action taken conjecturally to return the appearance or presentation of an object to some former state.
3. Sustainability
3.1 In line with our strategic objectives, the Museum will place a strong emphasis on embedding sustainable practices within conservation and collections care.
3.2 The Museum is committed to a risk management approach to conservation and collections care, balancing the care of and access to collections with the demands of environmental sustainability.
4. Preventive conservation
4.1 The Museum’s approach is to apply preventive conservation measures in preference to remedial conservation wherever possible. Such measures include:
4.2 Providing suitable, secure, and well-maintained buildings for the storage and display of our collections.
4.3 Ensuring that methods and materials for storage and display of physical collection items are appropriate for use.
4.4 Providing an appropriate environment in storage and display areas, including monitoring relative humidity, temperature, visible light, ultraviolet radiation, and atmospheric pollutants, and implementing controls as appropriate.
4.5 Identifying and prioritising improvements to collections storage and display as informed by analysis and research.
4.6 Implementing an integrated pest management programme across the Museum’s sites.
4.7 Ensuring good housekeeping practices are followed.
4.8 Ensuring that appropriate training and guidelines are provided to staff as necessary to ensure the continuing safety of the collections and historic buildings.
5. Remedial conservation
5.1 The Museum will conserve its physical collections and cultural property in accordance with the principle of maximum retreatability and the Code of Practice below.
5.2 The purpose of all conservation actions will be discussed with relevant parties to enable the conservator to decide on the most appropriate action based on the context and use.
5.3 Conservation treatment will only be carried out by appropriately trained and qualified conservators, or by students/interns under supervision.
5.4 Where required, the Museum will contract out remedial conservation to conservators accredited on the Conservation Register (operated under the aegis of the Institute of Conservation) or, in some circumstances, to non-accredited but otherwise appropriately trained and qualified conservators.
6. Code of Practice
6.1 To preserve original material of historical value whenever possible.
6.2 To remove only dirt/accretions/discolouration not considered part of the history of the object.
6.3 To remove only obtrusive or damaging repairs and supports of non-historical interest.
6.4 To maintain large and working objects according to their management plans to minimise deterioration.
6.5 To arrest and prevent further deterioration of collections whenever practical and possible.
6.6 To reveal the aesthetic appearance.
6.7 To minimise remedial intervention.
6.8 To ensure all treatments comply with the current Health and Safety legislation and COSHH regulations.
6.9 To document all decisions and processes for future reference.
6.10 To use materials appropriate for conservation use.
7. Restoration
7.1 Although restoration, as defined above, is not the Museum’s principal objective in its day-to-day care of the collections, it may from time to time wish to restore objects where appropriate in order to promote or enhance their aesthetic, historical or educational value in accordance with the Code of Practice above.
7.2 All restoration will be based on historical, archival, graphic, pictorial, and scientific evidence.
7.3 If replacement components are incorporated into an object, these will be appropriately documented to distinguish these from the original components.
7.4 Clear objectives for the restoration will be discussed and agreed between the respective curatorial subject specialist and conservator, as relevant.
8. Working objects
8.1 Some objects may be operated (working objects).
8.2 Objects that are required to be working objects will be assessed by the Working Objects Group which will consider the operation, care, and maintenance of such objects from a curatorial, conservation and exhibition perspective.
8.3 The care and maintenance of working objects will otherwise be carried out in line with this Conservation Policy.
9. Digital collections
9.1 The national maritime collection includes digital artworks and digital archival material in a variety of formats, including time-based media. The digital collections include born-digital, digitised and hybrid collections.
9.2 The care and preservation of the digital collections is carried out in accordance with the Museum’s Digital Preservation Policy (NMM20/2000), with regard to the conservation ethical principles outlined in this document.
9.3 Digitisation of physical collection objects for the purpose of preservation, education, or financial gain is subject to a conservation assessment and approved methodology.
10. Risk management
10.1 Objects identified or considered to present a hazard will be conserved in accordance with the current Health & Safety legislation and relevant management plans.
10.2 Materials and techniques used for conservation purposes will be subject to COSHH assessments (Control of Substances Hazardous to Health) which are regularly reviewed.
10.3 Conservation practices and workshops will be subject to risk assessment reviews at regular intervals as appropriate.
10.4 To protect objects on display from damage during events, Gallery Activity Guidelines have been developed and are regularly reviewed.
10.5 Object handling training will be provided where necessary to other departments of the museum.
11. Documentation
11.1 All conservation actions and decisions should be appropriately documented to inform the future care of the collections.
11.2 All documentation should refer to the object’s unique number. Under no circumstances should separate conservation numbers be issued.
11.3 The conservation treatment must be fully documented, using text, photographs, drawings, x-rays, and other analytical methods as appropriate. The report must contain full details of all materials used, both the tradename and the chemical name.
11.4 All records of condition and treatment will be entered into the Museum’s collections management database, Mimsy XG.
11.5 All Mimsy records must include reference to any visual documentation stored elsewhere. All detailed conservation reports and analysis should be referenced.
12. Training
12.1 The Museum will support its conservators who seek accreditation through the Professional Accreditation of Conservator-Restorers (PACR) scheme operated by the Institute of Conservation.
12.2 The Museum will actively encourage and facilitate continuous professional development and learning on conservation and preservation issues for staff and others, including for student placements, interns, and volunteers.
12.3 The Museum will continue to develop links with professional institutions and organisations.
13. Monitoring and review
13.1 The Conservation Policy will be reviewed at least every five years and revised as necessary to ensure the policy remains a useful working guidance document for the care and conservation of the National Maritime Museum’s collections.
13.2 The Conservation Policy was reviewed by the Trustees Collections and Research Committee in November 2023 and formally approved by the Board of Trustees in December 2023.
13.3 The next review is due in December 2028.