News
Ringvorlesung Wissenschaft verbindet: Kooperationen und aktuelle Forschungen
29.4.2024 um 18.00 Uhr, DAAD Projekt Ostpartnerschaften in Georgien findet an der TH Köln oder virtuell per Zoom statt. Eine Studierende, Frau Hanna Böhmer, Bert Jacek und Andrea Pataki-Hundt berichten über ihre Kooperation in Georgien und zeigen auch einen Film über die letzte Reise, den Sonja Jordis Vonk erstellt hat. Der Link zu dieser und weiteren Veranstaltungen und zur Online-Teilnahme findet sich hier.
Online presentation on the development of sulfur and metal free leather (SF calf)
ICON Book and Paper group: A talk on the status of the development of the leather and ageing analysis by Eric Robert Themmen and René Larsen will be presented online 7pm – 8pm GMT 23 April 2024. For more information: click here.
Use and Reuse of Paper in the Pre-Industrial World
The topics of the colloquium held 27-28 August 2024 in Cork, Ireland, include but are not limited to:
- To what uses was paper put, apart from books and manuscripts? What historical sources and artefacts bear witness to such uses?
- Did paper replace other materials or did it create new needs?
- How did the use and reuse of paper spread through our world? How widespread was the use of paper in society? Are there differences of use and reuse with regard to geographical or social aspects?
- When did the reuse of paper start, when did it stop and were there specific events that led to the reuse of paper?
- Does the reuse of handmade paper give us general clues about the age, or ‘life expectancy’ of paper? For how long was paper in circulation?
- What manuscripts and books were prone to be recycled and to contain recycled materials?
- To what new uses was recycled paper put, apart from manuscripts and books?
Festschrift in the honour of Joseph Schirò, one of our founding fathers
A festschrift titled Custos Divitiarum honoring Joseph Schirò is on the way. The introduction is by Dr Ugo Mifsud Bonnici who is the President Emeritus of the Republic of Malta.
The presentation and book launch will be on the 29 February at the National Library of Malta.
https://www.midseabooks.com/shop/history/custos-divitiarum-festschrift-in-honour-of-joseph-schiro/
“It is a big honour for me and something which I never in my wildest dreams would have expected. Incidentally, however, I was the first one to introduce festschrifts in Malta 30 years ago with Liber Amicorum dedicated to Dr Albert Ganado who is the foremost expert in the field of Maltese cartography and who will be 100 next 7 March. The idea caught on in Malta and many festschrifts have been published these last 30 years.” says J. Schirò.
We all congratulate him from our heart.
Workshop Omics & Heritage
Flavia Pinzari organises a workshop Omics & Heritage: Metagenomes and Microbiomes for the study of cultural heritage conservation and archaeology. May 14-15, 2024 - Rome, Italy. For more information: https://www.omicsheritage2024.org/.
IIC printed information about ERC
We are happy to anounce that IIC printed information about ERC and disseminated it to readers world wide - thank you IIC,
thank you Sharra Grow.
https://www.iiconservation.org/publications/nic see page 7.
Patricia Engel was elected to the ICOM-CC Directory Board
Anlässlich der 20. Internationalen Konferenz des Konservierungskomitees des internationalen Museumsrats ICOM, einer weltweit tätigen, mit der UNESCO assoziierten Fachorganisation, wurde Frau Dr. habil. Patricia Engel, wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin am Research Lab Nachhaltiges Baukulturelles Erbe an der Universität für Weiterbildung Krems in den Vorstand ("directory board") gewählt. Austria Presse Agentur
7th conference on watermarks in digital collections (Bernstein meeting) in Verona/Toscolano (Italy) on September 6-8, 2023
September 6-7, conference in Verona with visits to the Biblioteca Capitolare, the Biblioteca del Seminario, and the Archivio Casa Fedrigoni, Verona
September 8, excursion to Toscolano, continuation of the conference and visit to the Museum and Archivio Storico of Toscolano Maderno.
Program
Abstracts
Please contact Emanuel Wenger and/or Timoty Leonardi.
ERC Achivement Award 2023
It is a great honour to anounce that this year the ERC Achivement Award is given to Prof. Dr. Marina Bicchieri (National Research Council - Institute of Chemistry of OrganoMetallic Compounds, Pisa, Italy). The award presentation and the award lecture Unveiling the invisible: the secret stories concealed in books, documents and works of art by Marina Bicchieri were on 20th March 2023, 1PM CET.
6th conference on watermarks in digital collections (Bernstein meeting) in Fabriano (Italy) on May 26-27, 2022
The conference intends to bring together scholars, paper experts, conservators, curators, and others who work in watermark research or are interested in this topic. For two decades now, the by then printed catalogues are partially replaced by databases and new watermark collections are published only online in digital form at all.
Thursday, May 26, conference opening at 9h00, three sessions with lectures, guided tour through Fabriano, conference dinnerFriday, May 27, two sessions with lectures, visit to the Fondazione Fedrigoni Fabriano and the Fabriano Fedrigoni Paper Mill.
The conference will be hybrid and limited to 15 half-hour presentations. The capacity of the conference room in Fabriano is limited to 20. Please send an abstract before April 10, 2022. Contacts: Emanuel Wenger and Livia Faggioni.
ERC Achivement Award 2022
It is a great honour to anounce that this year the ERC Achivement Award is given to Prof. Dr. Nicholas Pickwoad. The award presentation and the award lecture Book conservator and historian of bookbinding: a conflict of interest by Nicholas Pickwoad were on 22nd March 2022, 2PM CET.
Our contribution to the European Day of Conservation-Restoration 2021
Position of E.C.C.O. about the relationship between conservation-restoration and crafts connected to Cultural Heritage.
The European Confederation of Conservators’-Restorers’ Organization (E.C.C.O.) was established thirty years ago with the goal of promoting the profession of the Conservator-Restorer and achieving its recognition. One of its missions is to strengthen the role and responsibilities of the Conservator-Restorer in safeguarding cultural heritage.
In the Statement on Conservation-Restoration, Susan Corr, former President of E.C.C.O., in October 2016 wrote, “The principle of transmitting to present and future generations an authentic material heritage that retains its cultural and historic relevance and integrity is the foundation-stone of contemporary heritage management and practice. Conservation-Restoration is not a creative or an artistic process, though it both borrows and mobilises skills, knowledge and experience used in these areas to its own end. In respect of replacement, reconstruction or reparation of loss to cultural heritage where this is deemed necessary within an overall strategy for its care, there is and always will be a role for craftspeople who are specifically trained in the traditional craft processes“
In Professional Guidelines I, section III, it states specifically that “Conservation-restoration is distinct from related fields (e.g. art and crafts) in that its primary aim is the preservation of cultural heritage, as opposed to the creation of new objects or maintaining or repairing objects in a functional sense. The conservator-restorer is distinguished from other professionals by her/his specific education in conservation-restoration.“
In connection with the Year of Cultural Heritage 2018, E.C.C.O. was actively involved on the European level in various working groups whose task it was to map cultural heritage professionals, and to define their roles and cooperation to safeguard European cultural heritage. This work has now grown into the direct involvement of E.C.C.O. within the European Cultural Heritage Skills Alliance of a Blue Print called “CHARTER - Cultural Heritage Actions to Refine Training, Education and Roles” and co-funded by Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union.
One of the goals of the Charter is to define roles various cultural heritage professionals play, “to create a lasting, comprehensive sectoral skills strategy to ensure Europe has the necessary cultural heritage to support sustainable societies and economies”. … “The project will involve and analyse the needs and expectations of the cultural heritage professionals that seek recognition of their roles and mission as these relate to experience, expertise and professional qualification” (extracts from CHARTER Project overview poster).
The aspiration is that after completion of the Charter in 2025 policies will be first articulated and then implemented “that safeguard, sustain and promote cultural heritage…”.
Also in the making is the development of a specific code within NACE (Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community) for Cultural Heritage related activities where E.C.C.O. is supporting the principle of having a more clear coding for conservation-restoration activities.
Contributions by active ERC-members to the Day of Conservation 2021
Dalmatin's Bible
More details about the conservation work on the Dalmatin's Bible:
Varstvo spomenikov - Journal for the protection of monuments 47-48 (2014) p.297-311.
Mexican School of Conservation
The European Research Centre for Book and Paper Conservation-Restoration has established two awards
- 'Book and Graphic Art Conservation Achievement Award' BCAA
- 'Book and Graphic Art Conservation Literature Award' BCLA
The ‘Book and Graphic Art Conservation Achievement Award’ to natural or legal persons, represents the highest expression of recognition for those who have made significant contributions and continued commitment to excellence in endeavours of science, research, and leadership in the practice and theory of preservation, conservation, restoration and auxiliary fields'
For the ‘Conservation Achievement Award’, a third party must suggest a person to be awarded – no self-registration. Nominations should reach the ERC by e-mail: drpatriciaengel@gmail.com. The application form can be downloaded here.
Suggestions to the board will be discussed once a year and the award given then within 3 months.
The 'Book and Graphic Art Conservation Literature Award' is given for an original published paper. The ‘Conservation Literature Award’ provides an opportunity for researchers and practitioners to be recognised for their commitment, innovation and resourcefulness towards the publication of their research or practice.
There will be two broad criteria used to judge the Award entries:
- Quality of Research (originality, accuracy, sources used)
- Writing quality (clarity, organization, command of terms and use of literature)
The ERC board members and CU team will read the submitted papers out of which the five best will be chosen. From these the best paper will be chosen in the following ERC board/jont CU team meeting.
The deadline for both awards is June 1st.
The first ‘Conservation Achievement Award’ has been be presented to Emanuel Wenger for his decades of building up and maintaining the Bernstein Portal for identification of watermarks.
There was the award presentation and a public lecture (Memoryofpaper - a portal to watermark databases) by Emanuel Wenger on 27th April 2021, 01:00 PM Amsterdam, Berlin, Rome, Stockholm, Vienna.
The Early Illustrated Apollonius of Tyre
Link to workshop: https://booksilkroadsapollonius.artsci.utoronto.ca/?page_id=16
Christopher Clarkson: Legacy and Influence of a Conservator, Journal of Paper Conservation Vol.20 (1-4), book launch, 28 January 2021.
Christopher Clarkson (22 Nov. 1939 – 31 March 2017)
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Three years already passed since our teacher, mentor, colleague and dear friend Christopher Clarkson (22 Nov. 1939 – 31 March 2017) passed away. On this occasion we would like to commemorate him and his great contributions and achievements in the field of book history and conservation. We would like to call to mind Christopher Clarkson to all those who met him, worked or studied with him or just read his articles, but also introduce him and his work to the younger conservators. We fully agree with Clarkson’s good friend and colleague, professor Nicholas Pickwoad, who wrote: "Christopher Clarkson in his distinguished career, managed to develop and make practical the major guiding principles of theoretical and practical education in the area of book conservation, exhibition and the handling of books, and that many of his revolutionary approaches are now often taken for granted by the younger generation of book conservators." For more information on the person and his work please visit http://www.clarksonconservation.com/. |
 Christopher Clarkson during his last workshop in The Archives of the Republic of Slovenia, Ljubljana, November 2010. (Photo: Lucija Planinc, CKR Archives R. Slovenia) |
Salvador Muñoz Viñas is resigning from his position on the ERC Board
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After many years of successful co-operation Salvador Muñoz Viñas is resigning from his position on the ERC Board. It has been a time when our Centre started to make its mark in the profession and managed to consolidate its effort. Having Salvador on our governing body was of great benefit to board members and we greatly appreciate his contribution. |