Resilience

“This has been our first major project on archives for 20 years. It has given us the impetus to get going on an archive space integrated into the Museum.”

Peter Holdway-Bradley, Deputy Chief Executive

This year, Coldharbour Mill Museum in Devon set about conserving a unique collection of around 100 pattern books of woven wool fabric samples. The books date from the mid-19th to late-20th century and were produced by the Fox Brothers Company to show swatches of new woollen fabric designs.

The pattern books had remained untouched since the early 2000s and were rediscovered by the Museum’s Curatorial Volunteer team. Many of the books had damage to their bindings and pages, owing to their previous poor storage conditions, caused by damp and varying insect infestations. A project was kickstarted to urgently conserve this sizeable collection from the Museum’s archive. This was supported by funding from the Arts Society, The Idlewild Trust and the Remedial Conservation Programme of the Association of Independent Museums with the Pilgrim Trust.

The Curatorial Volunteer team were pivotal in developing and delivering the project as the Museum has neither an archivist nor a curator. The project began with two training sessions for the volunteers provided by a textile conservator and a paper conservator, who then supported weekly sessions to condition-check and clean the books. The volunteers were thus upskilled to recognise pests and pest damage, assess and record the condition of the collection, clean each book and make storage enclosures. Some of these were necessarily complex owing to the varying shapes and sizes of the books.

Now, with a record of the types of damage found in the books, the volunteers can prioritise any items in need of further conservation. The new skills and knowledge they have developed has enabled them to progress other conservation projects in both the Museum’s archive and object collections. They also advise on, and advocate for, improving general environmental conditions in the Museum to other teams.

Nearly all the pattern books have now been conserved, with many already on display to visitors. The volunteers are seeking additional funding to digitise the collection and improve its interpretation through digital displays. The long-term plan is for the Museum to have a dedicated archive and research space to ensure its collections are resilient to potential damage, and this project has been a vital stepping-stone in realising that ambition.

The project has helped the Museum to recognise that its archival collections are just as special as its working object collection. This progress would not have been possible without the dedication of the Curatorial Volunteer team who are part of a wider volunteer body at the Museum that received the King’s Award for Voluntary Service in July 2024.