Forums » Smalltalk » AMA: Scandinavian object conservator

Figured I’d throw my hat into the mix and answer some questions about the mysterious world of object conservation.

I work at a privately owned museum in Scandinavia, where I do object conservation, climate control, general pest management, help with setting up new exhibits, and such things.

Questions of any kind regarding conservation is welcome!

"Object" is a pretty vague word. Could you elaborate with some examples?

Oooh. What's the coolest object you've handled, if you can share?

Putting “general pest management” in there kills me, lol. I don’t know what to ask that hasn’t already been asked; I just wanted to say this sounds absolutely amazing.

It is indeed pretty vague. When something gets donated to a museum’s collection, accepted, and registered in the database it becomes an object as it gets a special id-number. So it is a very generic term for practically everything in a collection.

Where I work, we have a lot of flint, iron, and bronze objects, such as swords, knives, and tools of different kind. Textile, leather, hair, bones, amber, pottery, and such like materials are also simply objects.

What I personally think is the coolest objects I’ve handled was pottery from a grave in southern Europe. It was a couple of thousand years old but in good condition. There is just something about piecing together pottery that I think is so neat!

It wasn’t what I expected to be doing, either! But somebody’s gotta kill those giant silverfish.