Conservation at the ARA Conference 2026
On this year’s theme of Authenticity, the conservation track will focus on how conservation can act as a mediator of authenticity. Rather than focusing solely on techniques, the conservation track will position conservation as a critical, interpretive practice- one that directly shapes how authenticity, truth and trust are constructed within the record keeping sector.
Some of the key themes across the conservation Track include:
Authenticity and decision making
Talks strongly interrogate how treatment choices affect the perceived and evidential authenticity of records. Rather than treating authenticity as fixed, speakers will examine it as constructed through intervention, documentation and use. Talks will discuss:
When stabilisation becomes alteration
The impact of repair materials and methods on historical meaning
Whether treatment preserves or reshapes authenticity over time
Ethics of interventive versus minimal conservation
One of the reoccurring threads is the ethical tension between interventive and minimal treatment. Conservation speakers will frame this not as a technical debate, but as an ethical one:
What are we safeguarding? The object, its use, or its narrative?
Can non-interventive treatment ever undermine authenticity by hastening loss?
How do institutional pressures influence ethical thresholds?
Conservation’s role in truth
Aligned with the conferences wider theme of Authenticity, conservation talks will address how physical records function as trusted evidence for the conditions under which archives, records, and conservation now operate. Speakers will explore:
Conservation as part of evidential chains of trust
The authority conferred by original materials versus surrogates
Public confidence in the authenticity of conserved artefacts
Physical authenticity in a digitised and born- digital world
Conservation talks will respond directly to questions about how authenticity is experienced when access is increasingly digital:
The status of originals when digitised copies are legally or operationally primary
Conservation priorities when objects may no longer be routinely handled
How materiality contributes of user understanding and trust.
Sustainability, materials and long-term responsibility
Speakers link authenticity to sustainable conservation practices, asking whether the materials and treatments chosen today will themselves, remain ethically justifiable in the future. Speakers will discuss:
Longevity versus reversibility
The environmental impacts of traditional conservation materials
Sustainability as part of professional authenticity and accountability
Broadening what is considered ‘authentic’
Talks will discuss the challenge to traditional hierarchies of authenticity. Speakers will examine whether:
Signs of wear, damage, or pervious repair should be preserved as evidence
Conservation decisions privilege certain narratives or user groups
How conservation can support more inclusive and plural interpretations of collections
PROGRAMME HIGHLIGHTS:
Keynote speaker – Tony King - Senior Collections Care and Conservation Manager at Durham University
Day by day:
Wednesday
Asking the audience - authentic treatment decision making - Shirley Jones, West Yorkshire Archive Service
Authenticity is a key value which guides conservators when developing treatment options. But evaluating the relative authenticity of conservation proposals is nuanced, subjective and complex, and further challenged by considerations of cost, access and preservation. Centred on an early 20th century recipe book featuring damage and dilemmas that archives conservators will recognise, this interactive presentation will outline potential treatment options and explore aspects of their relative authenticity. Delegates will be invited to help evaluate these options and contribute views on how authenticity may be effectively expressed in the conservation of a typical stationery binding.
Tracing originals: transparency in treatment decisions for Thomas Mawson’s garden plans - Dr Claire Dean, Cumbria Archives
This presentation uses the example of a 2025 National Manuscripts Conservation Trust-funded pilot project to discuss the challenges of preservation and providing access to fragile tracing paper originals. It will explore and reflect on how conservation decision-making can impact on the perceived authenticity or the authentic experience of accessing such records. The learning and insights from this project will be of interest to any archives that, like Cumbria’s, have numerous architects’ collections in their holdings and who encounter tracing paper confetti when trying to provide access to records.
Storage Projects: What Should We Prepare For? Authentic Perspectives from Practice - Ms Saya Honda Miles, Historic England/ UCL Institute for Sustainable Heritage, Ms Sirpa Kutilainen, University of Brighton Design Archives, Ms Erica Kotze, University of St Andrews Library & Museum, Ms Meagan Smith, Lambeth Palace Library.
This panel session reflects the conference theme of authenticity by highlighting real, practice based experiences rather than idealised case studies. It examines how storage projects develop within institutional constraints—through collaboration, negotiation, and evolving understanding—and includes both completed projects and those still in transition, where outcomes remain undecided and the conservator is actively shaping future environments.
Chaired by Saya Honda Miles (also a panellist), the session brings together practicing conservators including Sirpa Kutilainen, Erica Kotze, and Meagen Smith. Their experiences span passive, semi passive, and still fully HVAC controlled storage environments, representing a spectrum from early planning to post project reflection.
Designed as a discussion led session rather than formal presentations, the panel will use shared themes and brief visual prompts (up to two minutes of PowerPoint per topic) to support comparison, reflection, and open exchange.
By sharing authentic experiences—including uncertainty, ongoing consultation, and learning over time—the panel aims to help conservators articulate their priorities with confidence and contribute effectively to collaborative project decision making. Delegates will be invited to consider authenticity in storage projects as a continuous process grounded in dialogue, transparency, and practice based insight.
Heavy petting in the archives: access versus preservation of the Anne Lister diaries - Elizabeth Stettler and Ruth Cummins, West Yorkshire Archive Service.
Not every archive service holds records that have inspired an internationally beloved television drama with an active fandom. Anne Lister is considered to be the “first modern lesbian” and her diaries detail her most private thoughts and her romantic relationships with other women in the early 19th century. The West Yorkshire Archive Service receives many requests to access Anne’s diaries. Some are research focussed, but a significant proportion are from those with an emotional connection to Anne Lister who want to experience being close to a diary in person. However, the diaries have been fully digitised, transcribed and made available online. Are the digitised diaries an authentic experience for every user? How much access is too much access? Are some requests more authentic than others?
This talk will explore the sometimes very different opinions between archivists and conservators on providing access to the original diaries of Anne Lister. The age-old debate of access vs preservation discussed under the lens of authenticity.
60 minute Workshop:Re-moistenable tissues: An efficient and minimal intervention conservation methodology - Mr Lou Blackmore, The National Archives.
This workshop will cover how to prepare different types of re-moistenable tissue, and the types of historic material it can be used on. This will then be followed with practical experimentation using re-moistenable tissues with wheat starch/methylcellulose and gelatine bases to make test repairs on different substrates. Building on positive feedback received from the first workshop hosted at the ICON BPG conference in October 2025, this iteration of the workshop aims to build on providing a comprehensive overview of a repair methodology that is highly effective and easy to prepare. Demonstrating the range of applications and adaptability of tissue making, participants will leave the workshop with a toolkit to create their own re-moistenable tissue best suited to the needs of their collection. The use of re-moistenable tissues may appeal to institutions looking to increase the value of their collection through digitisation, archival staff, emerging conservation professionals or private practitioners interested in streamlining their own processes.
Participants will come away from the workshop with the knowledge to implement this repair method to their own collection, a comprehensive booklet containing preparation guidelines and further reading, and a sample pack of different re-moistenable tissues for participants to take away and experiment with.
Thursday
60 minute Workshop:The K2-Book Cover: Developed and Used in the Lower Austrian State Archive and Lower Austrian State Library especially (but not only) for Poisonous Books - Dr. Christa Gattringer, Nö Landesarchiv und Nö Landesbibliothek.
Like Department K2 : the Lower Austrian State Archive and Lower Austrian State Library, many institutions face the issue of so-called poisonous books, containing hazardous pigments. Several health and safety measures need to be taken to protect staff and readers. One of them is the newly developed K2-book cover. The K2-book cover is low-cost, quick and easy to make. It protects both the reader and the book and does not alter the book’s authenticity by remaining reversible. Participants of the workshop will be able to try and make a simple paper version of the K2-bookcover for themselves.
Pop-Up Displays and the Illusion of Safety: Conservation Decision-Making, Authenticity, and Temporary Archive Exhibitions - Mrs Ela Gorska-Wiklo
Presented by Ela Gorska-Wiklo, this paper explores pop-up and temporary archive displays as a routine but critically under-examined aspect of archival practice. Such displays often involve a mix of original archival material, facsimiles, and digital surrogates. In some cases, exhibitions rely entirely on copies; in others, original material is displayed in public or semi-public spaces. Within the context of Authenticity and professional responsibility, this hybridity raises important ethical and conservation questions for archivists and conservators alike. Pop-up displays are frequently perceived as low risk because of their short duration. This paper challenges that assumption by introducing the concept of the illusion of safety: the belief that limited display time compensates for reduced planning, limited resources, or informal installation practices. The paper reframes pop-up displays as moments where authenticity is actively negotiated through everyday archival and conservation practice.
The adventures of original archives: Bringing documents from the archive into public spaces - Sarah Graham, Public Record Office of Northen Ireland (PRONI)
Inspired by the joint project with the National Archives, UK and the Northern Ireland Office to tour the Belfast Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland, PRONI has developed its processes to create a safe environment for original records to be viewed. Last year, this included large events at Parliament Buildings to mark VE Day and the Battle of Britain, local library outreach and the anniversary of a primary school. In addition, PRONI has reviewed it’s loaning-out procedures in response to increased requests for loans. PRONI’s facilitation of this access to original documents is possible through active preventive conservation. The safe conditions are determined by carrying out pre-visits, condition assessments, and working to adaptable display criteria. The public have responded enthusiastically to the discovery that authentic original documents have been made available locally. In particular, with those who may be unfamiliar with PRONI or perceive it as Belfast-centric.
Portrait, Pixel, Print: Conservation Ethics, Curatorial Practice and Digital Reproduction - Dr R J Wade, Exhibitions Curator (Cultural Collections), University Of Leeds
This paper examines how digital technologies can support, challenge or complicate conservation decision‑making in relation to historic sculptural records. Centred on the current exhibition “Who am I to you?” at the Treasures of the Brotherton Gallery, the project explores how the University of Leeds’ collection of portrait busts reveal the material, ethical and interpretive complexities inherent in conserving three‑dimensional heritage in an archival context.
Digital tools do not undermine authenticity; rather, they expose the complexities of conserving fragmentary, politically charged and historically uneven records, inviting a more reflexive and ethically attuned conservation practice.
Heritage Science for All: Building Sector Capacity Through RICHeS at The National Archives - Marc Vermeulen, The National Archives
The Research Infrastructure for Conservation and Heritage Science (RICHeS) is a major UK-wide initiative designed to make scientific tools, expertise, data, and training more accessible to archives, libraries, museums, and heritage organisations of all sizes. As one of the programme’s national facilities partners, The National Archives hosts the Written Heritage Science Laboratory (WHSL), specialising in the analysis of documentary and written materials. This presentation will introduce the RICHeS infrastructure and outline how TNA’s facilities, staff expertise, and planned developments, including upgraded laboratory spaces, scientific access pathways, and sector-focused training, will support practitioners across the UK. It will highlight common challenges faced by the archival sector, demonstrate how scientific methods can inform preservation and interpretation, and explain how organisations can engage with the RICHeS network. The session aims to show how expanding access to heritage science can strengthen preservation planning, unlock new narratives, and build long-term sector capability.
The Role of Facsimiles in Balancing Preservation with Public Engagement - Mr Richard Hawkes, Artworks Conservation Ltd.
The presentation examines the variety of ways in which facsimiles can be used in exhibitions and archives. These include direct copies, sometimes used after the original has been on initial display or individual pages from manuscripts laid on top of the original. Handling copies can allow viewers to engage more in displays, especially with manuscripts, or within educational activities. Presentation copies of important documents, such as Royal Charters complete with replica pendant seals, allow long-term display whilst the original remains in an archive. Facsimiles allow for the inclusion in displays of material not available for loan or to be sent to multiple overseas locations.
Technology now exists to make near indistinguishable copies of archival material and artworks which can stand in for the original. As archivists, curators and conservators we must decide how to balance their use with the need to maintain engagement with the authentic original. There is also an ethical issue around making facsimiles that incorporate some original material, of which examples will be discussed. Labelling and marking of facsimiles is required to inform where copies have been substituted and a balance is recommended so that visitors to exhibitions are not denied the opportunity to see authentic material.
Wire-Stitched Bindings: Restoring Authenticity Through Collaboration - Domonique Alesi and Eleanor Smith, West Dean College
The conservation of wire-stitched bindings is among the most interventive and over-conserved areas of book conservation, in which evidence of authenticity is frequently compromised or lost. The widespread practice of removing the original staples in the pursuit of stability has led to the silent destruction of technological and historical evidence contained within mass-produced books from the late nineteenth century. While removal may appear to improve stability, it risks erasing evidence of manufacturing processes, structural intent, and historical use. This research advocates a reassessment of default removal practices and supports the preservation of wire stitching in situ. Drawing on practical case studies through collaboration between a library materials and metals conservators at West Dean College, this research examines the ethical and technical conflicts faced by book conservators when addressing corroding metal elements. It will highlight the limitations of addressing metallic deterioration within an organic-based conservation framework and demonstrate how collaboration can help expand available treatment options.
Authenticity as Practice: Guiding Principles in National Trust for Scotland Conservation Decision Making Mrs Julie Bon, National Trust For Scotland.
Authenticity in conservation practice is a fundamental pillar of our profession’s ethical framework, it permeates every aspect of our work. At the National Trust for Scotland, the approach is guided by a codified set of Conservation Principles that inform decisions around the care and presentation of historic interiors and collections. This talk will trace the evolution of the Trust’s Conservation Principles, placing them within the wider heritage sector and their historical moment. Drawing on the Trust’s corporate archive, it will provide insight into the organisation’s thinking in the early 2000s—when the need for a structured, guiding framework was first articulated.
Friday
Materials of Truth: Technical Authentication and Fiber Analysis of Iranian Security Documents (1940-1950),
Mr Morteza Mafi, Independent Researcher and Document Specialist.
The authenticity of a historical record is often hidden within its microscopic structure. This paper presents a comparative technical study of Iranian identity documents (Shenasnameh) from the 1940s, a pivotal decade where traditional papermaking met global industrial imports. The research investigates the "hierarchy of authenticity" by analyzing the material transition from traditional, lignin-free rag fibers to imported industrial wood-pulp papers.
Reimagining Access to Tightly Bound Manuscripts - Mrs. Samantha Schireson, National Library of Scotland.
Authenticity sits at the heart of conservation theory and practice, an ethical tenet which guides decision-making as we navigate the balance between preservation, access, and interpretation. This presentation outlines a digitization initiative that seeks to reconcile these tensions, placing the longevity of the object at the centre of its priorities through the development of an innovative mirror-assisted capture system designed for tightly bound manuscripts previously considered inaccessible.
Interpreting Board of Trade Design Registrations Through 3D Visualisation and Game Environments - Dr Pedro Maximo Rocha, The National Archives.
The Board of Trade (BT) design registrations constitute one of the most significant visual records of Victorian material culture, documenting furniture, decorative objects, wallpapers, textiles, and industrial design. Despite their importance, access to these volumes is severely constrained. Their physical size and weight require supervised handling, many volumes contain non-active mould, and consultation often necessitates access within Collection Care environments. As a result, these records, while technically available, remain functionally difficult to access for many readers.
Digitisation is frequently proposed as the solution to access barriers, yet for collections of this scale and condition it is often financially prohibitive, technically complex, and ethically constrained. This presentation explores an alternative approach: the development of a game-based 3D visualisation workflow that interprets BT design registrations not as isolated images, but as objects situated within historically informed environments. Rather than digitising the designs directly, the project extrapolates their three-dimensional form, materials, scale, and spatial context, allowing users to experience how these objects may have appeared when new, in use, and interacting with light, texture, and surrounding interiors.
The presentation interrogates where authenticity resides within this process. Rather than presenting a definitive answer, this project proposes authenticity as relational and layered.
Find the full Conference programme here.