Many of the artefacts currently undergoing
conservation during this project will be redisplayed in a fantastic new display
within the Pitt Rivers Museum dedicated to the Cook-Voyage collections. In the
meantime, temporary storage solutions are required for many of the objects after
conservation treatment. Some of them, for example, the larger bark cloths, may
have to return to storage. Stored objects will not have been neglected, but have
each had customized storage boxes personally (and lovingly) made for their
protection and for easier accessibility for future research purposes. One of my
main tasks as a volunteer has to be construct boxes for these barkcloths.
Historically, the bark cloths were previously
stored folded and stacked. This has caused uneven wear on the folded areas. Now
each bark cloth has been unfolded, cleaned and conserved, and then rolled
around custom-made calico supports, as described in previous posts on this
blog. The final stage of storage preparation has involved the careful
measurement of the rolled bark cloth and the making of a lidded box to these
measurements.
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| Kathy and Conor, our ICON conservation intern, making a Correx box |
Making a box out of Correx board (sheets of
corrugated plastic) is not too complicated, but has required a fair amount of
crawling on the floor due to the sizes of the bark cloths. Firstly, the box net
is drawn on the large board using the measurements from the object. The plastic
is then cut out and scored with a craft knife. Finally the side-flaps are cut
and folded, and secured in place using brass paper fasteners. A little bit of
mathematics is required to work out the required dimensions of the
corresponding lid so it fits the box snugly. The bark cloths are
characteristically long (over 1 metre) but only about 20 centimeters wide and
high when rolled. Therefore, most of the boxes I have made so far are also long
and thin.
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| Cook-voyage collection objects stored on padded boards |
In addition to box making duties, I have
had also helped with other storage requirements. I have assisted, along with
other volunteers, with sewing fabric supports for objects in the Cook-Voyage
collection, from the long calico tube supports for bark cloth rolls to padded supports
for smaller objects. I have also been ‘outsourced’ from working on the
Cook-Voyage collections, helping to sew cushioned supports to meet transportation
requirements of several North American artefacts that went out on loan to an
exhibition in Germany earlier this year.
Completing these storage preparation tasks
has enabled me to see artefacts from the Cook-Voyage collection close up and
during the processes of conservation, and has given me a fascinating insight
into the workings of the conservation department at an ethnographic museum.
More recently, I have been assisting by photographing the labels removed from
the Cook Collection artefacts in the 1970s, creating a visual archive that will
be available on the new website for this project. Currently, I am also reading
George Forster’s account of Cook’s second voyage, A Voyage Round the World, taking notes whenever exchanges occur between
the local populations of the Pacific and the European visitors. This
information will be formatted to create an accessible record to make tracking
potential provenances of Cook-Voyage objects and similar items easier in future
research.
As a recent graduate of Art History,
Anthropology and Archaeology, who is about to begin an Anthropology Masters
later this year, I have found my experience so far very enriching and it will
certainly add to my growing understandings of material culture research. I have
genuinely enjoyed helping with these practical and research tasks, but knowing
that my boxes, cushions and additional tasks are contributing to the
preservation and research potential of such an important and iconic collection
makes it even more worthwhile.
Thanks go to the other Museum volunteers who have contributed to the project. Their work is very much appreciated.
