AIC's 52nd Annual Meeting

The wheels started turning in a different direction for conservation in the National Archives of Singapore 3 years ago. Tucked away in a picturesque hillside building, the conservation team operated in the shadows, as a back-of-house function. Driven by the goal to raise the profile of conservators, stoke an interest in conservation resulting in pride in and respect for the meaningful work conservators do, a progressive route was charted for the team targeting outreach, education, and engagement.

Outreach

We were eager to challenge preconceptions of conservation being deadly serious business, with no room for humour. From a dearth of conservation-related posts on our institution’s social media 2 years ago, conservation is now front and centre, gracing social media platforms such as Zoom, Instagram, YouTube and most recently TikTok, making archival conservation sexy again!

Notably, Conservation in NAS, a 10-episode TikTok series, threw the spotlight on our conservation team. The series highlights behind-the-scenes conservation processes at NAS. It has garnered 1,465,200 views and climbing (the average view per clip is 146,520). Most hearteningly, the comments section has been ripe with queries on how one can join the profession. It also won the National Library Board’s Outstanding Innovation Award in 2023 – a recognition for being the first conservation series from an institution in our local TikTok scene. Ultimately, it has endeavoured to make conservation education accessible, eliciting wonder and reaching new audiences.

Education

It is no surprise that conservation practices are varied around the world. With limited educational institutions offering conservation training especially in Asia, such educational opportunities or professional training might be out of reach for many aspiring conservators. To tackle the issue of making conservation training accessible for our team, we created a comprehensive in-house professional training programme that serves a dual purpose of being an induction programme for new conservators and as a progressive training model for conservators to develop their competencies at beginner, intermediate and expert levels.

Taught by veterans in the team who have cultivated a wealth of experience training on the job, this model also serves as a means of sustainable knowledge transfer. Born during the Covid Pandemic when we were sorely missing travel, it was aptly named the “Training Passport”, where conservators ‘travel’ to new experiences and challenges and obtain a stamp when they reach their destinations. While putting together the sessions which targeted skills necessary for a paper conservator, from cooking wheat starch to cutting mat boards to sizing and lining, we also made sure to include training for operating the lab equipment in the lab. This ensured that crucial knowledge and know-how did not solely rest on one or two conservators’ shoulders but are now part of the skill set of every member of team. Supplemented by a curated list of external online courses, we have been keeping abreast with the dynamic conservation landscape.

In early 2024, we will be extending an abridged version of this training to a group of conservators in neighboring countries and helping to raise the standard of conservation for in the region.

Engagement

Necessitated by internal incidents with hazardous chemical agents and agents of deterioration, the Archives Conservation lab designed a first ever internal records handling programme for our library and archives staff. NLB has a mandate to collect, preserve and manage Singapore’s public and private archival records of historical and national significance for their long-term preservation. As recent local and international events demonstrate, it is not enough for conservators alone to be apprised of the potential hazards in collections. Anyone who has exposure to physical records needs to be alert and informed of the signs of potential risk, and how to respond and protect oneself.

A component of our Collections Disaster Management Plan, it covers agents of deterioration, assessing condition of records, staff health and safety measures, best practices in records handling, how to identify health hazards and mitigating steps to be taken. It has changed the way collection staff approach records, prioritizing their health and safety. Communication is smoother and quicker with clear escalation channels when the unforeseen happens. Staff and users are educated to understand the vulnerability of the materials which they are handling.

Our training which focuses on the special care required to ensure the long-term preservation of records has also been extended to include participants beyond our organisation, with external collection owners, archivists, and conservators from other local GLAM organisations to cover a wider group of users. This strengthens and cements the unifying role we play in preservation- as agents of change, actively engaging an otherwise rather fragmented local conservation community.

This three-pronged approach has transformed the role we play as conservators in our organisation. We are highly encouraged and motivated to do more and to do better – to make conservation accessible to all.