2025/09/02 by Jessica Hyslop, Emma Skinner, Nikki Tomkins · 1 voice
Arts and Humanities · #Cultural Heritage Management and Preservation #Digital and Traditional Archives Management #Historical Architecture and Urbanism
paper · doi:10.1080/23257962.2025.2600280
openalex publication_date 2025/09/02 · openalex created_date 2026/02/03 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/14
The Oxford Conservation Consortium (OCC) provides library and archive conservation and collection care services to 17 University of Oxford Colleges. This paper compares three large-scale projects undertaken by the OCC to conserve and rehouse College archival collections, detailing the lessons learned from each and how these shaped decision-making throughout. The first, and largest, of the three projects focuses on the conservation and rehousing of the St John’s Estates collection, primarily paper and parchment documents dating from the twelfth to the twentieth century housed in poor quality acidic envelopes. The second presents the Queen’s Deeds project which involved the cleaning, repair, and rehousing of approximately 2500 medieval parchment deeds, many with pendant seals. The final project discussed is the ongoing rehousing of Lincoln Archive’s Estates and Livings collection, comprising a range of material and formats. Each project presented challenges such as managing storage limitations, working to tight budgets, maintaining consistency of approach, item tracking, and surveying large and diverse collections. Effective planning and management has been key to success, ensuring that the approach remains streamlined and economical while adapting to changing circumstances and priorities. The key lessons learned are shared for the advisement of others embarking on similar large-scale rehousing projects.