S06E01: Conservation on a Budget

Together with guest host Lorraine Finch we turn out our pockets, peer into our piggy banks, and root around the back of the sofa for some spare change: how can we make our money go a little further? Conservators are often cash-strapped and we have a chat about everything from sourcing lab equipment to finding cheaper conservation supplies. Also tune in for a review of ’Magnetic Mounting Systems for Museums & Cultural Institutions’ by Gwen Spicer.

00:00:47 News in brief
00:08:30 Budgets and cash flow in conservation
00:11:51 Equipment: borrowing, hiring, and pooling together
00:17:59 Delivery costs and ways around them
00:25:08 Other ways of finding equipment
00:33:04 Getting supplies for less: quality vs price
00:43:27 Repurposing things we’ve already got
00:49:12 What about chemicals?
00:56:48 Could we share books and literature more?
00:59:15 A message from Christina
01:03:33 Review: ’Magnetic Mounting Systems for Museums & Cultural Institutions’
01:12:52 Patreon shout-out

Show Notes:
– ‘A New Definition of “Museum” Sparks International Debate’ via Hyperallergic: https://hyperallergic.com/513858/icom-museum-definition/
– ‘Science Museum workers across England strike over low pay’ via The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2019/aug/30/science-museum-workers-england-strike-pay
– Caring for Collections on a Shoestring: http://mdem.org.uk/event/caring-for-collections-on-a-shoestring/?instance_id=684
– Rapid Response Network: http://www.rapidresponsenetwork.org.uk/
– Museum Freecycle: https://groups.freecycle.org/group/MuseumUK/posts/all
– Conservation Supplies on Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/ConservationSupplies
– Magnetic Mounting Systems for Museums & Cultural Institutions: https://spicerart.com/magnetbook/

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Hosted by Jenny Mathiasson, Kloe Rumsey, and Lorraine Finch.

Intro and outro music by DDmyzik used under a Creative Commons Attribution license.

Made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license.

A Wooden Dice production, 2019.

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