School of Historical and Philosophical Studies - Research Publications

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    Editorial [AICCM Bulletin, vol.43 no.2]
    Tse, N (Taylor & Francis, 2022)
    Dialogues around universal ‘best’ practices in conservation are challenging as are demarkations between the East and West, Europe and Asia, and the global north and south. Institutions, networks of care and materials conservation professionals have thereby struggled with ‘a long-standing epistemological debate about the nature of knowledge and expertise between dominant positivist and alternative non-positivist approaches’ (Beebeejaun et al. Citation2013, p. 2). What works in various geographical contexts is poised against an inherent tension between object centred and scientific processes, to those that are value based and socially situated alongside differences in institutional cultures, developmental histories and disciplinary leader’s foci.
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    Editorial [AICCM Bulletin, 41(2)]
    Tse, N (Taylor & Francis, 2020-04-02)
    Papers in this volume focus on geographic locations drawn from Indonesia, Singapore, Taiwan, and the Eastern borders of Australia. In these parts of the world, we all know that there is a long record of active use and conservation of material culture through traditional systems, while the professionalised practice of conservation engendered by its existence, has a relatively recent history.
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    Care, Handling, and Packaging = การดูแล การหยิบยก เคลื่อนย้าย และการจัดเก็บ ผลงานศิลปกรรม
    Tse, N ; Poonthongdeewatthana, O (Thailand Academy of Social Sciences, Office of the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Higher Education, Science, and Innovation, 2023-09-01)
    The lecture Care, Handling, and Packaging will revise some of the content Aj. Chiraporn shared with the participants, and it’s also a consolidation of the previous lecture on ‘The Fundamentals of Painting Conservation and Decision Making’.
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    Fundamentals of Painting Conservation and Decision Making = พื้นฐานของการอนุรักษ์ภาพ จิตรกรรมและ การตัดสินใจในการอนุรักษ์
    Tse, N ; Poonthongdeewatthana, O (Thailand Academy of Social Sciences, Office of the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Higher Education, Science, and Innovation, 2023-09-01)
    What is the nature of paintings and paper conservation? The act of conservation asserts values, voice and legitimacy. This leads to questions around what knowledge is important, who gets to decide what is important to conserve, and what form this takes. What is appropriate in localised contexts is often positioned within the aims of heritage and identity, and object-centred practice and scientific processes.
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    A preliminary investigation into the influence of archaeological material on the yellowing of polyethylene storage bags
    Thompson, K ; Nel, P (Routledge, 2021)
    Concerns around the degradation of plastics have been part of conservation discourse for decades. The spotlight is usually on art and objects, and conservation and display materials, however it could be argued that a significant volume of the plastics in museums is associated with storage bags. This study asked whether the condition of plastic storage bags might be influenced by what is stored inside them. If specific materials can be identified as more likely to affect plastic degradation, museums may have a lead-indicator for efficiently monitoring storage risks. This case study developed a methodology for applying multivariate analysis to collected data to answer this question. A subset of polyethylene self-seal bags used to pack archaeological material from the ‘Casselden Place’ assemblage at Museums Victoria was evaluated. Objective data were combined with subjective assessment of bag degradation features gathered during a collection survey and interrogated using multivariate statistical analysis. Results indicate (1) different levels of yellowing are associated with particular plastic bag stocks and (2) ceramic, slate and tile finds are more likely than other materials to be contained within yellower bags. The research points to future enquiry and demonstrates this methodology shows promise for extension to other large cultural datasets.
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    Surveys of Plastics in Post-1950 Non-published Book Collections
    Chu, C ; Barrett, M ; Bunn, S ; Zilio, F ; Bell, J ; Nel, P (De Gruyter, 2023-03-03)
    Research over the past three decades has demonstrated that certain plastics in cultural materials are inherently unstable, displaying short lifespans and accelerating the degradation of neighbouring collection materials. Knowledge of the conservation of plastics is increasingly common in museum settings. However, less information is available on conserving plastics found in paper-based collections, and even less guidance on the materials and deterioration of plastic components found in book and document bindings. As plastics have been present in popular bookbinding materials since the mid-twentieth century, collection care professions require knowledge and methods for preserving these materials entering book collections. The aim of this paper is to determine strategies for the care of post-1950s books containing plastic. Collection surveys were conducted to determine the materials, structures, and degradation patterns of non-published books found in archive and archive-like settings at the South Australian Museum, the Art Gallery of New South Wales, and the Grimwade Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation at the University of Melbourne. A methodology combining condition reporting and infrared spectroscopy identified six plastic polymers in 35 binding styles that are summarised as 10 binding types. Recommendations are made for the use of preventive storage strategies responding to four categories of damage.
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    Identification of polymer-based artefacts from the former Wheeler Residence at the Mernda archaeological site in Victoria, Australia: A comparison of attenuated total reflectance and reflectance spectroscopic techniques
    Wong, SSH ; Stuart, B ; Kim, C ; Nel, P (International Council of Museums, 2021)
    The purpose of this investigation was to identify the polymers in artefacts recovered from archaeological excavations at the former Wheeler Residence using attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared and reflectance spectroscopy. The results from both techniques are compared and discussed. Identification will assist with the long-term management and storage of these polymer-based artefacts. Evaluation of these two sampling techniques included whether the physical characteristics and polymer type of the artefacts favoured the use of one technique over the other. The inherent challenges of archaeological artefacts such as cataloguing conventions, awkwardly shaped fragments and soil encrustations complicated the analysis. Of the 270 samples analysed, 67% were identified as containing ten different types of polymers, with the remaining 33% consisting of unidentified polymers, encrusted polymers in which only soil bands or other materials such as glass were identified. Although reflectance achieved better results for certain types of artefacts, it also revealed limitations. The identified polymers are compatible with the proposed occupation of the site from 1852 to the 1970s.
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    The Antipodean Legacies of Atlantic Slavery
    Laidlaw, Z (History Teachers' Association of Victoria (HTAV), 2021)
    Compensation awarded to British slave-owners under the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 enabled them to redirect their Atlantic assets and practices to Australia’s burgeoning settler colonies.
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    [Review of the book Empire of Hell: Religion and the Campaign to End Convict Transportation in the British Empire, 1788-1875 by Hilary M. Carey]
    Laidlaw, Z (Cambridge University Press, 2020)
    A book review on: Empire of Hell: Religion and the Campaign to End Convict Transportation in the British Empire, 1788-1875