Preservation Perspectives

The University of Edinburgh's conservation and collections management blog

Giving Decorated Paper a Home … Loose-leaf Material

Posted on October 17, 2024 by conservation

In this post, Technician Robyn Rogers discusses her bespoke mounting and rehousing of loose-leaf papers from the University’s decorated paper collection. Robyn’s first post about working through the collection’s bound volumes can be seen here. If you are interested in learning more about the historic uses, production and trade of decorated paper, you can visit the online exhibition on this collection, curated by Elizabeth Quarmby Lawrence here.

Continue reading →

An Explorer’s Legacy: The Journey of the John Rae Collection

Posted on October 11, 2024 by conservation

As part of ongoing work on the University’s historic loans, Collections Registrar, Morven Rodger, investigates the history and provenance of the University’s John Rae collection.

In July 1926, the University Court agreed to lend the “John Rae Collection of Arctic and Other Relics” to the Royal Museum of Scotland. Almost a century later, The Royal Museum is now the National Museum of Scotland, and John Rae’s items remain on loan, but how and why did the University come to have these items in the first place?

Continue reading →