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news the State OF COnSerVat iOn how do people become photograph conservators, what do they need to know, and how do they secure the knowledge and training they need to do their job effectively? Last year the north London based Simon Fleury photograph conservation studio advertised two six month Photography Conservation traineeships. the advertisement for the paid parttime roles offered an ‘opportunity to gain hands-on experience in the conservation, digitisation, and management of photographic collections’, through a mentorship ‘designed to nurture the next generation of conservation professionals and address the critical shortage of expertise in the preservation of photographic heritage’. Source spoke to Simon Fleury and Stephanie Jamieson (freelance conservators and supervisors of the traineeships) as well as andrew Megaw the head of Conservation at the national Library of ireland (nLi) about the current state of the photograph conservation profession. Fleury and Jamieson estimated that there are ‘more than 10, fewer than 15’ photo conservators in the UK. this includes both freelance practitioners and conservators working for institutions with major photographic collections like London’s V&a. in ireland, as Megaw explained, the situation is different with there not being the market to support freelance conservators. Photographs might be one of the items papers conservators encounter more or less frequently in their career. though Megaw does note that sometimes conservators are brought in to work specifically on photograph projects, pointing to a recent advert by the Public records Office of northern ireland for a 12 month fixed term role working specifically with their

Andrew Megaw, Head of Conservation, in the Conservation Studio at National Library of Ireland. Image: Myles Shelly holdings of photographs. individual conservator’s paths into working in the field are unique. a common point of origin for Fleury, Jamison and Megaw alike is that they all studied fine art. Fleury worked in commercial photography before doing an Ma in Photography and starting work at the V&a. Jamieson ‘did an Ma in paper conservation at Camberwell which does not exist anymore’ prior to ‘undertaking an institute of Conservation [iCOn] conservatorship’ which encouraged her interest in photography. She then held general paper conservation jobs at the national Library of Scotland and in Cardiff, prior to taking a photograph conservation focused job at the V&a where she worked for five years. Megaw undertook art historical Phd research after his first degree studying ‘some of the earliest books containing photographs published between the 1840s and 1860s’. the diversity of the objects they may encounter is a challenge conservators working with photographs face, though one which all interviewees evidently enjoy. Fleury explained that ‘understanding how a photograph is produced, what its basic chemistry is like’ is an essential part of developing an approach to conserving it. he and Jamieson say this is especially challenging when dealing with early photographs created at a time when photographers often developed highly individual chemical and technical processes. when they require input into how to conserve a specific item, Fluery and Jamieson draw upon both formal networks organised by professional bodies like iCOn and informal contacts amongst other conservators. the University of amsterdam offers a masters level course every other year which focuses upon photograph conservation within the wider discipline of paper conservation. Besides this Ma there are no other university level courses specialising in photograph conservation. Conservators share knowledge and best practice through workshops both online and in-person. Megaw says that as nLi’s head of Conservation he encourages his staff to develop and share their knowledge and expertise through participating in these events. Looking to the future Megaw mentioned that ‘digital photographic conservation is another thing entirely’ and that practitioners in the years to come working in that field will likely come from a computing and digital background rather than from the world of paper conservation. Fluery and Jamieson’s sense is that the number of photograph conservators in the UK ‘is roughly stable’ and that there is a generational mix amongst those working in the field. which suggests that while it is a very small craft there is unlikely to be substantial loss of skills due to retirements. there is clearly a need for more practitioners and they hope is that participants in their 2025 traineeship scheme will want to carry on in the world of photograph conservation.

– Josh allen