Preservation and conservation, along with collecting and valuation, are pillars of any institution that holds a collection of cultural heritage. However, conservation is rarely the subject of analytical and reflexive discourse, researched in a historical perspective. Studies in museology, the history of collections, and even the history of science and technology, have offered their perspectives on why and how all kinds of material collections are preserved in institutions dedicated to conservation. Further, the professionals of these institutions are faced with their own questions about the state of their collections and the origins of the practices they execute in their daily work.
Increasingly, questions relating to collecting, the status of objects, how to show them, as well as exhibition devices have been investigated within academia and museums. Over the past two decades, this self-reflection of institutions has become the subject of exhibitions, which incorporate the multiple identities and status of certain objects or collections (and their possible reassignment) in relation to the institution's history, its constitution, its values and the formulation of its practices. What is the impact of this renewed look on conservation and the professions related to it?
Research into the ways in which collections are built has highlighted both the voluntary and unintentional nature of their constitution. How have ideas and practices of conservation been articulated and perpetuated since the building of institutions and the formalization of occupations related to collecting, whether within disciplinary or thematic museums, cabinets, libraries or even botanical gardens?
As part of the SNSF project "Libraries and Museums in Switzerland", a two-day conference will be held on June 5th and 6th, 2025, focusing on all these dimensions of the conservation of important collections since their founding. This event will bring together academic, scientific and professional circles, while providing an opportunity for theoretical reflection and case studies. It will take a global approach to the phenomenon, focusing primarily on the period between the 17th and the end of the 19th century. However, papers focusing on the 20th century will be welcome, if they engage with the past. Following themes will be explored:
- Object trajectories and typologies: redefinitions and taxonomy; functionality and instruments; hybrid objects.
- Genius loci and the diversity of collections: cabinets, museums, libraries, archives, botanical gardens, etc.; the vagaries of material history: moving, finding, relisting, etc.
- Conservation devices and the "spectacle of order:" containers, display cases, storage methods.
- Nomenclature(s).
- Inventories, catalogues, "paper technologies:" When and why are inventories and catalogues drawn up? What classification criteria were applied? How did such systems contribute to conservation?
- Dematerialization of material history: digital measures and databases.
- Theorizing conservation: historiography; methods, sources and models; traditions and innovation.
- Individuals and institutions: curators (a profession that did not have a name); disciplines, professionalization; weight of politics; organization and evolution of public service.
- Loss, sorting, destruction: criteria and challenges of "conscious" conservation.
Proposals, in French, German, Italian or English, should not exceed 300 words. In addition to your abstract, please submit a short CV (1–2 pages). Please email your proposal by October 31, 2024 to Valérie Kobi (valerie.kobi@unine.ch) and Chonja Lee (chonja.lee@unine.ch). Notifications will be sent in November 2024.
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