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This article first appeared in Conservation News 73. David Harris Memorial Conference 2000The David Harris Memorial conference goes from strength to strength. This year there was an international flavour with Jeff Moore from Rhode Island and Georges Vriz from France. Jeff Moore's talk first introduced us to the history of the Preservation Society of Newport County, Rhode Island, which is the third largest privately-owned museum in the United States, and then detailed some of their conservation projects as case-studies, which illustrated in detail the Society's approach to a number of conservation problems. These included an upholstery case study, and a fascinating account into the recreation of gold printed wallpaper for an historic interior. Georges Vriz, a master of traditional marquetry techniques, has developed a new technique, which results in almost impressionist works in marquetry. His lecture was stimulating and was illustrated with slides, which showed how he built up the marquetry. Amanda Girling-Budd drew upon her ongoing research at the Victoria and Albert Museum into 'Holland and Company'. The scope and position of the company within the trade were discussed and analysed. Angela Sutton-Yane's talk was based on some of her course work at the LGU. The investigation into a seemingly quite ordinary lacquered tea caddy from the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum revealed much about the social values and issues of taste that influenced the trade of lacquered goods from the Far East. Investigation into the previous owners of the caddy also showed how the potentially fascinating 'personal history' of the objects might be lost. Ann Sowden gave an informative account of materials and methods used in the conservation of the Banqueting Hall ceiling at the Brighton Pavilion. This large project, dealing with a varied polychrome structure, was conducted while the Pavilion and the Banqueting Hall remained open to the public. Ann-Katrin Köster gave a clear and interesting account of the restoration and conservation of a frame, which formed a significant part of her third year course work for the BSc in restoration and conservation at the University. The day was punctuated by pleasant interludes, which included a tour of the conservation department, a video of the works of Georges Vriz and a visit to the Frederick Parker Study Collection of chairs, which will become a permanent museum at the university. The David Harris Memorial prize, which is given to the most promising second year London Guildhall University BSc Restoration/ Conservation student, both in the academic and practical fields, was won by Bruce Nisbett and highly commended awards were made to Nicky Harris and Angela Sutton-Vane.
The Postprints of this Conference are advertised on the Publications page.
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