Contributions to Conservation

Contributions to Conservation presents the latest research in conservation conducted by the Netherlands Institute for Cultural Heritage (ICN) - a national centre of excellence promoting the study and conservation of objects of art and science through scientific research, education and consultancy. The objective of the ICN is to improve the quality of conservation and collections care in museums, galleries, archives, libraries and other public collections.

This reference work incorporates the accumulated knowledge and results from a broad range of conservation research projects undertaken by the ICN.

Interdisciplinary co-operation and exchange of knowledge play an important part in each conservation research project undertaken by the ICN. Conservators, archivists, curators, conservation consultants and educators, as well as academics, students and researchers in the field, will therefore welcome Contributions to Conservation as a rich and broad-based source of knowledge, technique and experience - of great practical benefit in finding optimal solutions to conservation problems.

Topics covered include:

• Removal of lacquers from silver 
• Protection of calcareous materials against indoor air pollutants 
• Causes and phenomena of ink corrosion and issues with phytate treatment 
• An extensive survey of modern pigments and their history 
• The measurement of corrosive gases in the museum atmosphere 
• Chromatographic analysis of bitumen and natural resins 
• Photoluminescence of decaying paper 
• Case study: discoloration and degradation of 19th century paper 
• History, properties and problems of early plastics 
• The use of iron-gall complexes in writing and dyeing textiles