Challenges of conservation: working objects

Reflections on the conservation challenges of scientific and technological objects

“…this may not be possible because the object is too incomplete, cannibalised or damaged. and when it is possible, degraded materials, such as lubricants and rubber elements, may need to be replaced, leading to a loss of original parts [5] and authenticity issues. in addition, keeping an object in operation requires continuous maintenance and qualified staff to monitor and maintain the mechanisms, a problem for institutions with scarce human resources.…”

“…throughout the years, the restoration of s&t heritage has been focused on repairing and replacing elements and substituting paint and lacquer coatings. these actions were intended to keep the objects in operation, especially those with mechanisms [5][6][7], and with the original appearances disregarding historical value [3,5]. these restorations were often carried out by unskilled personnel, which led, in several cases, to irreversible loss of information.…”

Protective Coatings for Metals in Scientific—Technical Heritage: The Collection of the Spanish National Museum of Science and Technology (MUNCYT)

“…From the material point of view, we are confronted with objects that are made up of a wide variety of materials, among which metals have a special relevance, both considering their abundance and the great variety of their nature, manufacturing techniques and finishing (polished, painted, with incised or excised markings, etc., either for decoration or technical requirements). It is very common in the same collection or even in the same object to find other materials too, such as plastics, wood, leather, paper, textiles, or even different liquids and chemical products [3,5,6]. This represents an additional challenge, due to the different environmental conditions required for the optimal conservation and incompatibilities between materials of the same object, in which the degradation of one of the materials can produce deterioration of others coexisting in the object [3,6].…”