How do you turn a whale?

With difficulty – but it can be done, with planning, experienced staff and the help of a professional heavy lifting company.

We have been asked to look at the possibility of turning the whale skeleton in the Mammal’s gallery as part of the redevelopment of the new Living Planet gallery,  so that visitors might get the best view of it as they enter the new gallery space.

It is such an important exhibit in our mammal’s gallery, however the majority of visitors are greeted by the end of it’s tail and only see the splendour of its full length from above.

Suspended whale

Bird's eye view

It is orientated towards the original 1885 entrance however this door is no longer in use.

The first problem is that the skeleton is 3 floors up and has been there for some considerable time.  It has substantial fixings throughout its length and these are attached to the joists in the ceiling – these all add to the weight of the skeleton which is surprisingly heavy – so it is a long way up, very long and “quite” heavy and to add to the difficulty there are also some very fragile small sections of bone in the skull which would need extra protection throughout the process.

The whale is also too long to turn in the space on the floor in the gallery, so we would also have to partly dismantle it along the armature that runs through the length of the spine once it was down.

So with the help of experienced scaffolders the whole process of scaffolding, rigging, dismantling, re-attaching (with the same process in reverse as it goes back up) would take a week at least and for now we are going to have to leave it.

There will be little time over the next couple of months in a very busy building schedule for us to take over the entire space!

This might be something that has to happen in the second phase after the gallery is finished.

Progress through the Museum

Many of the wrapped animals and birds have now made their progress through the gallery to be frozen on the next stage on their journey, looking like very badly disguised Christmas presents in their plastic wrappings.

The freezing will hopefully destroy any pests lurking in the their fur or feathers and they will then be safe to bring into the lab and storage areas for any conservation treatment they need.

 

Packed and wrapped for progress

 

 

Polar bear in Egypt; not an image that most people would ever dream of!

 

All the animals are moving

Takes 5 people to move a polar bear out of a case

Preparing skull for photography

It is all change on the Mammals gallery at the moment – all the animals and skeletons are being removed from the cases for the first time in many years, to make way for the fit out work that needs to be done in the gallery space for the redevelopment of the galleries over the  10  months. It will also give us a chance to conserve and clean all those specimens that are going to go back on the gallery.
As we progress through the cases it is not always apparent how the larger animals have been mounted and attached to displays. They have to be secured to make sure they are stable and don’t fall over and all of the fixings are normally hidden from view. We have to  understand the ingenuity of past colleagues and disassemble the whole displays slowly. Obviously some animals are proving to be slightly more challenging than others – as they range from tiny field mice, hidden amongst cornstalks to lions and polar bears!
These larger animals are not as heavy as you might think as they are normally stuffed with wadding and plaster wrapped around an iron armature. Awkward is the word that comes to mind, as there is usually very little room inside the case for 4 people lifting as well as the animal in question.
It is quite physical work and everyone is working very hard to get them wrapped for the next stage which is freezing them. This will ensure that they we are protecting the specimens from pest damage, or indeed transporting pests to other areas of the museum.
As we work through the gallery our colleagues from the John Ryland’s Library (Jamie Robinson and Christian Ollier -http://chiccmanchester.wordpress.com/) are taking some great photos which will be used for our records but also in the new interactive material that will accompany our new displays in the middle of next year.

Escapee from a Beatrix Potter story

Time Capsule…

A couple of weeks ago I was asked by the Manchester Children’s Hospital to help open a time capsule (not a request I get every day). The capsule was found when the old hospital building in Pendlebury was demolished.

The capsule looked nothing like the shiny space-age ones people where burying for the Millennium, so we were quite hopeful that it was quite old.

When it arrived in the lab it became obvious it was made of lead. Lead is very heavy and very soft, and also poisonous.

So, on went the gloves and I started to pry it open.

The moment of truth...

This was not easy but on the other hand it meant that the capsule was well sealed. When I did get it open I could see some news paper peaking out but when I tried gently put it out it wouldn’t budge. There was something else inside.

With the aid of sheet-metal cutters I cut open the capsule and safely removed the wodge of paper. The outer layers are the Manchester Guardian and The Times from 12^th march 1935. Inside a couple of the Hospital’s annual reports, material relating to their 1935 fund raising appeal, an invite to the corner-stone laying on 13^th March 1935 and few coins from the reign of king George V. There was also a newspaper from 1805; not sure what that was doing there.

I have been involved in several exciting discoveries in archaeology over the years but never such a modern one. It was pretty cool though and everything inside is so well preserved!

With the aid of sheet-metal cutters I cut open the capsule and safely removed the wodge of paper. The outer layers are the Manchester Guardian and The Times from 12^th march 1935. Inside a couple of the Hospital’s annual reports, material relating to their 1935 fund raising appeal, an invite to the corner-stone laying on 13^th March 1935 and few coins from the reign of king George V. There was also a newspaper from 1805; not sure what that was doing there.

I have been involved in several exciting discoveries in archaeology over the years but never such a modern one. It was pretty cool though and everything inside is so well preserved!

Want to see more photos?

Take a look at our Time capsule set on Flickr

The Tiger is Back!

Well after his visit to Central Library, the tiger has come home to the Museum for some rest and recuperation. He’s biding his time in the Conservation lab for the moment, as you can see, but not for long. He’ll be on display again during the summer holidays in the Museum’s Discovery Centre, where there will be plenty of tiger themed activities going on.

Alderley Edge Chalice

The Ancient Worlds gallery development, which is mentioned in a number of the other blogs on our Museum site , still seems some time off. However in reality it will come around very quickly. So we have started preparing and undertaking the conservation on a number of key artefacts that we want to include in the new galleries and one of those is the waterlogged wooden chalice from Alderley Edge . The Museum has been caring for the chalice for a number of years and it has only recently been transferred to our collection. It has survived so long (we don’t have an exact date) because it was waterlogged when it was found and this is why we have continued to store it in cold water to prevent it deteriorating. It was originally found in the depths of a mine at Alderley Edge.

Wooden waterlogged goblet

Bryan Sitch (Head of Living Cultures) and I took the Chalice last week to the York archaeological Trust (http://www.yorkarchaeology.co.uk/). We took the Chalice to the Trust because it has a long history of researching and conserving important waterlogged wooden finds.

The photograph below shows Mags Felter (a conservator) putting the chalice in some fresh water before the treatment starts. I will keep the story updated during the stages of the treatment, although in fairness there may not be very much to see in subsequent photos, however the end result will mean that we can safely display the object OUT of water!

Waterlogged wooden chalice

Busy times ahead

This is the beginning of a very busy period for the Conservation department as we prepare for two exciting large scale gallery redevelopments. The Mammals gallery which was referred to in February by Abby and the HLF funded Ancient Worlds project which has its own blog on our site.
This means we are now in the planning stage for several sessions of large scale object movements and spending time finding space off the galleries to store the collections. As with most museums and galleries space back of house is limited and at a premium and we also have to make sure that the objects go into the correct storage conditions. Some objects will be straight forward to move and house, however there are a number which take more scheduling and involve a larger team.
The Whale skeleton which came out of the Sea Mammals case on the mammals gallery (can be seen in the February blog) is complex and relatively heavy and is best supported in the way it has been displayed. We are now looking at ways of suspending it in the stores, to free up space and ensure it is safe.
When galleries are redeveloped in this way it is also a great time to examine and treat objects which may not have been off display for twenty years. Conservation of these objects can lead to the objects being re-invigorated and new information been gleaned about their past lives. This may happen through simply cleaning the objects and uncovering details or various types of analysis and new research which may sheds light on such fields of research as material science and manufacture.

Re-pinning Beetles

Part of my work involves looking after the collections which are kept in the stores and aren’t on public display.

Currently I am very slowly working my way through the thousands of drawers of specimens in the entomology collection. The fats within the beetles have corroded the pins which hold them upright in the drawers, this green verdigris corrosion grows within the specimen and can eventually lead to them bursting apart.

We have found that the best method of removing the pins is to hold the insect in some very hot water for a few seconds which softens the insect and enables you to remove the pin and to insert a new one. It’s very slow work trying to avoid knocking off the legs and antenna of the insects.

I expect to spend a few years working through the collection, alongside exhibition and loan work.

The photo’s below show a drawer before and after conservation.

Beware they show close up’s of beetles!

Beetles before conservation

Beetles in drawer before conservation work

Close up entomology drawer of collected beetles after conservation

Entomology drawer of various collected insects - completed

Getting into the conservation profession

In general, most people these days have had formal training in conservation at university level.

It’s a good idea to check out websites, visit conservation labs and studios and acquaint yourself with the museum world before you actually go and study conservation.

Some people decide on a conservation career at 17 but very often it is something people get into having started off with something else; archaeology, art history, fine art, craft, or a science.

These backgrounds give you an idea of the sorts of skills conservators need. You will need to be dexterous, have an interest in the history of things and an understanding of scientific principles.
Having said that, you are not expected to be able to paint a masterpiece or be an expert in a specific academic/scientific field.

If you are from an arts background I would recommend you do A level chemistry. If you are from a science background I would recommend a fine art or craft course. I would also say that this would be a hard profession to stick with if you didn’t have enthusiasm for it.

A good place to start is Icon (the Institute of Conservation), which is the professional body for conservators in the UK

Their website will give you a general idea of the sort of things conservator do in various fields and provides good information on getting into the profession. Go to `Careers and Training’., `Internships’ and `Technician qualification’.

A list of training course can be found under `Careers and Training’.

You can get different perspectives on the profession from similar organisation in different countries. The AIC (American Institute for Conservation) website is a good one  and I really like The Australian Institute for Conservation website, especially sections on `Conservators at Work’, `Visual Glossary‘ and `Remedies gone wrong’.

Mammal Gallery Redevelopment

As those of you who have been following our Nature Manchester blog http://naturemanchester.wordpress.com/2010/01/27/pests/  will know, we are just about to start the process of redeveloping our Mammals Gallery.  We took our first step towards this last week when we emptied the Sea Mammals display case. This case was a very large display case, just like the one in the photo below, but was not original to the building. As part of the redisplay we are hoping to partly restore the fabric of the building to how it would have looked when Waterhouse designed it back in the ninteenth century.

The Sea Mammals Case was emptied, so that we could see what condition the floors, windows etc were in behind it. As you can see from the photo below, the case has done no real damage to the floor, windows or ceilings, and we were amazed to see that the back of the cases either side of the Sea Mammals Case still contained most of their glass. In addition they also have three glazing bars on each door, which are no longer present in the front doors.

Finally if you are wondering where the sea mammals have gone. They have all gone into a Zoology store temporarily, all apart from the whale which, as you can see,  is suspended in the Conservation lab.