News Letter 2007- No. 8
Students from the HND Furniture Restoration at London Metropolitan University studying chair construction
Our Trustee Dr John Cross and Sue Newton-Short, both senior lecturers in the Conservation Section of the Sir John Cass Department of Art Media and Design at the London Metropolitan University, have been very much involved in developing our Collection of chairs, carvings and the archives over the last year and are still working hard at it.
John and Sue gave an important paper at a conference held at the V& A Museum organized by The 20 th Century Furniture Research Group, of the Buckinghamshire and Chiltern University College (BCUC), High Wycombe. This was to explain how the Collection came to its London Metropolitan University home, the work in progress on cataloguing the chairs and carvings, and their plans for the future. This seminar was held on Friday 17 th November 2006.
Ed Gregory, Head of Conservation at the University, organised the 10 th David Harris Annual Memorial Lecture. It took place on Friday 16 th March 2007. The opening address, by Ed, was a review entitled “The last 10 years”. One major development has been the arrival of the Frederick Parker Collection and company archive. So it was a trip down memory lane with reminiscences of the initial negotiations, planning and building the purpose-built, environmentally- controlled gallery for the chairs and the acquisition and fitting out of the secure storage facilities for the remainder of the Collection and archive. This was followed by Sue who gave a paper illustrating how the Collections is enhancing the student experience (see photos on the left) and describing the content of the Collection in greater detail, the cataloguing procedure that was taking place and an outline of the work still to do.
Apart from the ongoing task of this major job of cataloguing, the University has, over the last year, been involved in applying, with your Trustees' support, for Museum Accreditation. This is a major step forward, putting extra responsibility on the University to the manner in which they display and manage the Collection. It will no doubt enhance their and our prestige.
A final year student on the BSc Hons. Restoration & Conservation course, Michael Kingsbury, is measuring in great detail our silvered chair (FP ref. no. 23 and illustrated on page 10 of our book “A Selection of Chairs”). He is planning to make an exact replica, and to silver-gild it. Although it will not be upholstered, it is proving to be an important research and educational exercise. Michael plans to apply various finishes for long-term ageing trials.
These events demonstrate the enthusiasm of our University partners in using and promoting the Collection for educational purposes.
As you know, your Trustees worked hard last year and produced our book . I am delighted to report some very good write-ups in the technical, trade and furniture press and it seems to have gone down well with academics, historians and experts on furniture. We also have put our story and activities on the internet. Do have a look on www.frederick-parker-foundation.org .
