Beatrix Potter left a huge eclectic collection to the National Trust, ranging from furniture, ceramics, paintings and jewellery, to more unusual items such as wooden rabbits, rusty nails, doll’s clothes and even a bracelet made of hair.
Wrapped up in tissue paper
There isn’t room to display the whole collection at once, so what isn’t on display has been carefully stored away in archive boxes, wrapped in acid free tissue paper. While this means the objects are safe from harm, each time the team want to check the condition of an object, they must handle it, which can potentially cause damage.
A snug fit
To prevent this, the team of Conservation Assistants are working on ‘re-housing’ the entire collection. This involves layering plastazote (a non-toxic foam) into an archive box and cutting a mould for each object to sit in. This has proved tricky for some of the more unusually shaped objects, but our conservation assistants are a talented bunch! Once this project is complete, they will be able to carry out inventory checks of all objects without physically handling them.