Conservation Blog: The Danger of Light

House and Collections Officer Claudia discusses the impact sunlight can have on Scott's collections and why she's very excited about our new conservation blinds!

Here comes the sun…

We all have been enjoying some amazingly sunny weather recently- and the staff in the Collections team are no exception! But, just as we need to wear sunscreen to protect our skin from the harmful radiation that sunlight brings, we also need to use a variety of ways to protect our collection objects from the detrimental effect of sunlight. As well as the direct effects of light itself, sunlight can also increase the temperature in a room, which can lead to additional issues with relative humidity- another foe of collection objects! Increasing temperatures may well become more of an issue with climate change.

Many of you may have experienced how sunlight can fade colour from your curtains. This process is caused by light radiation which comes in the form of invisible light (UV) and visible light. Both can cause photochemical changes such as loss of colour (fading) and loss of strength (structural weakening/ embrittlement), especially to organic material such as leather, paper, textiles and wood. The collection at Abbotsford is protected from UV radiation by UV film that has been applied to the panes of glass in almost all our windows.  

But… we still need light in our rooms for visitors to see!  So, we need to strike a careful balance and manage light levels with the use of shutters and blinds to the upper sashes of some of our windows.  The Venetian blinds in the upper parts of our windows still let in quite a bit of light even when the shutters are closed. Happily, help is at hand to help us with this conundrum!

You may have noticed the new conservation blinds that were installed in our study as part of a generous donation almost two years ago. They are double blinds, consisting of a black-out blind on top of a special bronze mesh blind which allows you to look out of the window while restricting the amount of sunlight coming in.

You can see the effect direct sunlight has had over the years in the deterioration of Scott’s leather chair.  The new conservation blinds reduced the amount of light in the study over a 12-month period by an amazing 67%!

As a charity, we depend on donations for improvements such as these.  We are very excited that two donors have come forward, enabling us to install conservation blinds in the Library and in the Chinese Drawing Room this month. This will help us to protect the vulnerable books in the Library, and also our magnificent Chinese wallpaper in the Drawing Room.

A tremendous thank you to our donors for making this possible. A building and a collection such as Abbotsford needs constant care and maintenance, from blinds for the windows and keeping on top of dust levels to stone repairs and keeping gutters clear to prevent moisture ingress.

On the occasion of Abbotsford’s 200^th anniversary, we established the Abbotsford Bicentenary Conservation Fund. It allows our supporters to contribute directly to the upkeep of Scott’s ‘Conundrum Castle’, and the wonder that is Abbotsford.  Donate to the Bicentenary Conservation Fund.