Conservation in Museums and Inclusion of the Non-Professional

Heritage objects can represent personal and collective values and affect self-perceptions and ideas about others. For these reasons their management is highly important, especially regarding who exercises ownership through access and control of interpretation. Conservation is a particularly significant process because it necessitates the determination of object values and often involves direct and interventive object contact. Generally public heritage objects are entrusted to those with official training and professional experience who are considered stewards of this material. They are expected to protect its meanings, uses and material condition both for current generations and for posterity. However, there are cases where professional autonomy over culturally meaningful objects is consciously held in check. This occurs most notably with objects originating from New World countries with surviving indigenous communities. Recognition of the acceptability and social benefits of non-professional involvement is much less frequently applied to objects without a specific ethnic patrimony. This paper promotes the involvement of non-professionals in conservation within European public museums. Several relevant issues are explored: the significance of material culture to identity; the potential for museum objects and exhibitions to instigate social change; the relationship between social work, museums and conservation; the professional rewards of embracing this role; and the benefits to non-professional participants. Nonprofessional involvement in museum conservation, in either decision-making or in the implementation of management plans and treatments, permeates boundaries between heritage professionals and the public and reveals the social utility of the profession.