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Staff

Mary Greenacre

Conservation

Introduction to Conservation, Practical Conservation

Mary Greenacre trained at the Institute of Archaeology. She worked as a practicing conservator specialising in decorative arts for the Area Museum Council for the South West, as a private conservator and for the last 15 years for the National Trust as a preventive conservator and advisor on archaeological finds. Throughout her career she has been involved with coaching trainees and interns. She was the chair of ICON and a co-author of the Guidelines for Ethics. Most recently she co-authored the Conservation Plan for Tyntesfield enabling the National Trust to successfully win an HLF grant for the conservation and endowment for this property near Bristol. SHe has presented papers at ICON, IIC and ICOM conferences as well are other work. SHe has been an external examiner for the Museums Association, ICON and the Textile Conservation Centre.

Mary Greenacre, FIIC, ACR


I have been a practical and practicing conservator since 1969. The training at the Institute of Archaeology, under Henry Hodges and Ione Geddye, was very much a balance of theory and bench based work with a wide range of practical experience over a huge range of materials. My dissertation was on waterlogged wood, though latterly ceramics and stone became a special interest.

My subsequent work for the National Trust, and accreditation, is as a preventive conservator, commissioning work from external practitioners while monitoring standards and providing training within the Trust.

Conservation requires a high level of knowledge and experience for the most demanding work. However, I believe trained and monitored volunteers or staff can achieve some of the most basic yet essential techniques. Museums and galleries, as well as private individuals, hold a huge volume of material, which if it is to be preserved, must be cared for. It is necessary that conservators concentrate on the most vulnerable material while enabling the care of the more robust objects to be enjoyed by others.

Diploma Archaeological Conservation – Institute of Archaeology 1967-1969

Conservator – Area Museum Council for the South West – 1969 – 1983
Private conservation working on decorative arts – 1984 – 1993
Regional Conservation – The National Trust – 1993 – 2003
Historic Property Co-ordinator – The National Trust – 2003-2010

Chair and Vice-chair UKIC
1979-81 Member of UKIC Ethics Committee which produced the document "Guidance for Conservation Practice"
Craft Council Conservation Committee Member – 1981-3
Bristol Cathedral Advisory Committee Member – 1997 -
National Advisor on Archaeological Conservation – The National Trust 1996-2003
External examiner – Textile Conservation Centre
- Museums Association Technical Certificate
- ICON Technical Certificate

Publications
Conservation in museums and galleries: A survey of facilities in the United Kingdom. International Institute of Conservation. 1974 – Contributing author
Michael Rysbrack Sculptor 1694-1770, Bristol: City of Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, 1982. Contributing author.
National Trust Manual of Housekeeping – Contributing author.
ICON Textile Group Conference – Opening up Display - 2004
IIC Conference - Tyntesfield: conservation and the volunteer - 2008
Collections for People: museums’ stored collections as a public resource, UCL, S. Keene, 2008, Contributor

Recent presentations
Opening up display – ICON – 2006
Icomos – 2007
IIC - 2008