As a professional conservator for over 14 years and having led another life
as a musuem professional in interpretation before that, I will be happy to
answer this question as best I can.
"Conservation" is a process, action, or decision that affect sites,
monuments, buildings, and collections and their environment. It can range from the best
known aspects of conservation (e.g.scientific analysis, treatment, and
condition surveys) to the lesser but often vital aspects of preventive conservation
(environmental monitoring, risk assessment, integrated pest management, proper
light control, archival housing and storage, and even proper handling).
"Preservation" is a larger issue - in the sense that it can involve the
preservation of landscapes, historic strructures and sites, monuments, collections,
as well as historical data, ideas, and skills. In library practice, for
example, microfilming a collection of historic papers is "preserving" the inherent
intellectual value of that collection; while physically performing a
conservation treatment, to mitigate residual acids in the papers or rehousing the
papers in archival folders, is "conserving" the actual physical artifacts that
comprise the documents.
Of course, to the genreral public, as soon as you mention "Conservation" they
think that you are an environmentalist - someone who saves small nearly
extinct creatures or trees. It is one of those things that sometimes amuses but
never daunts those in my field.
It reminds me of all of the confusion between "Authentic" and "Original" that
I often heard when I worked on the Interpretive side of things....
Cheers!
Dave
David Harvey
Artifacts
2930 South Birch Street
Denver, Colorado 80222
303-300-5257
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