Does your museum need financial or practical support for a conservation project? AIM members can now apply for the next round of our conservation grants which closes on the 31 March 2019.
We can fund the following:
Remedial Conservation Scheme: is funded by The Pilgrim Trust and can help small museums with the conservation of objects in their collections. Accessioned objects in any media are eligible.
Find out more information, eligibility and how to apply here:
Collections Care Scheme: This programme, funded by The Pilgrim Trust, has been set up to help small museums develop a more sustainable approach to the conservation and management of collections through improvements to collections care within their museum.
Find out more information, eligibility and how to apply here:
Collections Care Audits: This scheme in partnership with Icon, enables small AIM museums to undertake a basic, professional collections care audit. The audits will be carried out by an accredited conservator to help smaller AIM members identify key issues and priorities for their museum.
Find out more information, eligibility and how to apply here:
Not sure how the grants could help your museum? Take a look at the case study below from AIM members, Glencoe Folk Museum, to see how an AIM conservation Grant supported them.
Glencoe Folk Museum
Glencoe Village, Highland
AIM Grant: £5904
“Fit for a Prince”
Set within 18th Century thatched cottages, Glencoe Folk Museum holds a wide range of objects celebrating local heritage and giving an insight into the history of the area and its people. The Museum was founded in 1967 by Miss Barbara Fairweather MBE and friends, who came up with the idea of establishing a museum while writing the history of their village. The collections quickly grew, and now includes Jacobite relics, archaeology, paintings, classic toys, photographs, domestic items, medals, uniform and memorabilia from the First and Second World Wars, and items relating to the Ballachulish Slate Quarry and the Kinlochleven Aluminium Factory.
The aim of our “Fit for a Prince” project was to restore a Jacobean chair that purportedly belonged to Prince Charles Edward Stuart. Dating to around 1660, the chair is both one of the oldest and one of the most significant objects in our collection but has not been accessible to the public for a number of years due to its poor condition and risk of further deterioration. The original red ‘Lyons velvet’ fabric was very worn, ripped in places and had suffered damage from light exposure. There were also signs of historic insect damage to the wooden legs, which had caused them to crack in places. The chair had been deemed high priority for conservation within our Care and Conservation Plan, and with this grant we were able to conserve and stabilise the chair in order to preserve it and return it to permanent display at last.
This project was led by the curator, Catriona Davidson, with support from curatorial advisor, Emma Halford-Forbes. Catriona identified Younger Conservation Ltd. as having appropriate textile experience, and the chair was delivered to their workshop for an assessment and quote. The conservators carried out the conservation of the chair from June to October 2018.
At the completion of this project, we returned the chair to permanent display as part of our extended Jacobite exhibition. Our Jacobite collection covers a period of over fifty years, spanning from the massacre of the MacDonalds of Glencoe in 1692 to the fierce repression of Highland culture after the Jacobite’s infamous last stand at the Battle of Culloden in 1746. The chair takes pride of place in this exhibition, alongside other fascinating Jacobite artefacts such as a Bible which belonged to the MacDonald Chiefs, a White Cockade dating to the 1745 uprising and items belonging to Captain Robert Campbell, the man notorious for leading the Massacre of Glencoe. We believe the Bonnie Prince Charlie chair complements these objects well, bringing the movement to life for visitors and helping us to more fully tell the story of Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Jacobites.
Catriona Davidson, Curator