AIM Pilgrim Trust Collections Care Audit – Fairfax House, York Civic Trust

AIM grant £1,114.70

The focus of the audit was for Fairfax House to receive guidance on how best to care for and preserve those items from the Museum’s historic collections which are held in storage. Crucial to this goal was receiving advice on how to improve access to collections items, solutions to help stabilise environmental conditions, help in updating our conservation plan and directing the curatorial team in its implementation.

We are absolutely delighted with the result of the audit which has provided us with essential advice and guidance on how best to start these tasks. Indeed, the audit highlighted a number of key areas for development, making thorough and clear recommendations outlining where and how to begin.

As an organisation it has helped us to focus our priorities and enabled us to set a series of goals for the next 12 months. We are confident that we can, following the recommendations made, make immediate changes which will be of huge benefit to the long-term care and preservation of the Museum’s historic collections. The audit has confirmed our ambitions to better care for those works not on public display and given us the advice and momentum to undertake a significant rethink of the way in which our historic collections are stored. We’re excited to begin this process and extremely grateful to the AIM Pilgrim Trust grant for their support in helping to make this happen.

Dr Sarah Burnage, Curator, Fairfax House

Pictured: Collections storage at Fairfax House