The Object of Conservation: An Ethnography of Heritage Practice

Introduction p.1, The work of conservation p.1, Situating conservation p.3, Theorising objects in practice p.8, Approaching conservation ethnographically p.12, Note on the text p.17, PART I: People p.21, 1. Present pasts p.23, Re / valuing the past p.24, Expertise in question p.27, ’Going deep with the paper' p.31, ‘Change fatigue" Ambivalent nostalgias p.37, Crisis and continuity p.39, Conclusion: shadowed by the past p.43, 2. Workdng from the past p.46, Humility p.47, Patience p.51, Pragmatism p.54, Restore or preserve? P.57, Conclusion working hom he pet p.63, 3. Organising knowledge p.66, Site meeting p.67, Characterful contexts p.73, Office meeting p.77, Conclusion the place of orgnistional of knowledge p.81, 4. Subjects as objects p.84, Direct experience p.86, Professional Judgement p.89, Aligning perspectives p.90, Negotiating external interests p.92, Detaching through practice p.94, Conclusion: objects in action p.96, 5. Life and work p.98, Living with history p.100, Vocation p.101, Being interested p.103, Ambivalent interests p.108, Becoming the person you are p.110, Conclusion: interests in conservation p.112, PART II: Things p.117, 6 (Dis)Ordered things Ordering things p.119, Grappling with profusion p.125, The work of stabilisation p.129, Follow the documents p.131, "Unmuddling" through fieldwork p.134, Conclusion: the dialectics of order and disorder p.140, 7. Crafting authenticity through skilled practice p.143, Working out intervention p.145, Fabric and form p.151, Craft and conservation p.155, Skilled vision and the practice of stonemasonry p.157, Negotiating authenticity p.157, Conclusion: working with multiplicity p.161, 8. Material transformation and scientific conservation p.165, Making fast "the look of age" p.167, Working with "the thing itself" p.170, Craft and science in material conservation p.172, Enacting conservation p.175, Negotiating difference p.179, Conclusion: (re) assembling the object of conservation p.182, 9. Significance, faith and care p.186, Assessing significance, taming dissonance p.188, "Stone speaks": faith and spirituality in a living building p.191, Managing stakeholders p.196, Mediating the "tourist gaze” p.199, Care and its ethico - political relations p.203, Conclusion: practising perspectivalism p.207, Conclusion: working through the past p.210, Keeping things in being p.210, The object of conservation p.211, Making subjects, making objects p.213, Bureaucracy, expertise and skilled practice p.214, Time, authenticity and significance p.218, The politics and ethics of care p.218, Recursive continuities p.221, Epilogue p.223, Charters and Conventions p.226, References p.227, Index p.242