Series details: CRDA/71

The series records the conservation actions carried out on public records stored in The National Archives (formerly The Public Record Office (PRO)), by staff of the Conservation department, between 1978 and 2003. Conservation can be defined as "the physical application of appropriate treatments and techniques to prolonging the life of a record. To achieve this, the Conservation Section is divided between two main areas of activity: collection conservation, which provides remedial care to a large volume of records, and the conservation of individual items, particularly those currently unfit to be consulted due to their physical condition, and those of intrinsic importance." 1 These records of conservation work were created and used at a time when the PRO operated on two sites, with buildings at Portugal Street near Chancery Lane, and a second building at Kew.

Conservation actions have, since 1882, been recorded by hand in bound registers. After 1984, the method changed, and the system of recording was automated. Between 1989 and 1991, a SmartWare II database was used, and legacy data from 1st January 1978 onwards was entered. In 1991, all the data created up to that point was migrated into MS Excel. The data was maintained in that format until 1995. Between 1995 and 2003, a Microsoft Access database was used.

The original bound registers from 1882 provide a record of Public Record Office and TNA documents on which repair and/or binding work has been carried out, and provide details of the conservation work done. From September 1957, they also give information about materials used in the process.

The datasets transferred to NDAD comprise automated versions of these registers, and this series is evidence of the use of such automation in the Department from 1989 to 2003. The earliest dataset in the series contains information dating back to 1978.

The datasets constitute a detailed record of conservation work. Their primary function was to provide a permanent record of the fine detail of the conservation work that took place. Secondary functions were to assist with the workflow of the tasks, record significant steps in the process, and identify the members of staff who did the work. For a snapshot of the workflow at the early stages of computerisation, see the document cited as CRDA/71/DD/1/2 in the Dataset Documentation Catalogue.

After 1995, the datasets were also used to generate reports, to be used as evidence of meeting targets.

Between 1989 and 1995, the datasets existed as spreadsheets. They followed a uniform arrangement to record each year's work, and included the following types of data:

• Information about the document. This includes the original PRO/TNA reference; its location (Portugal Street, or Kew); the name of the document; the dates it entered and left the repair system. A ticket system was used to keep track of the document as it moved between sections; this is the 'issuing department' referred to in the datasets, and department in this case means an internal section of PRO/TNA, not the Government Department that created the record. 2 The datasets also contain some contextual information about the record and its historical importance, although users should not regard this information as a definitive archival description, and are advised to refer to The Catalogue at TNA.
• Information about the conservation actions, and materials used in the process. One field records a description of the physical state of the item when it arrived; the description is sometimes continued in the 'Notes' field. Objects requiring conservation were identified with broad categories: paper, parchment, maps, seals, photographs, and volumes. Specific repair and conservation actions are described in each dataset. These include, for example, the use of insecticides, fixatives, adhesives, and chemicals used for cleaning; the manufacture of boxes or cases; the use of envelopes or encapsulation; moulds used for seal repair. Bookbinding work is described in numerous related fields, concerned with sewing of sections, spines, boards, styles, covering material and finishing, etc.
• Information about the conservators. This includes the initials of up to three conservators involved in the process. Other fields record when they did the work, estimates of time taken, and how long the work actually took.

After 1995, when the dataset became a database, it included broadly the same sorts of data as above, but with additional data relating to exhibitions and the loan of documents for exhibitions; the internal storage and retrieval of registry file materials, and electronic records; and the internal storage and retrieval of images. The database itself however contains no image material.

Conservation records are important for two main reasons. Firstly, they provide a detailed overview of the overall physical condition or the state of repair and subsequent conservation needs of public records deposited in The National Archives. Secondly, conservation actions constitute a part of the history of each document or volume, and should always be recorded so that the actions could be reversed in the future, or that subsequent actions can be performed safely.

The Conservation Database datasets and related dataset documentation are public records under the Public Records Acts 1958 and 1967. The National Archives has assigned the datasets to the series reference PRO 12. Each dataset in this NDAD series has been assigned a unique TNA reference, as follows:

The Conservation Database datasets and related dataset documentation are open without restriction. Data is available for browsing on demand by users of NDAD and does not have to be booked in advance.

The Conservation Database datasets and related dataset documentation are subject to Crown Copyright.

The Conservation Database datasets are not subject to registration under the Data Protection Act.

The language of the materials is English.

Documents related to the Conservation Database have been transferred to NDAD. See the Dataset Documentation Catalogue for further details.

The National Archives hold 24 volumes of bound registers in Series PRO 12, Public Record Office: Registers, Repairs 1882-2003. These paper records constitute the predecessor records to this dataset series.

The Conservation Database as transferred to NDAD comprises eight datasets. The first seven of these datasets (INFO89 to INFO95) are single tables extracted from MS Excel spreadsheets, organised according to the year's work they represent (although the contents of the first table includes records from 1978). The eighth dataset (oldConservationV21) was extracted from an MS Access database, and has a slightly more complicated structure. See Links to dataset catalogues for further information.

All the datasets derived from MS Excel spreadsheets in this series are closed, in that they represent an annual 'chunk' of data which was not updated at year end. The dataset taken from the MS Access database is likewise closed, in that it constitutes a 'snapshot' of data from 1995-2003.

The data was entered by conservation staff as they started and completed their actions on the documents. The tasks (and the data) may have been validated by senior staff. Each dataset is thus a cumulative record of work, built up over time.

Details of the content and transformation validation checks performed by NDAD on the datasets for the Conservation database are recorded in the Dataset Catalogues: see Links to dataset catalogues.

Dataset catalogues provide more detailed information about individual datasets, and are currently available for the following dataset(s):

1. Source: TNA website, http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/preservation/studio/, consulted on 7th April 2006.

2. For a list of issuing departments in 1989, see the document cited as CRDA/71/DD/1/2 in the Dataset Documentation Catalogue.