Mitteilungen des Österreichischen Staatsarchivs 39. (1986)
Archive Buildings and the Conservation of Archival Material. An Expert Meeting, held in Vienna, Austria October 30 - November 1, 1985 - STEWART, William J.: Summary of Discussions
280 William J. Stewart Conservation and Restoration. This is a demanding and intricate problem, one of many complex parts, such as restoration, preservation, conservation, air conditioning, and so on. That is why I believe it useful to concentrate the problem in one committee so that specialists in that committee can consult easily with other member specialists. Perhaps it is to be regretted that the representative of the Committee on Conservation and Restoration did not play a sufficient role in the organization of this seminar. Duchein: Perhaps I can answer that. The Committee on Conservation and Restoration was involved with the preparation of this seminar. The proof is that Mr Feindt is here with us. This symposium was organized in cooperation with Ms Crespo, who is chairperson of that committee. I quite agree with Ms Krestovskaja and suggest that one of the resolutions might state the desire for close ties with the Committee on Conservation and Restoration in the matter of archival buildings. Ms Ricci and Carassi: First, we want to stress the point that a signal limitation on the use of old buildings is the absolute lack of expansion, at least at grade level. Stack expansion can be realized by enlargement below grade, as we have done in Turin. Another archival problem not yet remarked upon is the storage of oversized materials, particularly cadastral maps and other cartographic items. Our maps are stored in a rolled state but we do not believe this to be the best means of preserving them. Advice from our technical office in Rome recommends against rolling. What is the best means of storing such materials? Duchein: As you say, it is a problem and my reaction is that this is the kind of thing the Records and Archival Management Program (RAMP) would be interested in. A general study on the storage and conservation of oversize archival material. Auer: With regard to the need for expansion mentioned by Ms Ricci and Mr Carassi, there is a current tendency to separate historical and contemporary archives, for example, in Great Britain you have Chancery Lane and Kew, and in France, Hotel de Soubise and les Archives Contemporaines ä Fontainebleau. Perhaps this is a way to treat the problem. Duchein: More than a matter of policy, it is a matter of necessity because most older repositories are unexpandable because they are located in the middle of cities and no site remains to build on. Buchmann: We have our archives at Koblenz and our record center at Bonn. We are now approaching the thirty year period when certain records will become available to researchers. We did not foresee the implications of this event. Now we must organize a research room and provide user assistance in our record center which causes a lot of problems because we did no planning.
