The Liberator

So it’s probably about time for me to write something about the job that has brought me to Halifax. I’m working as an assistant for a private conservator who is treating a large parade banner commissioned by the Charitable Irish Society for the St. Patrick’s Day parade. The banner depicts Daniel O’Connell, who was an important figure in Irish Catholic Emancipation. The banner shows him in a heroic pose with a dog by his side and underneath is the title ‘The Liberator.’ It is double-sided, although both sides depict the same thing. All of the images were painted on by hand in the 1870’s and it is certainly showing its age, which means we have plenty of work to do.

The banner is part of the Charitable Irish Society Archive that is cared for by the Nova Scotia Archives. So, while I am working for the society, we are carrying out the treatment work at the Nova Scotia Archives. It looks like this:

 

Not the prettiest exterior, I will admit (although the trees to help obsure the blockiness of it), but it is a really good place to work and the staff are very nice.

My job consists of two halves. One part is being an assistant: cleaning things, tidying things, moving things, etc. So the compulsive organizer in me enjoys those bits. The other part of my job is doing conservation work which mainly consists of cleaning various bits on the banner. I have also spent a few days performing localized humidification- also known as flattening creases! The painted bits of the banner behave differently than the unpainted parts, so they need to be flattened separately, working one area at a time. That task looks something like this:

I’m not totally eliminating the creases, since they are really deep and have been stiffened by years of dirt. In one or two places, the dirt is actually holding the creases shut (eww). But by softening them it should be flatter when we re-line it, so they will be less noticeable. It’s not a quick process, but then again nothing in conservation is! (And yes, I do in fact dislike normal lab coats so much that I made my own wrap-around style lab coat).

I am really enjoying the job and find it much more satisfying than the mind numbing retail hell other work I’ve done in the past few years to earn a paycheck.