Antony Oliver for Distinguished Service in Archive Conservation

Antony’s career began in 1979 at Staffordshire Record Office as an archives and preservation assistant. Antony’s role was twofold and included producing and putting away the documents for the public and being responsible for preservation packaging and recording the environmental controls throughout the strongroom areas. Whilst doing this job Antony had a desk in the conservation studio and in between his tasks he would watch the conservators at work. The conservators (Mary Mottershead and Shirley Read) really encouraged him and gave up a lot of their time to show him different conservation techniques. He was allowed to do a bit of conservation on a series of ordnance survey maps, which then progressed to traditional paper repairs and map repairs. That is where Antony’s interest in conservation came from. When the assistant conservator role became vacant, he successfully applied for the post.  This is where Antony began his journey in the conservation profession. In 1988 Antony joined the then Society of Archivists Archive Conservation Training Scheme and qualified as a conservator in 1991.

Antony then moved on to Sheffield City Archives in 1999, and along with his colleagues is responsible for the conservation and preservation of the collections pertaining to the city of Sheffield, and the collections that have county wide significance. In addition to that, they provide a preservation packaging and conservation service for the local studies library, and provide an advisory service to the rest of the library wide departments within the city.

They also provide a comprehensive preservation packaging and conservation service for other organisations and institutions, including individual members of the public.

Antony has recently worked on a project to conserve and provide bespoke conservation packaging for nine highly significant, early modern documents that reflect the political influence of the Devonshire Family of Chatsworth House. This project was funded with a grant from the National Manuscripts trust and the Golden Bottle trust. Antony was able to conserve 9 parchment documents, some with appended seals that also required conservation treatment. These historic items were then provided with bespoke protective packaging designed by Antony to provide support and protection during storage and handling.  Antony was also able to provide some training to the volunteers working at Chatsworth house who will be handling these and other similar items. This training has also enabled the volunteers to begin cleaning and packaging some of the other collections belonging to the estate. Antony has also provided training to the preservation team at Chatsworth House who are carrying out a large survey of 1500 maps, with the help of their training they are now able to condition survey, clean and package these maps appropriately.

Antony is also the chair of the ARA’s Preservation and Conservation Group committee. This has been a role Antony has held for 4 years. During his time as Chair he has worked tirelessly on the improvement of sustainability of the conservation profession. Antony has long been concerned with the demand on the profession in times of budgetary constraints and cuts across local government. Antony has always been keen on highlighting the important work conservators do in local government institutions and has worked to improve the understanding and recognition of the profession. He has worked on the development of the ARA’s Archive Conservation Training Scheme and has helped increase the awareness of the training and its value across the sector by getting involved in numerous events including an advocacy event for the All Parliamentary Committee on Archives at the Houses of Parliament.

Taking on the chair role just before the Covid 19 pandemic, Antony managed to keep the PCG committee connected and kept the PCG group informed with the most up to date and relevant information with regards to best practice and working through the challenges conservation professionals faced during the pandemic. He also managed to keep the Preservation and Conservation Group spirits up by arranging virtual discussions, quizzes and always provided a stellar soundtrack to all events, from his life-long love of vinyl.   He has supported the use of social media to promote the conservation profession and the work of the PCG, despite it being a thing of mystery to him personally! Antony supported the appointment of Julie Bon as a board member which has been a key advance in our visibility and stature as a group. He’s proved himself to be a terrific advocate for the PCG and conservation members of the ARA at board level.

Antony also worked as the organiser of the conservation stream of the ARA conference for many years and provided some wonderful programmes involving varied and knowledgeable speakers on subjects pertinent to the profession. Antony always excelled in communication with colleagues across the profession and ensured that the conservation stream maintained a practical element to the programme, which was something members of the ARA wanted. He has always been able to seek out the most appropriate and relevant topics for lecture and discussion. This strength has also been a huge asset to the Archive Conservation Training Scheme, and his sound, considered and diplomatic advice has always helped progress the movement and development of the training scheme to where it is today.

Antony is currently acting as external examiner for the ARA Conservation training scheme (ACTS) and will also act as an assessor on the next round of trainee portfolio assessments in July 2023. Antony’s many professional book reviews have helped inform acquisitions to the Conservation Library, including his thorough review of ‘Paper and Water, A guide for Conservators by Gerhard Banik and Irene Bruckle, now a core book for the Archive Conservation Training Scheme.

He has provided many talks and training events covering core conservation and preservation topics.  He’s provided a talk during ARA conference in 2014, Gateshead on Basic Conservation Techniques for Archivists; helping to provide basic information to non-conservation professionals within the record keeping sector. He also helped organise a touring training event on preservation handling, which provided training in various institutions around the UK, aimed at both conservators and archive professionals.

He facilitates others to speak and act, is diplomatic, supportive and approachable, has the courage to grasp onto things that are difficult and see them through levelly and without rancour and has conservation and the interests of conservators at his core.