The Custodians: Some people have a rather idealised view
I have remarked before on the heritage custodian’s role in preserving the property of the past, suggesting that its main task is to bring about a kind stasis should a heritage site fall into its hands. However, in my last post I hinted at the difficulties of this role: “…. it has fallen to the National Trust to carry out the difficult task, Canute like, of doing its best to halt the eroding seas of time and preserve the countr
y’s treasures.” At the time of writing little did I know just what these NT King Canutes are up against.
Recently I was privileged to get an insight into these difficulties when a curator of a heritage organization expressed the imponderables of his job using as an illustration a particular property in his care.
The story is this. Between the wars “the Lord of the Manor” was well into politics. This and, his devotion to Christian Science, may have tempered his interest in his home. The upshot is that he furnished his home comfortably but not extravagantly with medium quality contents. He also did away with the heavy and fussy Victorian décor and restored the Georgian 18th century interior makeover, a style probably more sympathetic to the first stirrings of modernism seen between the wars.
It was in this state that the heritage custodians eventually acquired the house. According to the curator we must appreciate that a house with its collection of items is not just a house plus a collection. As the curator made clear, the configuration of the contents is itself an exhibit because that configuration tells us how its original occupants lived.
OK then, the custodian takes possession of the house and puts it into “deep freeze”. Job done; history for that property has come to an end, and it now awaits judgment day. Or has it ended? Seemingly not. To cut a long story short let me express it in abstracts: Like the random walk of Brownian motion a heritage site is constantly being perturbed this way and that by a myriad causes. These numerous perturbations, over a period of time, add up to something significant, something in fact that we call history. Blow the custodians, history is intent on moving forward.
Heritage custodians are up against the engine of history and that engine has the ability to completely transform all that it finds in its path. Ironically, as it turns out, the custodians are themselves the main agent of change, if unwittingly. When a prodigy house owner hands over his home to a heritage custodian the owner may take away some of the contents thus leaving a rather inappropriate arrangement. This arrangement can only be made good by rearranging the remaining contents. Thus, the configuration of the exhibits starts to shift as soon as the custodian takes control. Moreover, certain items may have to be moved for environmental reasons. The custodian has to decorate from time to time and decoration may not capture exactly what was there before. If décor and content restoration become too fussy the house then becomes a fanciful simulacrum. (Hever castle?) Priceless decor may have been covered up by later owners of a house. Thus depending on the aims of the custodian the question arises as to whether this anachronistic decor should be uncovered. In fact in the particular connection in point a ceiling became water damaged and had to be removed. Underneath a richly decorated ceiling from an earlier period was discovered. But now there was an unconformity between the ceiling and the 18th century style of the room. Should the custodian cover the old ceiling in order to produce a style consistency? And occasionally the forces of time itself step in directly and bring unstoppable change; flood and fire damage being the main culprits.
However as I have already remarked, one of the biggest causes of change is probably the custodian himself and this is a consequence of the custodians changing and uncertain goal posts. Should the custodian do a straight “deep freeze” or should he also rearrange and modify a property on the basis of ambiance, artistic taste, bringing to the fore any material that is of particular historical interest? The dilemmas resulting of these competing criteria means that their resolution is likely to vary as successive custodians are influenced by changing phases of knowledge, opinion and fashion. Changing opinions and fashion? But isn’t that one of the major engines of history? Yes it is; the custodian, then, isn’t just the preserver of history but like everyone else the maker of history as well. There will come a day when the custodians activity is far back enough in time to for it to attract an aura of nostalgia and thus will be of historical interest itself. The custodian’s history will then become history.
y’s treasures.” At the time of writing little did I know just what these NT King Canutes are up against.Recently I was privileged to get an insight into these difficulties when a curator of a heritage organization expressed the imponderables of his job using as an illustration a particular property in his care.
The story is this. Between the wars “the Lord of the Manor” was well into politics. This and, his devotion to Christian Science, may have tempered his interest in his home. The upshot is that he furnished his home comfortably but not extravagantly with medium quality contents. He also did away with the heavy and fussy Victorian décor and restored the Georgian 18th century interior makeover, a style probably more sympathetic to the first stirrings of modernism seen between the wars.
It was in this state that the heritage custodians eventually acquired the house. According to the curator we must appreciate that a house with its collection of items is not just a house plus a collection. As the curator made clear, the configuration of the contents is itself an exhibit because that configuration tells us how its original occupants lived.
OK then, the custodian takes possession of the house and puts it into “deep freeze”. Job done; history for that property has come to an end, and it now awaits judgment day. Or has it ended? Seemingly not. To cut a long story short let me express it in abstracts: Like the random walk of Brownian motion a heritage site is constantly being perturbed this way and that by a myriad causes. These numerous perturbations, over a period of time, add up to something significant, something in fact that we call history. Blow the custodians, history is intent on moving forward.
Heritage custodians are up against the engine of history and that engine has the ability to completely transform all that it finds in its path. Ironically, as it turns out, the custodians are themselves the main agent of change, if unwittingly. When a prodigy house owner hands over his home to a heritage custodian the owner may take away some of the contents thus leaving a rather inappropriate arrangement. This arrangement can only be made good by rearranging the remaining contents. Thus, the configuration of the exhibits starts to shift as soon as the custodian takes control. Moreover, certain items may have to be moved for environmental reasons. The custodian has to decorate from time to time and decoration may not capture exactly what was there before. If décor and content restoration become too fussy the house then becomes a fanciful simulacrum. (Hever castle?) Priceless decor may have been covered up by later owners of a house. Thus depending on the aims of the custodian the question arises as to whether this anachronistic decor should be uncovered. In fact in the particular connection in point a ceiling became water damaged and had to be removed. Underneath a richly decorated ceiling from an earlier period was discovered. But now there was an unconformity between the ceiling and the 18th century style of the room. Should the custodian cover the old ceiling in order to produce a style consistency? And occasionally the forces of time itself step in directly and bring unstoppable change; flood and fire damage being the main culprits.
However as I have already remarked, one of the biggest causes of change is probably the custodian himself and this is a consequence of the custodians changing and uncertain goal posts. Should the custodian do a straight “deep freeze” or should he also rearrange and modify a property on the basis of ambiance, artistic taste, bringing to the fore any material that is of particular historical interest? The dilemmas resulting of these competing criteria means that their resolution is likely to vary as successive custodians are influenced by changing phases of knowledge, opinion and fashion. Changing opinions and fashion? But isn’t that one of the major engines of history? Yes it is; the custodian, then, isn’t just the preserver of history but like everyone else the maker of history as well. There will come a day when the custodians activity is far back enough in time to for it to attract an aura of nostalgia and thus will be of historical interest itself. The custodian’s history will then become history.
The Custodians: This is more like it; watch what you're doing with that broom handle mate or those exhibits will be history.
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