Ballaarat Mechanics' Institute: the conservation of botanical specimens

This is the story of the conservation of Baron Ferdinand von Mueller’s Education Collections of Australia Plants under the auspices of the Australian Government comprising 220 rare and fragile botanical specimens in four volumes.
In 2021 Grimwade Conservation Services partnered with the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute in regional Victoria to deliver a series of projects to conserve vulnerable and significant items from their Heritage Collection. Conservation works focused on the Ferdinand von Mueller Collection of botanical specimens, rare books and a large fragile 19th-Century oil painting.
The Mechanics Institute movement played an important role in the intellectual, cultural and social development of Victorians throughout the latter part of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century. At the peak of the movement there were over a 1000 Institutes in the State. Today there are fewer than ten Mechanics’ Institutes in Victoria still providing library and other services to their communities. The Ballarat Institute is the largest and most intact of these collections, and one of a handful that have continuously provided library services throughout its history.
The Ballaarat Mechanics' Institute Project was supported by the Victorian Government through the Living Heritage Grants Program.
Featuring Principal Conservator of Paper and Photographs Katy Glen.
The collection is on display at the Ballaarat Mechanics' Institute in Ballarat, Australia. ballaratmi.org.au
Learn more about the Master of Cultural Materials Conservation course at The University of Melbourne. study.unimelb.....
Video by Paul Burston, 2023.