Award in Care of Personal Collections

Course Description
This unit introduces learners to the care and preservation of personal collections, which reflect both individual interests and shared cultural heritage. Personal collections may include family photographs, heirlooms, textiles, and documents passed down through generations, preserving stories that might otherwise be forgotten. Others gather collections from travels, sales, or items from the natural world, like taxidermy, that capture diverse cultural and environmental perspectives.

The Award in Care of Personal Collections provides essential knowledge on preserving various materials through safe storage, handling, and preventive conservation. Learners will explore methods for protecting collections from common risks and agents of deterioration such as pests, humidity, and light, with practical guidance on when to seek professional conservation help for items at risk of advanced deterioration. Understanding when to consult a conservator-restorer is key to ensuring the preservation of items with cultural and historical value.

The unit also describes the role of personal collections in connecting to broader cultural heritage narratives, showing how private collections contribute to the larger story of shared history. Throughout this unit, hands-on skill development is combined with discussions on the importance of collections, inspiring learners to connect with their own and others’ collections as valuable cultural artefacts

Overall Learning Outcomes