Science Career - Kirsten Strachan

THE SCIENCE MUSEUM - 

Where could you find the following in one place: the Muppets, a Sno-Cat, a hovercraft, a biplane, a nuclear missile and a collection of fine art?  Give up?  Well, the answer is in a storage facility at Wroughton, near Swindon used by the London Science Museum. This was revealed by Kirsten Strachan, a conservator responsible for the vast range of precious items stored there, when she spoke at Thursday’s meeting of the Bridge of Allan and Dunblane Rotary Club.  She explained that the Science Museum has such a vast collection of items ranging across all aspects of science, engineering, mechanical, aeronautical and other areas, that it requires a huge storage space for the items when they are not on display.

Adding further to the Science Museum’s own storage requirements, are those of the other museums linked with it.  These include The National Railway Museum at York, the National Media Museum at Bradford, and the Museum of Science and Industry at Manchester.

To provide the storage required, The Science Museum acquired a 545-acre site at Wroughton.  This was formerly a World War Two airfield with six huge hangars.  These are now used for the storage of some 35,000 objects.  All the exhibits require to be properly stored, and maintained in ways which will allow them to be exhibited in the various museums as and when required.

The nature of some of the exhibits means that they can create potential hazards when, for example, curators are working with radioactive substances.  Other exhibits may require special environmental protection to avoid deterioration.  To help provide suitable conditions for these exhibits, buildings have been created inside several hangars to make sure that the temperature and humidity required to protect the exhibits can be maintained.  Elsewhere, however, curators can be working in hangars that, in many instances, have no heating, where the temperature can at times fall close to zero. However, despite these many challenges, it is clear from Kirsten’s talk that there is a dedicated team working to protect these valuable objects.

Speaker’s Host Peter Holmes thanked Kirsten for giving a fascinating insight into what goes on behind the scenes in the Museum, a sentiment warmly echoed by members.