Paper short abstract:

This paper will unfold moveable cultural heritage conservation knowledge in situ. Ethnographic enquiry of a project which began with acceptance in lieu of inheritance tax of a large collection of historic fans reveals how conservators negotiate the care of museum collections.

Paper long abstract:

Moveable cultural heritage conservation knowledge is crystallised and reproduced through a non-linear trajectory towards professionalisation. Attainment requires the body, self, experience and may include apprenticeship, graduate level training, volunteering, preventive and interventive practice, as well as exhibition and display. The museum embraces and rejects conservation expertise based on allocated, systematic agendas of status on the global site categorised as the heritage sector. Within the UK, Her Majesty's Government plays an important role in object acquisition, veneration, and regulation. Ethnographic enquiry alongside conservators, curators, enthusiasts, specialists, technicians, and collectors on a seemingly procedural project began with an obligation created by acceptance in lieu (AiL) of inheritance tax of a large collection of historic fans. As the project progressed, the intricacies of conservation requirements were negotiated in order to fulfil this British tax law, this museum's own policies, and adequate care for the collection. Those who performed the work struggled with their individual preference for practice and found resistance in the hidden, social forms often at reach to conservation practitioners within the UK heritage sector. This paper will introduce the multifaceted and complex nature of conservation knowledge as it follows the fan project from in lieu of inheritance tax to conservation justification to completed, recognized display.