HRP REsearch Vault for HEritAge Science CoLlections (REVEAL)
Lead Research Organisation:
Historic Royal Palaces
Department Name: Conservation & Collection Care
Abstract
Historic Royal Palaces (HRP) is an independent charity and an Independent Research Organisation (IRO) that looks after six internationally significant heritage sites: the UNESCO World Heritage Site HM Tower of London; Hampton Court Palace; Banqueting House, Whitehall; Kensington Palace; Kew Palace; and Hillsborough Castle and Gardens covering over 1,000 years of architectural history and two geographical locations (England and Northern Ireland). The HRP scientific laboratory was founded 35 years ago and since then has established a distinguished reputation in the field of heritage science and conservation research, collaborating extensively with academic, heritage and industry partners on innovative projects. Research outputs include scientific samples and reference materials as well as an extensive print and digital archive of scientific reports, analytical data and technical images.
HRP's scientific sample collections constitute an important resource for research by academics, heritage organisations, industry partners, students, artists and community groups. However, many of these samples are not catalogued and are dispersed across different locations as they were commissioned externally. Furthermore, HRP does not currently have dedicated facilities for organising, storing and hosting researchers to access and engage with these resources. As a result, only a small percentage of our scientific collections is available for research.
The substantial investment of nearly £1M from the Arts & Humanities Research Council capital funding programme, Capability for Collections (AH/V012487/1), offered a rare opportunity for establishing in-house extensive analytical capabilities as well as installing a dedicated server for the safe storage of heritage science data. As a result of this capital investment, HRP has initiated the recovery of scientific samples from external contractors to consolidate them in a dedicated repository for historic materials and decorative finishes.
The HRP REsearch Vault for HEritAge Science CoLlections (REVEAL) proposal to the RICHeS Host collections as part of our heritage science infrastructure funding estimated at £434K will deliver urgently needed physical and digital storage facilities as well as staff resources for cataloguing the large number of HRP scientific sample collections and data. The significance and impact of the REVEAL research infrastructure is demonstrated by the strong letters of support from heritage organisations (The Royal Collection Trust (RCT), English Heritage (EH), Historic England (HE)), academia (University of Oxford (UO), University College London (UCL), Kingston University London (KUL)), industry (Clyde HSI) and practitioners (Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA)).
Parallel to the physical archive, the REVEAL project will build a substantial digital repository of previous and ongoing long term research projects which were funded externally (EU and UK research councils) or internally. In addition, the repository will host digital assets and analytical data generated from technical studies and conservation projects from our palaces and collections. Other important assets stored in this repository include 3D laser scanning data and digital twins from our collections and sites. As part of the RICHeS project a heritage science sample and data archivist (full time, HRP pay range 8) will be recruited for the REVEAL Co-ordinator post, responsible for the organising and storage of the samples and data to scientific reference collection standards. The successful candidate will receive extensive technical training, induction to the organisation and mentoring in advance of the launch of the facility to external access. The project will be also supported by two fixed term post for cataloguers to organise and record the scientific sample collections
HRP's scientific sample collections constitute an important resource for research by academics, heritage organisations, industry partners, students, artists and community groups. However, many of these samples are not catalogued and are dispersed across different locations as they were commissioned externally. Furthermore, HRP does not currently have dedicated facilities for organising, storing and hosting researchers to access and engage with these resources. As a result, only a small percentage of our scientific collections is available for research.
The substantial investment of nearly £1M from the Arts & Humanities Research Council capital funding programme, Capability for Collections (AH/V012487/1), offered a rare opportunity for establishing in-house extensive analytical capabilities as well as installing a dedicated server for the safe storage of heritage science data. As a result of this capital investment, HRP has initiated the recovery of scientific samples from external contractors to consolidate them in a dedicated repository for historic materials and decorative finishes.
The HRP REsearch Vault for HEritAge Science CoLlections (REVEAL) proposal to the RICHeS Host collections as part of our heritage science infrastructure funding estimated at £434K will deliver urgently needed physical and digital storage facilities as well as staff resources for cataloguing the large number of HRP scientific sample collections and data. The significance and impact of the REVEAL research infrastructure is demonstrated by the strong letters of support from heritage organisations (The Royal Collection Trust (RCT), English Heritage (EH), Historic England (HE)), academia (University of Oxford (UO), University College London (UCL), Kingston University London (KUL)), industry (Clyde HSI) and practitioners (Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA)).
Parallel to the physical archive, the REVEAL project will build a substantial digital repository of previous and ongoing long term research projects which were funded externally (EU and UK research councils) or internally. In addition, the repository will host digital assets and analytical data generated from technical studies and conservation projects from our palaces and collections. Other important assets stored in this repository include 3D laser scanning data and digital twins from our collections and sites. As part of the RICHeS project a heritage science sample and data archivist (full time, HRP pay range 8) will be recruited for the REVEAL Co-ordinator post, responsible for the organising and storage of the samples and data to scientific reference collection standards. The successful candidate will receive extensive technical training, induction to the organisation and mentoring in advance of the launch of the facility to external access. The project will be also supported by two fixed term post for cataloguers to organise and record the scientific sample collections
