Charlotte Gamper will be giving a Brown Bag Lunch presentation on Wednesday, November 19, 2015, from 12 to 1:30pm, at the Bard Graduate Center in New York City. Her talk is entitled “Textile Conservation at Historic Royal Palaces: A 100-Year History.”

Charlotte Gamper became a member of the textile conservation team at Historic Royal Palaces in 2013 after completing a conservation internship in their Conservation and Collection Care department, funded by the Clothworkers’ Foundation through the Institute of Conservation internship program. Gamper received her MPhil in Textile Conservation from the University of Glasgow and has completed work placements at the British Museum and Scottish Conservation Studio. In 2013 Gamper presented her dissertation research on the wet-cleaning of historic viscose rayon textiles at the 9th North American Textile Conservation Conference (NATCC). In 2015, at the 10th NATCC, she will lecture on her research into the use of Fosshape®, a new material being used for conservation mounting. Gamper is also working with Heritage Without Borders to deliver a conservation training workshop at the Gjirokastër Ethnographic Museum in Albania.

At Bard Graduate Center, Gamper will examine the rich history of the textile conservation studio at Historic Royal Palaces. In 1912, a public outcry on the sorry state of the monarch’s tapestries led to the establishment of a tapestry restoration studio at Hampton Court. In the ensuing 103 years, approaches to the care of the diverse historic royal textile collections have evolved from a craft-based practice reliant solely on manual skills to our current, multidisciplinary approach that combines technical skills and ethical considerations with academic knowledge and scientific investigation. Gamper will also discuss the lab’s changing role from a behind-the-scenes department to one at the forefront of audience engagement. Her talk will demonstrate that conservation is not a static field, but one that is constantly developing as new scholarship and institutional needs arise.

Coffee and tea will be served; attendees are welcome to bring their own lunch.

RSVP is required.