The poetry of conservation

[Dennis Piechota]

As you may have noticed I think the work of conservators is closely aligned with the humanities, more closely actually than with the sciences or engineering.

T. S. Eliot speaks to the fragility and skill needed for our work when he presents the past as an accumulation of dust that should be appreciated and preserved:

Dust in the air suspended 

Marks the place where a story ended.

Dust inbreathed was a house- 

The walls, the wainscot and the mouse,

excerpt from Little Gidding

And in a lighter vein, the anonymous song I posted previously celebrates how specialists, tinkers in this case, can do better work than their owners:

Have you any work for the tinker, brisk maids?

 

Old brass, old pots, old kettles.

 

I'll mend 'em all with a tink, terry, tink 

 

and never hurt your chattels.

excerpt from The Tinker's Song, recorded in 1667

I love that the tinker promises to repair while doing no harm to that which the owner loves, the beginnings of the conservator's promise.

Have you any other poems?

Dennis

Dennis Piechota

Archaeological Conservator

Fiske Center for Archaeological Research
UMass Boston
Office: 617-287-6829

ALTCONS Group Admin

an Alternative Conservation Discussion