The Design Archives’ distinctive collections and innovative practices are contributing to two conferences in late August and early September 2024.
Barbara Jones with Coffin Handles. BJO/5/9, Barbara Jones Archive.
Our Preservation and Digital Resources Coordinator Sirpa Kutilainen has co-convened a panel at the Archives and Records Association’s 2024 Annual Conference in Birmingham, 28-30 August. This year’s theme ‘Climate and Crisis: Tacking it Together’ centres around sustainability challenges facing not only our profession but our communities. The discussions and papers investigate ways to to help by learning, problem solving and creating solutions together as the profession aims to contribute to the global effort. The discussion themes range from innovative conservation methods, sustainable digital archiving and the archive environment. As a result of her ongoing work with the subject, Sirpa’s panel will discuss shutdowns of archive store HVAC (Humidity, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) systems, the aim of which is to save energy, become more cost effective and generate more sustainable archive practices while continuing to meet the needs of the collections in our care. The panel will share and develop Sirpa’s work in this field at the Design Archives, and expand the network which was met with such enthusiasm at an event co-organised with The National Archives in April.
Meanwhile, our Digital Content and Systems Coordinator Jen Grasso is speaking at the conference DEATHxDESIGNxCULTURE: RADICAL RE-IMAGININGS FOR THE END OF LIFE, at the University of Falmouth from 4-6 September, co-organised by the Department of Graphic Design at Falmouth University and the Death and Culture Network at the University of York, in partnership with the Stamps School of Art & Design at the University of Michigan and the Glasgow End of Life Studies Group at the University of Glasgow. Jen’s paper, ‘The Vernacular Art and Design of Death of Barbara Jones’ draws on her work on the archive of Barbara Jones (1912-1978) held at the Design Archives. Jen discusses the place of death in Jones’s canon of vernacular or popular art. An artist, author, designer and curator, Jones saw value in the everyday items that surround us, items that were mass-produced as well as those that were handmade, including the material culture that relates to death and the customs that dictate object use. Read more about the Barbara Jones Archive here, and explore the catalogue on the Archives Hub here.
