Category Archives: Volunteering

For the second day of collections care or conservation cleaning with Jim, myself and another volunteer cleaned 2 shelves of oversized books including the shelf itself (shown in the photograph at the beginning of this post). Very simply we were instructed to do the following: Remove the books from the shelf and carefully carry themContinue reading “Volunteering at the Portico – Part 4: Conservation cleaning”

Over the past 2 weeks I have volunteered at the Portico during the following events: Thomas De Quincey’s Confessions of an English Opium Eater – talk by Journalist and Historian Ed Glinert. I was primarily responsible for preparing for the event, serving and selling drinks, arranging furniture and assisting people while they viewed and handledContinue reading “Volunteering at the Portico – Part 3”

On 13th October 2021 myself and another volunteer had our first collections care session with Jim Duff (former book binder and head of collections care for University of Manchester at the John Rylands Library, Main Library and more). The session could be viewed as a basic introduction to the principles of book conservation but alsoContinue reading “Volunteering at the Portico, Part 2: Conservation cleaning”

Last week (mid-October 2021) I started a volunteers programme at the Portico Library. The Portico is one of Manchester’s longest-running institutions whose historic collection spans over 450 years. It was founded in 1806 by 400 subscribers including authors, future prime-ministers, scientists and educators. As stated on the website: Built with wealth derived from the IndustrialContinue reading “Volunteering at the Portico – Part 1”