Save the Textile Conservation Centre

From the Times Online by Simon Tait

Conservators around the world have been shocked by the University of Southampton’s decision to “condemn to oblivion”, in the words of the UK Institute of Conservation (Icon), the world’s leading school for textile conservation.

The Textile Conservation Centre (TCC), which has trained half the world’s select group of 800 textile conservators, including the winner of this year’s £15,000 national Conservation Award, is to close because it no longer fits the university’s research and funding criteria.

The president of the International Institute of Conservation, Jerry Podany, of the Getty Museum in California, wrote to the Vice-Chancellor of Southampton, Professor Bill Wakeham, saying the decision is “widely perceived as no less than a betrayal of trust”.

“We see the university’s decision as damaging to the world’s textile heritage, the international conservation community, and most sadly a poor repayment for the loyalty, high standards and dedication of its highly motivated staff,” he wrote.

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