Barbara Wills
Conservator of Organic Artefacts
Conservation of organic
artefacts
Department: Conservation and Scientific
Research
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7323 8089
Email: conservation @ thebritishmuseum.ac.uk
Barbara Wills works on a wide range of organic
materials and specialises in the conservation of leather, basketry
materials and Ancient Egyptian objects. She has been involved in
archaeological excavations in Sudan and elsewhere, and has an
interest in the preservation of ephemeral organic
objects.
She enjoys passing on skills to colleagues,
students and interns, lecturing and publishing widely. As a
long-term Archaeological Leather Group committee member she has
organised study days, conferences, etc. She has also edited
publications in her field of expertise, e.g. Leather Wet and
Dry: Current Treatments in the Conservation of Waterlogged and
Desiccated Archaeological Leather.
In 2006 she worked for two months at the
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, as part of an exchange of skills
completed when Julie Dawson (Senior assistant keeper,
Fitzwilliam Museum) worked in the British Museum in
2007.
Current British Museum projects
Ancient Egyptian basketry; colour, plant
material and conservation.
Organising the next Conservation and
Scientific Research conference (24 April 2009) ‘Going Green:
towards sustainability in conservation’
Previous British Museum projects
Investigation of Nubian leatherwork on
excavation and after
External fellowships/ honorary positions/ membership of professional bodies
Trustee of the Leather Conservation Centre
Meetings Coordinator of the Archaeological
Leather Group (ALG)
Member of the International Committee of
Museums (ICOM)
Member of the Institute of Conservation
(ICON)
Publications
B Wills and M. Hacke, ‘Colour on Ancient
Egyptian Baskets; extent, significance and conservation solutions’
in Postprints of ICON Archaeology Group/Fitzwilliam Museum
(University of Cambridge) Conference 2007; Decorated Surfaces on
Ancient Egyptian Objects, Technology, Deterioration and
Conservation (forthcoming, 2008)
B. Wills, B. McLeod, S. La Niece and C.
Cartwright, ‘A shell garniture from Gujarat in the British
Museum’ in The British Museum Technical Research
Bulletin, No.1, (London, Archetype, 2007)
pp.1-8
B. Wills, ‘Excavating desiccated leather: Conservation problems
on site and after’ in Leather Wet and Dry: Current Treatments
in the Conservation of Waterlogged and Desiccated Archaeological
Leather Postprints, B. Wills (ed.), (London,
Archetype, 2001), pp.51-62
B. Wills, ‘A review of the conservation
treatment a Romano-Egyptian cuirass and helmet made from crocodile
skin’, The Conservator, 24, (UKIC, London, 2000)
pp.80-88
B. Wills, ‘The Conservation of Two
Pre-dynastic Egyptian Bodies’ with C. Johnson in
Conservation of Ancient Egyptian Materials (UKIC, London,
1995) pp.79-84
B. Wills, ‘Some Methods of Basketry Repair,
using Japanese Tissue Paper and Starch Paste’ in Where to
Start, Where to Stop (Museum Ethnographers Group, 1994)
pp.109-113
B. Wills, ‘An approach to the Conservation of
a Mexican Saddle’ with D. Sully and Y. Shashoua, IIC 14th
International Conference in Conservation of the Iberian and
Latin American Cultural Heritage Postprints (IIC, Madrid,
1992) pp.179-183