I don't have many pictures from this day, so pardon the text-heavy post. The cover photo is from the website. It's of the Crimson Drawing Room where part of our workshop was held. Check out the Royal Collection Trust's website
The workshop at Windsor Castle was easily one of my favorite parts of the program. The collections team at the castle was very prepared for out visit. Everything went very smoothly.
We started by getting through security and then were led through a secret door in the Waterloo Chamber Room. We walked through a labyrinth of servant corridors and came through another hidden door in a wall of one of the Queen's Semi-State Rooms.
They had chairs set up for us and we went through a lecture on the Royal Collection, its use, function, and care. The collection dates back to Henry VIII and is still owned by the royal family. They can use or change it whenever they like. Throughout different monarchs, objects of the collection have been added or taken away, cataloged extensively, loaned across the world, and displayed for the public.
We had some hands on work with museum-standard storage elements by playing "good box, bad box" and creating acid-free tissue 'puffs' and 'sausages' for padding out objects and boxes. Another station was for practicing object handling from silverware to furniture. We also learned their method of condition reporting which they do with their inventories every 5 years.
We were shown their object database which you can explore online here.
Then we had a station to talk about dangers to collections- mainly pests, light, and dust. We were shown the castle's pest management system, light management system, and heard a little bit about their cleaning schedule.
We explored the courtyard of the castle, saw the outside of St. George's Chapel and bought some rad tea towels and corgi merch. ;)
Museum Professional. Traveler. Cat lover.