Changes at The Textile Conservation Foundation!

What changes?

As part of a major review of governance, the Trustees have decided that the Foundation should move from ‘charitable company limited by guarantee’ structure to a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIC), a governance structure encouraged by the regulators and adopted by increasing numbers of charities. It will continue to be registered with OSCR and the Charity Commission.

It made sense to update the objects of the charity at the same time, as they have not changed since 1975, better to reflect the range of support that the Foundation provides. Therefore the Trustees have also decided to make a slight change to the charity’s name – from the Textile Conservation Foundation to The TC Foundation (a name by which many already know the charity!).

Why?

The Textile Conservation Foundation, often referred to by the shorthand ‘TC Foundation’, has supported education and research in textile conservation since 1975 and continues to do so – focussing on the Kelvin Centre for Conservation and Cultural Heritage Research at the University of Glasgow. The Kelvin Centre is the successor of the Textile Conservation Centre (TCC) and continues to offer the MPhil Textile Conservation, a world-leading programme in the subject.

Over the years, the TCC and now the Kelvin Centre have grown and extended their work – with conservation science, dress and textile history, technical art history and modern materials being among the additional areas of focus today. In September 2025 the Kelvin Centre also launched a major new two-year conservation programme: MPhil Book and Paper Conservation. The course is modelled on the highly successful textile conservation programme.

The Trustees are hugely supportive of these developments at the Kelvin Centre. Indeed the Trustees have supported several of these strategic developments which further strengthen the Kelvin Centre and, in turn, the MPhil Textile Conservation. So, given the other governance changes it made sense to update the remit of the charity in order to provide greater flexibility for the future.

Building on success

The TC Foundation has raised funds for bursaries for talented young people from around the world to train as textile conservators. Graduates of the programme at the Kelvin Centre and its predecessor courses now work in over 40 countries.

Since the move to Glasgow in 2010, the TC Foundation has made it possible for 110 students from 21 countries to train as textile conservators who would otherwise have been unable to afford to do so. This is an astonishing achievement for a small charity!

The MPhil Textile Conservation will continue to be the primary focus of the Foundation’s support but the new name and structure will ensure that it can extend its support to other areas where that would benefit the Centre and the MPhil TC.

Major support from the Pilgrim Trust for new conservation programme

The Trustees of the TC Foundation are delighted that the MPhil Book and Archival Materials Conservation programme will welcome its first cohort of students in September this year.

This new programme is modelled on the internationally renowned MPhil Textile Conservation and, there being many synergies between textile and paper conservation, the students will work together in a number of aspects of their practical and academic work.

The TC Foundation awarded a grant to the Centre for the detailed development of the programme and are supporting this important new programme by raising funds for student bursaries.

The Trustees are delighted to announce that the first, and most generous, grant for bursaries for students on the MPhil Books and Archival Materials Conservation has been awarded by the Pilgrim Trust, which is well known for its support of conservation and of conservation and craft education.

Professor Nick Pearce, Chair of the TC Foundation, said: “The TC Foundation is enormously grateful to the Trustees of the Pilgrim Trust for their generous award. This early support from such a major funder is a major vote of confidence that will hugely boost our efforts to secure support from other funders.”

Like the textile conservation course, the book and paper programme is a vocational and academic education, offering students the opportunity to focus on the specialist areas of either conservation for books and archival materials, or conservation of paper including photographic media. Students of both conservation programmes benefit from the Centre’s close working relationship with The Hunterian and Glasgow Museums and other institutions within the heritage sector in Scotland and further afield.

Kelvin Centre Open Day 16th May 2025, 11am - 4pm - Booking Now Open!

You are welcome to visit the Kelvin Centre to meet staff, researchers, and students from the University of Glasgow’s Kelvin Centre including MPhil Textile Conservation, MLitt Technical Art History, MLitt Dress &Textile History, MPhil in Book & Archival Materials Conservation and Paper Conservation (first cohort Sept. 2025). To book a free ticket, please click on the image below to be taken to the booking form.

The staff and students of the Kelvin Centre look forward to showing you their work!

TCC@50 - Building on 50 Years of Training, Practice and Research

The Kelvin Centre is delighted to announce booking is now open for the TCC@50 conference to be held at the Kelvin Centre on Monday 16th to Tuesday 17th June 2025. Book your place here

2025 marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Textile Conservation Centre at Hampton Court Palace. Whilst its physical location and name have changed, its core aim has remained the same: to educate textile conservators in a dynamic and professional teaching, practice and research environment.

Using this significant milestone as a launching point, the conference seeks to celebrate and challenge the diversity, maturity and creativity of our profession. We will explore the many facets of the profession, looking to the future whilst also responding to the legacy of the past and exploring our relationship with others.

The 2-day conference will comprise presentations, posters and round table discussions, as well as social events and an opportunity to network with fellow professionals.

Conference Topics

• Looking Forward - the future of the discipline and the profession, addressing the changing needs, responsibilities and challenges of the sector.

• Building, Adapting, Sharing - evolving techniques and approaches, drawing influence and inspiration from other conservation fields, other disciplines and other traditions.

• Reflections and Responses - paradigm shifts in 50 years of textile conservation practice and training.

The conference will take place in Glasgow and will be run as a hybrid event.

For any conference enquiries: texcons50@glasgow.ac.uk

MPhil Textile Conservation students in the news!

For some years, students on the MPhil Textile Conservation course have benefitted from the chance to conserve textiles from Paisley Museum. Such experience is a core part of the MPhil programme and is fundamental to the students’ ability to gain the skills and practical experience they will need as professional Textile Conservators.

In a £45m project, Paisley Museum, which opened in 1871, is undergoing major re-development and will re-open to the public in 2025.

The objects being conserved by the MPhil Textile Conservation students will feature in the new displays. Their work was highlighted in this report on Scottish Television (STV) on 8th February, 2024.

Supporting the future of textile conservation

The TC Foundation Trustees are enormously grateful to all of the organisations that have generously funded bursaries for students on the MPhil Textile Conservation in the 2022/23 academic year.

The 2-year MPhil Textile Conservation is a world-leading programme - excellence is the hallmark of the MPhil Textile Conservation and this means extensive facilities and a much higher number of contact hours that most Masters programmes.

Our funders enable talented young people to take up their places on the course, on graduating they then pursue careers in the field and spend decades preserving our cultural heritage. The TC Foundation’s Chair, Clare Meredith ACR, said: “The outcome of our funders’ support, over nearly five decades, is that many hundreds of individuals have been able to pursue careers as textile conservators and curators and the contribution these professionals make to heritage across the globe is both inspiring and incalculable.”

Among the funders of MPhil Textile Conservation students in 2022/23 are:

The Arts Society

The Binks Trust

The Clothworkers’ Company

The Coats Foundation Trust

The Drapers’ Company

The Dulverton Trust

The Elizabeth Frankland Moore and Star Foundation

The Inchcape Foundation

The Anna Plowden Trust

The Radcliffe Trust

The Scouloudi Foundation

The South Square Trust

The Barbara Whatmore Trust

We are enormously grateful to each one.

A new name and new premises!

The Centre for Textile Conservation and Technical Art History has been renamed The Kelvin Centre for Conservation and Cultural Heritage Research - follow the link to find out more.

This name better reflects the increasingly wide range of the Centre’s work, which encompasses textile conservation, textile and dress history, technical art history, conservation science and, from late 2023, book and paper conservation.

The Kelvin Centre is now located in Kelvin Hall, a huge building adjacent to the main university campus which is being developed as a major cultural centre by a consortium of Glasgow Life, the University of Glasgow and the National Library of Scotland.

A key benefit of the move is the co-location of the Kelvin Centre’s staff and students for the first time. The proximity to the staff and collections of the University’s Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery is another major benefit of the relocation.

Celebrating the legacy of Karen Finch OBE

The family and friends of Karen Finch OBE, who founded the original Textile Conservation Centre (TCC) in 1975, have created a website in her honour.

Karen, who was born in 1921 and died in 2018, was Principal of the TCC from 1975 to 1986. After her retirement she took an unfailing interest in the careers of those who graduated from the Centre during her time in charge, as well as in the work and progress of current students of the Centre.

Sadly, Karen was never able to visit the Centre’s successor, the Centre for Textile Conservation, at its new home as part of the University of Glasgow, but was delighted to hear all about the success of the Centre and its students. The Textile Conservation Foundation created an annual student prize in her honour, the Karen Finch Prize. The image below shows Karen with Geraldine Sim, who won the Karen Finch Prize in 2015 and who is now forging a successful career as a textile conservator in Singapore’s Heritage Conservation Centre.

Watch this film to find out all about the MPhil Textile Conservation!

Ever wondered what it takes to become a Textile Conservator? This short film tells you all you need to know about the MPhil Textile Conservation course. Students and staff tell you about the key features of the course and some graduates tell you why they find a career in textile conservation so rewarding.

The film features staff and students at the Centre as well as graduates of the Masters programme who are now working in the sector.

Feel inspired? You can find out more from the Centre’s website. You can also read the students’ own blog posts about the course and their recent projects here.

Centre staff and students out and about

Visits to museums and conservation studios are always fascinating and certainly add richness to the course for the students of the Centre for Textile Conservation.

As Sarah Foskett, Lecturer, writes: “our visit to Perth Museum and Art Gallery last week was a great example of how important it is to look up and beyond our everyday practice and how enjoyable, informative and inspiring it is to engage with other museum colleagues and projects.

The future of The City Hall, one of Perth’s most significant buildings since it was opened in 1908, had been uncertain for more than a decade when in 2017 Perth and Kinross Council voted to develop the museum to tell the story of Perth’s place at the heart of Scotland’s history as well as hosting major touring exhibitions. JP talked through the stages of development of the project that will form the permanent and temporary displays – from interpretation of the narrative (including applying for the return of the Stone of Destiny) to theme mapping and layout (Pictish stones are very heavy!) and from environmental modelling (the existing building is filled with light) to selection of the approximately 7,000 objects (from a collection of +/- 430,000). What was both clear and inspiring was how the project was being driven by a combination of good communication and extreme multi-tasking – there was definitely a sense of shared purpose between the Exhibition Curator, JP Reid, and Conservation Officer, Anna Zwagerman, and it was clear that the dialogue with the architects and designers was similarly positive.

One of the objects going into the new displays is Ta-Kr-Hb, an Egyptian mummy which has fascinated visitors since its entry into the collection in the 1930’s and Anna has seized the opportunity to use the conservation of this iconic object to engage visitors with both the practical process of conservation and the ethical dilemmas associated with objects and their display. Anna talked through the evolution of the Conservation in action: Saving the Perth Mummy exhibition, highlighting both the logistic and moral challenges faced by showcasing the conservation of such sensitive (in all meanings of the word) materials.

Our visit had been arranged to coincide with lead conservator, Will Murray of the Scottish Conservation Studio being ‘in residence’ and in small groups we were able to go inside the glazed conservation studio built temporarily within the gallery where Will talked about the treatment being undertaken to stabilise and support the mummy, linens and sarcophagus for their long term preservation and display in the new museum. Whilst not ‘inside the box’ we looked at cleverly designed displays focused on highlighting the impact of agents of deterioration on objects as well as the complexities of displaying objects with multiple biographies. A highlight for the students was seeing a rare 17th century doublet which features as the cover image for one of their textbooks!

Sometimes an ‘away day’ is in fact just what you need to enliven and invigorate your own practice, broaden your perspectives and benefit from the experience of others and this is certainly how we all felt after our visit to Perth.”

Will Murray, of the Scottish Conservation Studio, working in the galleries giving visitors the chance to see conservation in action.