Richard Nichols is a Book and Paper Conservator, accredited by Icon in 2000. After graduating in Archive Preservation and Repair from Camberwell College of Art in 1976 he enjoyed 44 years working in Archive Services and Record Offices and has now embarked on an exciting new venture as a Conservator in Private Practice. His experience ranges from Anglo Saxon parchment documents to volumes representing all aspects of bookbinding development from the 12th century onwards.
He is passionate about conservation training, having been an instructor for 26 years on the ‘Archive Conservation Training Scheme’ of The Archives and Records Association (ARA), teaching modules in paper, parchment, and book conservation to student interns.
He believes in the importance of contributing to the wider conservation community including ARA, The Institute of Conservation (Icon), Society of Bookbinders (SoB) and the Midlands Conservators Group. Between 1992 and 2002 he served as Secretary and Chair of the Preservation and Conservation Group of ARA. In 2002 he co-organised and hosted the ARA three day conservation conference at Staffordshire University.
He was a member of the Icon Accreditation Committee for 13 years, scoring applications for accreditation. He also served as a mentor to accreditation applicants for 5 years, supporting them through the accreditation process. He currently serves as a CPD reader for the accreditation scheme.
EDUCATION
- 1974 – 1976, Certificate in Archive Preservation and Repair, Camberwell College of Art, London, UK.
EMPLOYMENT
- 1991 – 2020, Senior Conservator – practitioner and manager of the conservation service and staff, Staffordshire Archive and Heritage Service, Staffordshire, UK.
- 2013 to 2019, visiting lecturer teaching ‘Springback’ account book binding and edge tool sharpening, University of the Arts London, UK.
- 2015 and 2017, visiting lecturer teaching ‘Springback’ account book binding at West Dean College, UK.
- 2005, one-week course on the conservation of parchment at the University of Malta, Valetta, Malta.
- 1982 – 1991, Conservator – team member in a large and busy service, London Metropolitan Archive, London, UK.
- 1980 – 1982, Senior Technical Assistant – sole conservator of the county archive collection, Hertfordshire Record Office, Hertfordshire, UK.
- 1976 – 1980, Manuscript Repairer – sole conservator of the county archive collection, Derbyshire Record Office, Derbyshire, UK.
SELECTED PROJECTS
- Project manager and principal applicant for funding; Conservation of the design drawings and business records of the Minton pottery company of Stoke on Trent, a one-year project, funded by the NMCT, the Wolfson Foundation, the Art Fund and the Pilgrim Trust. He appointed, trained and mentored a newly qualified conservator at the Staffordshire Archive Service and Stoke-on-Trent conservation studios. 2016/7
- Project manager and principal applicant for funding; ‘Paper, Parchment and Book’ a one-year project to survey all, and conserve selected items from the archives of the Earls of Bradford, a collection dating back to medieval times. Funded by the Clothworkers Foundation and conducted under the Icon intern programme. He appointed, trained and mentored a newly qualified conservator at the Staffordshire Archive Service conservation studio. 2014
- Practitioner and team manager ‘The Staffordshire Tithe Maps Conservation Project’. For one year the conservation team forsake other programmes (apart from emergency treatments) to concentrate on treating the entire collection of 385 Tithe maps. All materials cloth, paper and parchment were treated according to need before rehousing in more easily accessible format. 2004.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
- Nichols, RP, 2014, Case studies in conservation; Making ethical decisions on the treatment of archival volumes. Bookbinder 28, pp. 19 – 27 Society of Bookbinders.
SELECTED PRESENTATIONS
- Book sewing structures, training workshop, Society of Bookbinders North-West region, Chester, UK, July 2021.
- ‘Papermaking’ a one-day practical workshop, covering both Western and Eastern methods, Society of Bookbinders London region, UK, October 2019.
- ‘Tacketted Stationery Binding: A two-day practical workshop’ Co-presenter and trainer, Carlisle Archive Centre, UK, July 2019.
- ‘Conservation Mounting and framing’ Archives and Records Association conference, Glasgow, UK, September 2018.
- ‘Papermaking’ a one-day practical workshop, covering both Western and Eastern methods, Society of Bookbinders North-West region, Chester, UK, July 2018.
- ‘Treatment of a Vandalised Medieval Psalter’, Archives and Records Association conference, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, September 2015.
- ‘Ethical Dilemmas in the Conservation of Archival Bindings’, Society of Bookbinders conference, Leeds University, UK, 2014.
- ‘Seals in History’ an exploration, fundraising lecture to purchase the newly unearthed matrix of the seal of Stone Priory – 1500’s, Stone Historical Society, Sandon Hall, UK, November 2013.
- ‘Treatment of Iron Gall Inks’, Archives and Records Association conference, Edinburgh, UK, August, 2012.
- ‘The development of Bookbinding as discovered in the collections of the Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent Archive Service’ for the Trustees of the William Salt Library, UK, November 2010.