
The Chantry Library is the grateful recipient of a donation of books from Bob Child’s personal library, given by his wife, Valentine Walsh Child. Through this very generous donation of some 30 books, we have improved our sections on identification of materials (bone, ivory, wood), moulds and biological deterioration, church furnishings and buildings conservation, along with publications edited by or contributed to (and some inscribed) by Bob Child. The donation includes rare items that are not found in many other research collections, so we’re especially fortunate to add them to our library and make them available. About half of the donation has been catalogued — we hope to finish this over the summer.
Bob Child was the chief conservator for the National Museum and Galleries of Wales for many years. He championed IPM in museums and historic houses, and worked as an advisor on pest control for the National Trust and on preventive conservation for English Heritage. Bob worked closely with David Pinninger (who donated his collection of IPM articles and offprints to the Chantry Library in 2018), and lectured at many major institutions. Find out more about Bob’s company, Historyonics, here.

Leave a Reply