Helena Jaeschke
Conservation Development Officer
Royal Albert Memorial Museum
Exeter Ark
Exton Road
Marsh Barton
Exeter
Devon
EX2 8LX
Tel: 01392 665951
Mobile: 07881 521353
helena.jaeschke@exeter.gov.uk
devon@swfed.org.uk
In post since 2008
Helena Jaeschke trained as an archaeological conservator and has devoted her working life to small museums and excavations in the UK and overseas, especially Egypt. Archaeological conservators have to understand what all sorts of objects are made from, how they were used and why they deteriorate, before treating them and making them available for people to examine, understand and enjoy.
Her current role is “Conservation Development Officer”, a post created as part of the Renaissance scheme in the Southwest, providing advice and support for museums and collections in Devon and the surrounding border areas. She also deals with queries from the public on caring for their treasures and co-ordinates a network for 130 conservators across the southwest.
She lives near Barnstaple in the north of Devon and commutes across the county to her base at the new museum store on the southwest side of Exeter. The best part of the job is making site visits to the 250 wonderful local museums and working with the amazing people who run them, making our heritage available to everyone. The help they need can include identifying strange pests found crawling along the floorboards, advice on fireproofing thatch, measuring damp, flood salvage and training volunteers in the best ways to handle, clean and pack objects. Objects in need range from a pickled eel which had dried up to tiny christening gloves, from fire engines to tiny finch’s eggs. When specialist advice is needed, Helena helps the museum find appropriate experts and discusses possible treatments and project arrangements.
As well as cleaning wallpaintings in Egypt and helping to excavate very flat bodies at Hierakonpolis (a prehistoric site near Edfu, Egypt), Helena specialises in the care of Japanese lacquer, a natural polymer produced from the sap of a tree related to poison ivy and the sumac.
