Abstract

Mr Straw’s House inWorksop, Nottinghamshire, is a time capsule of social
history, housing a wide ranging collection of personal ephemera and everyday
items dating from the 1900s to the1980s. Now cared for by the National
Trust, the house’s historical importance lies in its exhibition of this wide
range of everyday items. It displays the family’s middle-class possessions,
and gives a sense of the modernisation and development of household
brands. However some of these historical everyday items may pose
health risks to staff and visitors, and particular concern was raised about
the chemical containers present at the property. While pesticides added
to objects have been discussed in some detail in previous studies, very
little information is available about what factors to consider when treating
objects where the hazardous chemicals are an integral part of the object’s
use and history. Therefore a project involving the National Trust and the
University of Lincoln’s Conservation Department was undertaken to identify
and conserve the contents and containers of the collection from Mr
Straw’s House. This article discusses the analyses of the contents and
how these were then treated.