In memory of Dr Michael William Pascoe (16 June 1930 - 11 Jan 2024)  

In memory of Dr Michael William Pascoe (16 June 1930 - 11 Jan 2024)  

Michael Pascoe, who died recently at the age of 93, was an influential conservation scientist who spent his conservation career at the British Museum and Camberwell College of Arts. He read Natural Sciences at Cambridge before going into the chemical industry for several years, working first at British Nylon Spinners and then Imperial Chemical Industries. He was at Brunel University from 1967-76 as a polymer science lecturer before joining the newly created Department of Conservation and Technical Services (later Department of Conservation) at the British Museum as Head of Conservation Science in 1976. He became Head of Department (Keeper) in 1979 and resigned in 1981 to join the teaching staff at Camberwell College of Arts.

Michael was an innovative thinker and often came up with ideas which to some seemed strange. Coming from academia and industry, he had experience in areas of materials science not previously explored by conservation scientists and often thought about conservation problems in a novel way. An impervious polymer film was seen as an ideal way of protecting an object from a hostile environment and as all brush-applied lacquers had unwanted thin areas (cissing), the possibilities of depositing polymer films in novel ways were considered. In the automotive industry car bodies were electrolytically painted using charged polymer emulsions, so these were also trialed.Gas-phase processes were investigated for cleaning and plasma oxidation using oxygen and/or plasma reduction using hydrogen were investigated by his staff, as was plasma polymerization for depositing coatings.

Michael came to conservation at a time when health and safety awareness in conservation was increasing rapidly and he made sure his department was in the vanguard of current practice. During his time at the British Museum it was decided that more conservators should be encouraged to apply for the Museums Association Diploma. He set about preparing training courses and in doing so made a collection of books which was the start of a new Conservation Library, distinct from the one already in existence for the Research Laboratory. As most British Museum conservators now work in the same building as the scientists, the libraries have since combined.

In 1981, Michael joined the staff of Camberwell College of Arts and Crafts (later known as Camberwell College of Arts) as Principal Lecturer in Science. At this time, the College ran two paper conservation courses: a BTEC Diploma in Paper Conservation and a BTEC Higher Diploma. Both courses were two years long with many students doing both courses. At the point when Michael joined the teaching staff, the college was about to introduce a new BA Art History course, entitled The History of Drawing and Printmaking, that unusually included a significant science element (about 40%). Michael was instrumental in both creating and developing this science element. As potential curators, it was thought these students would benefit from an understanding of the material nature and technical processes involved in the creation of prints and drawings. Topics included historical and modern paper production, the history and production of pigments and dyes, drawing materials, printing inks, and historical and modern art printing techniques. In addition, emphasis was placed on the technical examination of prints and drawings. Finally, the students were introduced to the care and storage of paper collections, the reasons and prevention of deterioration and environmental control.

The paper conservation students shared the science content outlined above, plus they also received additional teaching in the chemistry of paper conservation treatments, including laboratory practice. The testing and selection of conservation materials, such as adhesives and housing materials were also covered, along with the science and conservation of skin materials (parchment and leather) and photographic materials.

Teaching across such a large and diverse curriculum was demanding and so in 1983, Michael was joined by Tony Smith. They worked together for seven years to further develop the science teaching across both the art history and conservation courses. Michael retired from Camberwell College in 1990. In that year, the College became part of The London Institute and the BTEC conservation courses were eventually dropped to become a BA in Conservation and a MA in Conservation.

Vincent Daniels and Tony Smith

Image Credit: British Museum