Within the museums archive there are two bound letter books containing over 520 letters addressed to William Cunnington 1st from nearly 60 correspondents, including Richard Colt Hoare, John Britton, Philip Crocker, Rev. Edward Duke and Rev. James Douglas to name a few.
The books were falling apart and the letters needed conserving. Thanks to grants from the AIM/Pilgrim Trust, National Manuscripts Conservation Trust and a ‘Members’ Appeal these letter books have now been conserved.
This talk by Jane Schön (Collections officer: Archive & Library) gives an overview of how the letter books were conserved and what we have been doing with them since they were returned to the Museum.