UC students help preserve architectural heritage
UC students help preserve Wood and Warren’s architectural heritage
University of Canterbury students have been working to preserve historic architectural drawings by renowned architect Cecil Wood in a Macmillan Brown Library project, with help from another great Canterbury architect.
Three UC student interns were employed to conserve and catalogue these treasured drawings, due to the generosity of the John A Hendry Trust and Christchurch architect Sir Miles Warren, through the University of Canterbury Foundation.
The architectural drawings that have been preserved include buildings that were lost and damaged in the Canterbury earthquakes, including Bishopscourt, St Barnabas Anglican Church in Fendalton, St Barnabas Anglican Church in Woodend and the Memorial Church St Paul's at Tai Tapu.
Sir Miles gifted the architectural drawings from his personal collection to the Macmillan Brown Library in 2015. Since then, student interns Jessica Nawisielski, Harriet Litten and Hamish Petersen have been painstakingly cleaning and repairing 232 drawings under the guidance of paper conservator Lynn Campbell.
The Macmillan Brown Library takes a hands-on approach to student learning with heritage collections, the manager of the Macmillan Brown Library and Heritage Collections, Joanna Condon, says.
“We are really pleased that the funding for this project will not only benefit the Cecil Wood drawings collection but will also have excellent outcomes for these three young people embarking on their careers in the arts and culture field.”
One of the UC student interns, Hamish Petersen, says that it has been an enormous privilege to be part of the project.
“I have learnt so much in the short time I've been involved. This internship is no doubt a unique opportunity for an undergraduate student to have and adds a pretty valuable element to all the learning I get to do at the University of Canterbury.”
Jo Dowling, UC Director of Alumni and Development, says that vital funding from donors is funding the preservation of these important documents.
“The UC Foundation was delighted to receive the funding from the John Hendry Trust and Sir Miles that has enabled these important historical drawings to be preserved for future generations,” she says.
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