Ione Gedye (1907-1990) was a pioneer of conservation whose work founding the conservation department at the Institute of Archaeology in London (now the Institute of Archaeology at UCL) ensured that conservation became a key element of the work conducted there. She had first become interested in conservation studying classical archaeology at the Institute of Archaeology at UCL under Flinders Petrie and was encouraged to pursue this interest by Tessa Verney Wheeler when she participated in the Verulamium excavations. At this time, it was known more as ‘technical repair’ than conservation, and skills were generally developed through experience rather than formal training.
Having recognised her skills at Verulamium and the repair work she had done on pottery and metals found there in the following years, the Wheeler’s invited Gedye to be part of the newly formed Institute of Archaeology at the University of London. Here she founded the repair department which began in an out-of-use operating theatre. She later recalled that much of the work they did in the early years was largely experimental although she was aided by staff at the British Museum Research Laboratory whose help she remembered gratefully. When the Institute reopened following the second world war, they were able to offer a one-year conservation training course, thanks largely to Gedye’s work.
The Institute of Archaeology Conservation Lab, 1957. Image © UCL, Institute of Archaeology
Gedye was involved in some of the earliest archaeology broadcasts with the BBC. Along with Delia Parker who also worked in and helped to found the Institute’s repair lab, and Margot Eates who was working at the Institute and the excavations at Maiden Castle, Gedye was part of ‘Experiments in Science – Reconstructing the past: A Demonstration of the reconstruction of prehistoric fragments of pottery from Maiden Castle’ in 1937. Programs like this would have been influential in boosting the image of the newly formed Institute and in inspiring the public to become involved with (and donate money towards) archaeological practice.
Many of Gedye’s notes on procedures survive and are a valuable resource for conservators today to understand the techniques that have been used on artefacts in the collection in the past, as well as to understand how modern conservation techniques developed. There is also a surviving film in which Gedye demonstrates the ‘Electrotyping of Iron Objects’, available here on the Institute of Archaeology’s YouTube channel as well as an accompanying post here on the blog ‘Filming Antiquity’.
Gedye continued to teach conservation at the Institute of Archaeology until her retirement in 1975, at which point the course offered to students had developed into a full three-year degree. She had also been instrumental in designing the conservation laboratories when the Institute was moved from St John’s Lodge in Regents Park to a purpose-built building in Gordon square in 1958 (where it remains today). On her retirement the Ione Gedye Award for the best conservation-based dissertation each year was formed at her request and is still awarded yearly. She passed away in 1990 and her portrait now hangs in the Institute to honour her work.
Images © UCL, Institute of Archaeology.
Resources:
Preserving What Is Valued by Miriam Clavir, 2002, p.6
https://saraperry.files.wordpress.com/2017/10/perry2017_preprint.pdf – Archaeology on Television, 1937, by Sara Perry, 2017, University of York, UK
https://www.ai-journal.com/articles/10.5334/ai.1817/ – From the Archives: Women of the Early Institute. Archaeology International, 18, pp.131–133, by Elizabeth Pye, 2015
A Tribute to Ione Gedye, by Elizabeth Pye and Norman Brommelle, 1977, pp.3-4
Written by Isla Lury as part of the TrowelBlazers Digital Fieldwork Project at the Institute of Archaeology, UCL.
