Museum conservation is an old discipline with a new twist. As long as people have been collecting things, they have also taken measures to preserve them. Restorers have been employed for centuries by rich patrons, such as merchants, kings, popes, and other well-heeled types.

But it was not until the 19th century that the causes of deterioration were studied extensively, and it was archaeology that provided most of the impetus. As the Iron and Bronze ages of Europe and the Classic Middle East yielded to the trowel and the pickaxe, many of the items retrieved from their safe beds of soil, sand, and clay deteriorated dramatically. Why was this happening and what could be done to stop it? Restorers could not answer these questions. However, as chemical investigations were made, the mysterious processes of dissolution and decay were slowly but surely unravelled — and eventually controlled.

Although Michael Faraday is best known for his work with electricity and magnetism (the unit of capacitance, the Farad, bears his name), he was typical of the new breed of Victorian investigator who applied science to the understanding of deterioration.

In 1843, the Athenaeum Club (an exclusive gentlemen's club in London) appealed to him for help; the fine leather bindings of many of their treasured volumes were literally rotting away. The exposed spines in particular were turning into a fine, orange powder. What could be done? Yes, they could have the books rebound, but what was causing this? Faraday went to work and soon discovered that their newly installed gas lighting was producing high levels of sulphur dioxide, which in turn was reacting with the tanning agents in the leather, thus causing this 'red rot'. Faraday's intellectual approach to the understanding of deterioration processes was a significant step in the development of conservation as a science.