The PhD thesis is to introduce the process of shaping current image of conservation of archival
collections in Poland. The PhD thesis is based on reflections on the changes that have occurred in
thinking about archives - what they need and how we must conscious care for them.
The indicated topics is analyzed on many levels - not only from the perspective of the
historical development of the care of monuments embedded in the political reality of our country,
but also from the point of view of a specific case, which is the State Archive in Katowice which
was founded in 1932. Attempts were made to show the issue through the prism of the fate of three
selected personage - conservators, bookbinders, and practitioners. The most significant person
who is considered of the father paper conservation in Polish is Bonawentura Lenart.
The current image of the protection of the collections was significantly influenced by
the conservation doctrines taking shaped in the 20th century. The created standards shaped the
code of professional conservation ethics, but it is still not free from dilemmas.
The PhD thesis introduces conservation dilemmas examples - including an exceptional ethical
case, which means bookbinding waste paper hidden in book bindings. Similarly, the mass
digitization of archives and the resulting conservation preparation of the collections for
scanning had a significant impact on the shape of the conservation of the resource. They became
a new, separate task of the archival conservator.
Contemporary collection protection is based on gathering information about the
resource. Information about a single object is provided by the conservation documentation
created during the work, and information about the entire collection is provided by the statistic
research of the state of resources condition. The work presents the methodology and results of
the study carried out for the example of the collection in the State Archives in Katowice. The
implementation of a pest management system in archival magazine have contributed to
increased conscious and thus better protection of heritage.
Human activity is also mentioned as a factor destroying the archives. The concern of today’s
conservators is incorrectly carried out in the past repairs of books using inadequate materials
and techniques. The proposed conservation guidelines may be helpful in avoiding this type of
damage in the future.
The ends with an analysis of the results of a conservation questionnaire conducted in most state
archives in the country. The PhD thesis sets new research perspectives, as the issue of
conservation of archival materials are an interdisciplinary and young branch of paper
conservation. It gives space for consideration not only apractical nature, but also all theoretical
- connected with the humanities
