Precision Conservation for Archival Documentary Heritage: A Reflection on Conservation Practice of the Hanyeping Company Archives in China

摘要

From the perspective of conservation demands, this study proposed and systematically explained the concept of precision conservation for archival documentary heritage. By combining the conservation practices for the Hanyeping company archives that were selected into the first batch of the Chinese Archival Documentary Heritage List and the concept of the precision conservation for archival documentary heritage, it designed principles and strategies that should be followed to precisely carry out conservation activities. It was suggested in this study that precision conservation for archival documentary heritage should be viewed as a sustainable conservation mode, which is able to pay close attention to the dynamic demands of archival documentary heritage and provides a timely and effective response based on the guidelines of general conservation practice. This study found that the successful practices safeguarding the Hanyeping company archives, such as their adequate conservation preparations, explicit conservation principles, diversified conservation projects, and personalized conservation measures, provided an essential reference for current precision conservation for archival documentary heritage. Finally, this study insisted that the three principles that related to initiative, scientific and personalized consciousness should be followed and a series of strategies should be adopted including cooperative participation of conservation subjects, targeted identification of conservation demands, dynamic management of conservation processes, and specific evaluation of conservation effects.