The Issue

One of the important areas of concern for the Mission is to protect the existing manuscripts of India from decay, damage and destruction. It is felt that there is a need to re-focus on the programme of conservation, to make it more wide-spread, befitting a national mission for the preservation of manuscripts.

The Strategy

In the current year, the Mission plans to strengthen conservation activities by taking up field visits to repositories and sensitizing them on preventive conservation, conducting on-the-spot preventive conservation and outreach campaigns, taking up curative conservation of selected collections of important manuscripts and imparting training to conservators on preventive and curative conservation.

The Outcome

To fill the gaps in terms of geographic spread and number of manuscripts in need of conservation, the Mission plans to strengthen conservation activities through the following strategies:

• Give preventive conservation treatment to all the deserving manuscripts in India
• Target the most endangered manuscripts for curative conservation in consultation with the MRC-s and MCC-s. In the current year the Mission should set a target of one lakh manuscripts to be conserved across the country
• Set up 200 Manuscripts Conservation Centres with all basic conservation facilities and at least two trained conservators
• Train a pool of conservation specialists across the country on preventive conservation
• Make a panel of trained personnel on curative conservation through training programmes

The Instruments

• Conservation through MCC-s
  • Emergency Treatment Training and Preventive Conservation by MCC-s
  • Preventive Conservation Workshops by MCC-s
  • Curative Conservation Training
  • Curative Conservation of Manuscript Collections
• Teachers' Training leading to a Central Training Team
• Identification of new Manuscript Conservation Centres - II
• Manual on Preventive Conservation and Seminar Volume Research on Indigenous Conservation Materials and Technologies

Outcome

• Train a pool of conservation specialists across the country on preventive conservation through a Central Training Team
• Generate emphasis upon preventive conservation amongst manuscripts repositories
• Target the most endangered manuscripts for curative conservation in consultation with the MRC-s and MCC-s.
• Set up 200 Manuscripts Conservation Centres, each with basic conservation facilities and at least two trained conservators
• Train a panel of trained personnel on curative conservation through training programmes