On 23 May 2014, the Glasgow School of Art’s Mackintosh Library was destroyed
by a fire. Following the archaeological excavation of the library, salvaged objects
and materials were condition-assessed according to a retention/disposal ‘decision
tree’ framework designed by the GSA Library & Learning Resources. This
practice-led research centres on the conservation journey of three burnt books
excavated from the fire debris.

Damaged books are vulnerable to disposal when they exhaust their textual and
informational function. Consequently, books that could contribute to an
understanding of significant events as historical objects are potentially lost. The
research posits an approach to book conservation that does not privilege the
textual context of the book above its post-textual materiality. Aura, as defined by
Walter Benjamin, describes the perception of an object’s temporal presence;
therefore, the aura of a burnt book is entangled in its post-fire materiality. Object
biography, as conceived by social anthropologist Igor Kopytoff, is an
epistemological framework that narrativises the life or part of the life of an object.
Therefore, the main research question of this thesis asks: in what way can object
biographies of damaged books preserve the aura of the 2014 Glasgow School of Art Mackintosh fire? The first subquestion asks: what can an analysis of fire-damaged books reveal about the role of subjectivity in conservation practices? The second subquestion asks: can object biography, used as a pre-conservation assessment, reorient book conservation strategies? Serendipity played a role in the research methodology since being in the rightplace at the right time, roles of individuals within the GSA and relationships developed between these individuals and myself, and the capacity for making insightful connections intervened in the conservation trajectory of the research
objects. Ten professionals working for the GSA Library & Learning Resources,
the Mackintosh Restoration Project team, Kirkdale Archaeology, AOC
Archaeology, Harwell Documentation Restoration Service and Scottish Fire &
Rescue Service involved in the salvage operation of the Mackintosh Library were
interviewed. Extracts from the interview transcripts are incorporated into the
practice component of the portfolio submission. Object biography involves (a)
object analysis and (b) the narrativisation of perceptions of the research object,
including material description and associative imagery and ideas. The three object
biographies that comprise the creative non-fiction portfolio submission integrate
several writing forms and devices including polyphony, ekphrasis, autofiction and
autoethnography.

The research makes a contribution to book conservation studies by proposing
object biography as an epistemological framework that reorients the assessment
of the significance of damaged books. The GSA Library & Learning Resources
has since reoriented its original book conservation aim which now endeavours to
preserve the material trace of the 2014 fire rather than exerting a restorative
approach. Furthermore, the research continues the Mackintosh Library’s legacy
as a site of research and creative enquiry even in its post-fire capacity, contributing
to a body of practice that tells the story of GSA’s 2014 and 2018 Mackintosh fires.

A print copy of this thesis is available in the GSA Library.