Searching the unsearchable

Colour, pattern and texture are all 'content' but are not
searchable like written text. This talk discusses how exploiting
digital technology to enhance both access and preservation of the
image-rich Board of Trade Design Register could open up the records
to new users. The collection contains nearly three million designs
(of metal, wood, glass, earthenware, wallpaper, carpets and
textiles), represented as drawings, prints, tracings, photographs,
samples and products, for example straw bonnets. Making images
available in different ways, for instance searching and browsing by
Discovery, would allow users to view the designs without handling
the collection and could engage a new generation who have grown-up
in an age of spectacle and online interaction.Dinah Eastop works in
the Collection Care Department at The National Archives as a
Curatorial Research Fellow. Her research focuses on promoting
access to and preservation of the Board of Trade Design Register -
both the written records of registration and the representations of
the registered designs (e.g. drawings, photographs and cloth
samples). She worked in textile conservation for more than 30
years, mostly at the UK's Textile Conservation Centre, but also
overseas, notably for ICCROM. She has lectured and published widely
on textile conservation, conservation principles and material
culture studies. She has taken a special interest in anomalous
objects, for example garments deliberately concealed within the
structure of buildings, and string figures (cat's cradles). She is
keen to exploit the opportunities provided by online technologies
for exploring texts and artefacts.