Mrs Lorraine Cornish
Head of Conservation
Division: Conservation Centre
Summary
I am currently Head of Conservation at the Natural History Museum managing a team working across all areas of collections and exhibits. I am a highly experienced museum professional with over 35 years expertise in conservation, collections management and exhibitions. My current role includes leading on the strategic development and management of the care and conservation of NHM collections. I ensure the effective management of the conservation division, delivering work required for the museum’s strategic, project and departmental business plans. I am an advocate for NHM collections and actively advise on conservation, preservation and collections care matters. I work with other colleagues to identify and prioritise activities and resources to ensure collections are expertly cared for and accessible for both research and public outreach. I have advised over 25 museums worldwide on aspects of collections management, conservation standards and practice. I completed a comprehensive inspection and review of 15 European Museums and developed a benchmark assessment mechanism to evaluate natural history museums for their Collections Management capabilities.
I have also led over 20 training courses worldwide on aspects of collections management and conservation.
I took a 3 year career break between 2011-2013 working in Saudi Arabia as Head of Museum and Exhibits for the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture, an 80,000 m2 new build project in the Eastern Province. I was responsible for recruitment and development of specialist staff, planning and building a collection, development of a suite of conservation studios, developing policies and producing a set of 6 exhibit spaces.
Qualifications
- BA, Open University, United Kingdom, 2001 - 2006
- MSc, University of East London, United Kingdom, 1990 - 1992
Degrees
Employment history
Non-academic
Head of Museum and Exhibits, Saudi Aramco, King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture Saudi Arabia, 2010 - 2013
Grants
NHM capacity building and relationship with the Geological Museum of China, GMC
Role: Principal investigator
Funding: World Collections Programme
Total value £16,400 (to Museum £16,400)
Dates: 2009 - 2010
Publications
Parr WCH, Soligo C, Smaers J, Chatterjee HJ, Ruto A, Cornish L, Wroe S (2014) Three-dimensional shape variation of talar surface morphology in hominoid primates. Journal of Anatomy, 225 (1) : 42 - 59. doi: 10.1111/joa.12195
Bello SM, Verveniotou E, Cornish L, Parfitt SA (2011) 3-dimensional microscope analysis of bone and tooth surface modifications: comparisons of fossil specimens and replicas. Scanning, 33 (5) : 316 - 324. doi: 10.1002/sca.20248
CORNISH L, MILNER AC, Wahl A (2010) Archaeopteryx lithographica: an extreme makeover. The Geological Curator, 9 : 143 - 148.
Cornish L, Ball A, Russell D (2007) Laser cleaning of avian eggshell. LASERS IN THE CONSERVATION OF ARTWORKS, PROCEEDINGS 116 : 169 - 176.
COLLINS C, CORNISH L, HUXLEY R, Owens S (2006) SYNTHESYS Network Activity C-Assessing Standards of Collections in European Museums. Collection Forum, 21 : 5 - 18.
COLLINS C, CORNISH L, Owens S (2005) Synthesys NAC assessing standards in European museums, In: Abstracts and outline programme for the 20th SPNHC conference, MILLER CG, DAVIS P (Eds). Natural History Museum : London. 103 pp.
CORNISH L, COMERFORD G (2005) Conservation of Geological Material, In: Encyclopedia of Geology, Volume 1., Selley RC, Cocks RLM, Plimer IR (Eds). Elsevier : Oxford. 373 - 380.
Miller CG, Cornish L, Jones C, Jones CG, Henderson AS (null) A new laser method for cleaning micropalaeontological specimens. Journal of Micropalaeontology, 23 (2) : 165 - 169. doi: 10.1144/jm.23.2.165
Sokhan M, Gaspar P, McPhail DS, Cummings A, Cornish L, Pullen D, Hartog F, Hubbard C, Oakley V, Merkel JF (2003) Initial results on laser cleaning at the Victoria & Albert Museum, Natural History Museum and Tate Gallery. JOURNAL OF CULTURAL HERITAGE, 4 : 230S - 236S.
CORNISH L, DOYLE A (1984) USE OF ETHANOLAMINE THIOGLYCOLLATE IN THE CONSERVATION OF PYRITIZED FOSSILS. PALAEONTOLOGY, 27 (MAY) : 421 - 424.
Courses taught
Short course: Fundamentals of Natural History Conservation
Natural History Museum, London, United Kingdom
11/2017.
Short course: Fundamentals of Natural History Conservation
Natural History Museum, London, United Kingdom
11/2016.
Media
Broadcasts
BBC Radio 4 Today Programme, Archaeopteryx in Tokyo, BBC, 8/3/2017.
BBC Science-Environment, Archaeopteryx, BBC, 8/3/2017.
BBC Radio 4 Profile, Dippy the Diplodocus profile, BBC, 8/1/2017.
BBC Radio 4 Today Programme, Dippy on Tour, BBC, 4/1/2017.