Ione Gedye

Ione Gedye
Born	1907
Died	12 November 1999(1999-11-12) (aged 91–92)[1][2]
Education	University College London
Occupation	Conservator
Years active	1937–1975
Employer	University College London
Organization	Institute of Archaeology
Known for	Founding the conservation department at the Institute of Archaeology

Ione Gladys Gedye[3] (1907 – 12 November 1990)[1][2] was a pioneer conservator who founded the Repair Department at the Institute of Archaeology. She worked for over several decades in conservation at the Institute and was also a significant influence in the early years of archaeologically-themed television programmes.[4]

Early life and education

Ione Gedye was the only daughter (she had one brother) of civil engineer Lieutenant Colonel Nicholas George Gedye (1874–1947), of the Royal Engineers, OBE, who had been a senior figure in engineering at the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, the Admiralty, and the Ministry of Transport, and his wife Vera, daughter of John Thompson, of Radclive.[5][6][7]

She attended Francis Holland School, Graham Terrace between 1918 and 1925.^[citation needed] Gedye was a student of Flinders Petrie in classical archaeology at University College, London.[8] She volunteered to clean items from one of Petrie's excavations for a summer exhibition.[9] Whilst studying at University College London, Gedye also rowed for her university.[10]

Gedye worked at the Verulamium excavations with Tessa Verney Wheeler and Kathleen Kenyon. Wheeler had her clean metalwork from the excavations and encouraged her interest in artefacts.[11]

Career

Gedye (right) and Delia Parker working in the Technical Department at St John's Lodge

Gedye was one of the original staff members in the technical department at the Institute of Archaeology, which opened in 1937. She was the founder of the Repair Department, which was initially housed in a former operating theatre.[9]

There was no formal training programme in conservation in the 1930s, and Gedye conducted experiments to inform her work.[12] She also learned about restoring and cleaning artefacts from people such as Harold Plenderleith at the British Museum Research Laboratory and from staff at the Royal Museums of Art and History in Brussels.[13]

During the war, she worked on reconstructions of Pleistocene mammals.[14]

Gedye taught conservation from 1937 to 1975.[15] After World War II, she headed a conservation course that became increasingly attractive to students, and gradually expanded from a one-year certificate to become a three-year degree course.[16] In the late 1950s, Gedye was joined in her work by Henry W. M. Hodges who helped her to develop the training course.[17] Early broadcasts of archaeological digs by the BBC were informed by Gedye's work.[18] This work educated the public and contributed to the professionalisation of archaeology in the UK.

Gedye retired in July 1975.[9]

Death and legacy

Gedye died in 1990.

The UCL Institute of Archaeology awards an Ione Gedye Award each year for the best conservation-based dissertation.[19] This prize was created when Gedye requested that her colleagues create a prize for students rather than buy her a retirement gift. Gedye's portrait hangs in the institute.[20]

References

1. AIC News- Newsletter of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works, collected vols. 15–18, American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works, 1990, p. 8
2. Current Archaeology, issue 129, A. & W. Selkirk, 1990, p. 128
3. A Short History of IIC: Foundation and Development, Hero Boothroyd Brooks, International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works, 2000, p. 42
4. Perry, Sara (2 January 2017). "Archaeology on Television, 1937" (PDF). Public Archaeology. 16 (1): 3–18. doi:10.1080/14655187.2017.1283932. ISSN 1465-5187. S2CID 148806316.
5. "Gedye, Nicholas George". Who Was Who. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U208602. ISBN 978-0-19-954089-1.
6. The Encyclopædia Britannica, thirteenth edition, 1926, p. xxi
7. Journal of the Institution of Civil Engineers, vol. 28, issue 8, October 1947, p. 420-1 "Obituary: Nicholas George Gedye"
8. The Calendar for the year 1931–1932, University of London, pp. 299, 502
9. Pye, Elizabeth; Brommelle, Norman (January 1977). "A Tribute to Ione Gedye". The Conservator. 1 (1): 3–4. doi:10.1080/01400096.1977.9635631. ISSN 0140-0096.
10. Lester, Tim (26 April 2011). "Gait, Eleanor". River & Rowing Museum. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
11. Pye, Elizabeth (16 November 2015). "From the Archives: Women of the Early Institute". Archaeology International. 18: 131–133. doi:10.5334/ai.1817. ISSN 2048-4194.
12. Clavir, Miriam (March 2012). Preserving What Is Valued. UBC Press. p. 6. ISBN 9780774852500.
13. Johnson, Jessica S. (1993). "Conservation and Archaeology in Great Britain and the United States: A Comparison". cool.conservation-us.org. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
14. Alberti, Benjamin; Jones, Andrew Meirion; Pollard, Joshua (16 June 2016). Archaeology After Interpretation: Returning Materials to Archaeological Theory. Routledge. p. 290. ISBN 9781315434247.
15. O'Grady, Caitlin R. (12 June 2017). "Sticking, mending and restoring: the conservator's role in archaeology". Filming Antiquity. UCL. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
16. "Conservation and Heritage Management Award". Archaeological Institute of America. 1998. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
17. Pye, Elizabeth (17 June 1997). "Obituary: Professor H. W. M. Hodges". The Independent. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
18. Mizoguchi, Koji; Smith, Claire E. (27 June 2019). Global Social Archaeologies: Making a Difference in a World of Strangers. Routledge. ISBN 9781000596755.
19. "Awarded MA in Principles of Conservation by UCL". Times of Malta. 21 June 2015. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
20. Thornton, Amara (21 August 2016). "Archaeological Portraits". Reading Room Notes. Retrieved 14 November 2019.