Domestic economy publications as undervalued technological sources on historical cleaning practices for art and heritage objects

This presentation, titled “Domestic economy publications as undervalued technological sources on historical cleaning practices for art and heritage objects”, was presented by Han Zhou, PhD candidate at the University of Amsterdam, at the ICOM-CC Art Technological Source Research (ATSR) Working Group 2025 interim meeting Exploring Collection: Cross-Disciplinary Approaches in Art Technological Research. The presentation highlighted the value of domestic economy publications in technological studies of historical caring practices, using sources from Museum of the Home, UK as a case study. Han presented the abundance and variety of information mentioned in historical recipes extracted from these sources through a dedicated database, proposing three key aspects that can serve as inspiration for sustainable solutions for modern conservation, namely material choice, technical choice, and perception of cleanliness.