At about the time that Thea van Oosten was born, plastics were the other promise for the future. Now that Thea reaches retirement, many plastic objects have already crumbled to pieces, but she is stronger than ever. The years in between, known as the plastic era (for us the Thea era) have seen the rise in production and artists’ use of plastics. Plastics entered the museum collections, the first conservation problems came to light and conservation science developed a new direction with synthetic polymers and modern materials.

This book represents the lifework of a conservation scientist PUR-sang. It shows how the scientist, together with conservator and collection manager, investigates the collection and identifies the preservation problems. It describes how research is then initiated for the development of analytical techniques to study material composition and degradation processes. And how then, based on an understanding of these processes, materials and methods can be developed for the preventive conservation and consolidation treatment of plastic objects. All of this based on multi-disciplinary co-operation with manufacturers, artists, historians and collection managers, but above all with conservators as the case studies and pilot treatments described in the latter chapters of the book show. Working from a real conservation problem in the collections, with the equipment and knowledge of the scientific laboratory, towards a solution that can be applied in museum practice; putting science to work to support conservators.

PUR Facts is a fine example of conservation science bridging the gap between scientific theory and conservation practice. That has always been the motivation of the former Netherlands Institute for Cultural Heritage (ICN) and now, after the merger, that will be continued to be supported by the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (RCE).