The Gathering was founded in 2010 by Isabelle Egan ACR, Stefania Signorello ACR and Heather Ravenberg Smith. The site is run by a fantastic group of conservation professionals based in the UK and Canada, including Salvador Alcántara Peláez, Lucia Burgio FRSC, Marie Chapell ACR, Mandy Garratt, Samantha Hare, Caitlin Jenkins, Chloe Mills, Heather Murphy, Katherine Potapova, Lara Speroni ACR, Alex Blake Walker ACR and Bridget Warrington ACR.

Our mission is fairly straightforward: we want to encourage the book and paper conservation community to share its vast stores of information, but in an easy and painless way. In-depth articles published in peer-reviewed journals are critical for our profession, but we believe there is also a place for shorter articles about conservation treatments and techniques, innovations and whatever else could be helpful to you in your role as a protector of cultural heritage. These articles are worthy of being made available to the public – for free – and that’s where we come in. You’re busy, so we publish useful, practical, interesting information in an easily digestible format and size. We also share with you conservation and cultural heritage news, via our Facebook page, and other bite-sized nuggets like the My Favourite Tool, Under Raking Light and Cabinet of Curiosities series.

Above all, we are an information site and resource with an international readership (from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe!), but with a light-hearted side. Like you, we take conservation and cultural heritage seriously, but nobody says you can’t have a bit of fun at the same time.

Write for The Gathering (even if English isn’t your first language) – our community would love to hear what you’ve got to share! Just have a look at our submission guidelines.

Want to chat about something else? Then feel free to contact us at info@thebookandpapergathering.org.