Present in all aspects of the daily lifefrom the familiar to the industrial, clinical and scientific, helping us in matters as basic but crucial as the record of the passage of time, and with it of the past, present and future, mechanical devices have not been widely recognized as heritage elements , despite its diversity and relevance.
With this interest, the research Conservation of mechanical heritage was developed: artifacts that use time, which obtained an honorable mention in the INAH Awardsin the category of Best Research Work, related to the conservation of personal property.
Awarded by the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), the award was given for the pioneering nature of the project, developed by restorers Laura Olivia Ibarra Carmona, Mauricio Benjamín Jiménez Ramírez and Isabel Medina-González.
The researchers, graduates of the National School of Conservation, Restoration and MuseographyManuel del Castillo Negrete, explained that the central objective of the investigation was to examine various mechanical artifacts, dated between the 19th and 20th centuries, to recognize their heritage character and analyze their singularities of function, use and performance.
According to Olivia Ibarra, it was a first approach, from the point of view of the restorer, in order to propose bases for the identification, registration and diagnosis of these assets, considering that their mechanical systems pose specific challenges for their conservation and use. .
“What is interesting about this work -added Isabel Medina- is that it highlights the category of ‘mechanical artifact’, questioning it and proposing what are the values that could place it within a heritage discourse, that is, it questions the reason for this heritage, For whom and why should it be preserved?
To achieve this, they chose five collections of mechanical devices that fulfilled specific functions or continue to develop them. This is the case of an anemograph –an instrument for measuring wind speed and making atmospheric predictions–, which is 125 years old and still working.
These collections belong to the Museo del Tiempo, Tlalpan, AC., which has a sample of clocks and other mechanical devices; to the University Meteorological Museum-Observatory, Mariano Bárcenas, belonging to the Autonomous Mexico State University (UAEM), where devices such as the aforementioned anemograph are preserved; as well as the Museum of Mexican Medicine, the Film Library and the Universum Science Museum, venues in charge of the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
Said collections, explained Mauricio Jiménez, protect a great diversity of artifacts, from those that have lost their use such as kymographs, which were used in hospitals to generate a graphic record of muscle movements, to hydrographs and other measuring instruments that are still in force, despite the fact that there are already digital devices that replicate their functions.
“Each one of these objects is relevant not only for what it was in the past, but for what it means now,” explained the restorer, referring that the UAEM Meteorological Museum-Observatory exhibits mechanical instruments that, although they can already having been replaced in the digital, acquire new functions such as creating awareness in visitors about climate change.
To propose the category of mechanical heritage, they concluded, is to recognize a wide variety of objects that are the product of humanity’s industrial, technological and scientific progress and that, at the same time, are witnesses of historical events or account for significant moments in history. daily life. This is the case of clocks that stopped their mechanisms at the exact time the clock started. earthquake of September 19, 2017thus remaining as evidence of this event.
The expectation of the authors is to contribute to making mechanical heritage visible in academic, regulatory and research instances of conservation-restoration in Mexico, as well as among specialists related to the protection and dissemination of collections of scientific, technological and industrial artifacts. .
It should be noted that the project had a multidisciplinary approach, with the advice of David Velázquez Suárez and Mariana Pascual Cáceres, as well as those in charge of the five aforementioned collections.
On the Mechanical Heritage page you can download the first chapter of the homonymous book of the research awarded by the INAH. Likewise, a profile was enabled in Facebook where people interested in the subject, or those who have mechanical heritage can be in contact with researchers for advice on their collections.