Pesed; The Conservation of the Mummy in the Library

Introduction

In 2022, I had the privilege of being part of a team tasked with the examination and stabilization of a Mummy and Coffin in the collection of Westminster College in Westminster PA. Under the direction of Mimi Leveque, Conservator and head of Archaea Technica, and Dr. Jonathan Elias, Director of the Akmim Mummy Studies Consortium, the mummy Pesed, her trappings and coffin were stabilized and conserved. She was given a new display cabinet in the college’s library where she remains on view. As an assistant conservator on the project it was my responsibility to treat the coffin lid. This had been over-treated in the 1980’s with non-archival fills and significant over painting. After careful removal of the old fills, new fills of balsa wood and Paraloid B72 were added to maintain the stability of the wood piece assembly. These new fills were in-painted to better match the surrounding designs and old in-painting was carefully removed so that none of the original designs were covered.

The entire project is described in the treatment report written by Mimi Leveque with contributions from Dr. Elias, and myself. She has kindly allowed me to share this report.

This work was done entirely in the college’s library. This provided the opportunity for visiting students, town residents and local news outlets to visit and see the work being done. Pesed is seen as a sort of local celebrity so locals to the area and alums from the school were eager to know about the project.

After Treatment photo of Pesed’s Coffin Lid.

View of the Library work space. From left to right: Mimi, Pesed, Jonathan, Sam, Samurai Armour, and me.