Ione Gladys Gedye[3] (1907 – 12 November 1990)[1][2] was a pioneer conservator who founded the Repair Department at the Institute of Archaeology. She worked for over several decades in conservation at the Institute and was also a significant influence in the early years of archaeologically-themed television programmes.[4]
She attended Francis Holland School, Graham Terrace between 1918 and 1925.[citation needed] Gedye was a student of Flinders Petrie in classical archaeology at University College, London.[8] She volunteered to clean items from one of Petrie's excavations for a summer exhibition.[9] Whilst studying at University College London, Gedye also rowed for her university.[10]
Gedye was one of the original staff members in the technical department at the Institute of Archaeology, which opened in 1937. She was the founder of the Repair Department, which was initially housed in a former operating theatre.[9]
During the war, she worked on reconstructions of Pleistocene mammals.[14]
Gedye taught conservation from 1937 to 1975.[15] After World War II, she headed a conservation course that became increasingly attractive to students, and gradually expanded from a one-year certificate to become a three-year degree course.[16] In the late 1950s, Gedye was joined in her work by Henry W. M. Hodges who helped her to develop the training course.[17]
Early broadcasts of archaeological digs by the BBC were informed by Gedye's work.[18] This work educated the public and contributed to the professionalisation of archaeology in the UK.
The UCL Institute of Archaeology awards an Ione Gedye Award each year for the best conservation-based dissertation.[19] This prize was created when Gedye requested that her colleagues create a prize for students rather than buy her a retirement gift.
Gedye's portrait hangs in the institute.[20]
^ abAIC News- Newsletter of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works, collected vols. 15–18, American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works, 1990, p. 8
^ abCurrent Archaeology, issue 129, A. & W. Selkirk, 1990, p. 128
^A Short History of IIC: Foundation and Development, Hero Boothroyd Brooks, International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works, 2000, p. 42