Museumhad invited the late Mr Y. O. Dawodu, Principal of the Jos Centre for Museum Studies, to contribute to this issue, but by the time our request reached Jos, he had met with a fatal accident in Lagos (19 March 1981). As head of the principal museum training centre in Africa (known earlier as the Regional Training Centre for the Preservation of Cultural and Natural Heritage), established in 1963 under the joint aegis of Unesco and the United Nations Development Programme, Mr Dawodu would have been able to address himself with authority to the problems raised here. In 1978, however, he had already prepared a significant paper for the Second International Restorer Seminar, held at Veszprém, Hungary. The following text is based on that communication. It is published as a tribute to the memory of a pioneer of conservation and conservation training in Africa