The Institute of Conservation (Icon) is the professional charitable body, representing and supporting the practice and profession of conservation. It has around 2500 members worldwide, including professional conservators, scientists and teachers involved with the care of heritage objects and buildings. Background The Institute is the UK professional body for those who care for the cultural heritage. This includes the items and collections held by public and private museums, art galleries, libraries, archives, record offices and historic houses; as well as privately owned possessions in people’s homes, from furniture to family photographs. Cultural heritage includes buildings as well as movable items in collections. Icon’s members - conservators and restorers - care for things attached to buildings too, like wall paintings or sculpture, but the care of built structures themselves is mostly the domain of conservation architects represented by the Institute of Historic Building Conservation. History Icon was formed in 2005 as a result of a merger between five bodies: The United Kingdom Institute for Conservation, UKIC, founded 1977, formerly the UK Group of the International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (IIC) The Institute of Paper Conservation (IPC, founded 1977, as an off-shoot of the UK Group of IIC) The Scottish Society for Conservation and Restoration (SSCR) The Photographic Materials Conservation Group The Care of Collections Forum In the years leading up to convergence, these five organisations were known collectively as the 'Vanguard Bodies' of the National Council for Conservation-Restoration (NCCR). In 2006 a sixth organisation, the Institute of Conservation Science also merged into Icon. A number of other bodies opted not to merge into Icon in 2005. There remain three 'hybrid' bodies which to which conservators belong but which are not exclusively concerned with conservation: Natural Sciences Collections Association, The British Horological Institute and The Archives and Records Association. From 2005, Icon owned the Chantry Library - a collection of publications concerning paper and book conservation, established in 1999. In 2016, ownership passed to the Oxford Conservation Consortium. A series of Conservation Awards, recognising achievements in UK conservation, was instituted by the Conservation Unit of the Museums & Galleries Commission in 1994, supported by Jerwood Arts but taken over by UKIC in 2002 and by Icon from 2005, supported for some years by The Pilgrim Trust. The Icon Conservation Awards of 2005 were backed by Sir Paul McCartney. They were followed by Icon Conservation Awards in 2007, 2010