The treatment (documentation and cleaning) of two gun tool heads began a few weeks ago. I just wanted to share pictures of our new lab companions in “active duty”.  So here is a shot of the bristle gun sponge as well as an x-ray:          And here are two views of the rammer:         [...]

The conservation team has been working in the condenser tank for the past 2 weeks.  We are midway through our efforts to disassemble the remaining copper alloy components from the main body of the condenser in support of desalination and treatment. Today, Gary and Elsa were using air scribes and other hand tools to prep the large sea [...]

Anna recently showed me a document that she received from Professor Jon White at Christopher Newport University.  It is a customer testimonial contained within the Philadelphia Ledger for Gray’s Hair Restorative.  The paper is dated Thursday morning, May 28, 1863. This informative and entertaining testimonial is very similar to exaggerated claims made today by people promoting certain products.  But U.S. Marshal Robert Murray seemed so convinced [...]

As with many objects recovered from the Monitor’s wreck site, this fragment of a cast iron wheel was recovered almost completely contained within a thick mass of sediment and concretion.   X-radiography of the concretion revealed that the artifact had completely “graphitized”.  In other words, all the iron within the wheel had corroded away and what remains [...]