After the removal of remaining roof stanchions on the turret (see previous post below), conservation staff shifted their work efforts to its interior.  Over the last several weeks we have been using an assortment of pneumatic and other hand tools to remove remaining concretion and loose corrosion products embedded in between the roof rails and [...]

Time flies… the last blog update about the wool coat was April 30th of 2010! Since then, a significant part of the garment’s conservation treatment was completed. The coat is now clean, dry and thoroughly documented! Prior to freeze-drying, each one of the 138 pieces of wool were drawn for the record as well as [...]

Of the approximately 1600 artifacts recovered from the USS Monitor, 1/4 of them have been conserved.  Many but not all of the 400+ conserved artifacts are now on display in the USS Monitor Center at The Mariners’ Museum.  So what do we do with the artifacts that aren’t currently on display at the museum?  The museum [...]

The Mariners’ Museum is once again hosting the Battle of Hampton Roads Weekend this Saturday, March 6!  Drop by the museum at 10:00am to see costumed interpretors firing cannon (so loud it shakes the building), museum and NOAA experts giving lectures on the USS Monitor, CSS Virginia, and artifact conservation, listen to Civil War music, and participate in children’s [...]

As with many artifacts, finding the most suitable treatments for the wool coat involved exploring a lot of options. Ten cleaning methods and thirteen consolidation/drying techniques were tested and assessed on samples of the coat.  Quite a lot of work, but now we have them identified. These methods will properly conserve the artifact, be reversible, [...]