Monitor’s Innovation, Conservation Efforts Earn International Honor

For Immediate Release

Monitor’s Innovation, Conservation Efforts Earn International Honor

Newport News, Va. - (June 2011) - The USS Monitor Center in Newport News has received an honor previously bestowed on such hallowed landmarks as The Eiffel Tower and The Liberty Bell. 

Since 1969, ASM International (formerly the American Society of Metals) has recognized sites and events that played a prominent part in the discovery, development and growth of metals and metalworking. The distinction is called the ASM Historical Landmarks Designation.

On June 6, 2011, The USS Monitor received the 2010 ASM award. In recognizing the Monitor, the ASM noted the Union Navy’s wartime race to develop materials and designs to counter the Monitor’s nemesis, the ironclad Confederate vessel CSS Virginia.

“Together these ships represent a chapter in naval warfare which swirled upon the waters of Hampton Roads when the Union and the Confederacy fought to a draw,” ASM past trustee Jon Tirpak said. “The development and deployment of the ironclad ended the era of sail-powered, wooden- hulled ships.”

Current groundbreaking metals work also led ASM to chose the Monitor for its award, Tirpak said. Inside the 17,000-square-foot Batten Conservation Laboratory Complex, Monitor Center conservators work daily to stabilize metals corroded by 140 years of immersion in salt water. Their work often requires developing new technologies for about 1,500 Monitor artifacts, including the Monitor’s iconic turret, steam engine, guns and carriages.

“As the conservators at The Mariners’ Museum remove the concretions of the Monitor, the genius of (Monitor’s designer) John Ericsson is revealed,” Tirpak said

Tirpak said the conservation process is cutting edge, yielding scientific information for the conservation, preservation and interpretation of iron artifacts. “We can learn so much from the past, especially when we can see and touch it as we can with the USS Monitor,” Tirpak said.

“The collaborative nature of this project means that we are able to share our journey with other experts in related fields, and more importantly, with the public,” Dave Krop, conservation manager for The USS Monitor, said after learning of the award. “Recognition by ASM provides additional visibility for the monumental undertaking of preserving the materials that made Monitor so innovative.”

June 6 , ASM officials presented the award during a ceremony at The Mariners’ Museum. Speakers included Tirpak, Mariners’ Museum President and CEO Dr. William Cogar, Mariners’ Museum Vice President of Collections and Programs – and Monitor Center curator - Anna Holloway and NOAA Monitor National Marine Sanctuary Superintendent David Alberg.

“Nearly 150 years after her tragic sinking, the Monitor continues to enlighten us with her engineering marvels, and we are grateful to the ASM for recognizing the Monitor, The Mariners’ Museum and NOAA’s Monitor National Marine Sanctuary with this award,” Cogar said in remarks prior to the ceremony.

The wreckage of the USS Monitor was discovered 16 miles off the coast of North Carolina in 1973. In 1975, Monitor National Maritime Sanctuary was designated as the nation’s first marine sanctuary, to protect the wreck of the famed Civil War ironclad.

“At every turn, this ship has been unique,” Alberg said at the ceremony. “The Monitor is not just about looking backward – it’s about looking forward, as well.”

In 1987, NOAA designated The Mariners’ Museum in Newport News as the official repository for artifacts recovered from the USS Monitor. The $30 million USS Monitor Center was opened in 2007.

For the list of past ASM Historical Landmarks Designation recipients, click here:
http://www.asminternational.org/portal/site/www/membership/historical-landmarks/

For more information:
Contact: John Warren
(757) 591-7746
E-mail: pr@MarinersMuseum.org 

The Mariners' Museum, an educational, non-profit institution accredited by the American Association of Museums, preserves and interprets maritime history through an international collection of ship models, figureheads, paintings and other maritime artifacts. The museum is open from 10 A.M. until 5 P.M. Wednesday through Saturday, and 12 to 5 P.M. Sunday. It will be closed Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. For information, visit www.MarinersMuseum.org, call (757) 596-2222 or (800) 581-7245, or write to The Mariners' Museum, 100 Museum Drive, Newport News, VA 23606.

The Mariners' Museum and The South Street Seaport Museum of New York City are partners in America's National Maritime Museum, an innovative alliance recognized by an act of Congress in June 1998 to share collections, exhibitions, educational programs, publications, and other endeavors.