Well, we may be done in the tank farm but that doesn’t mean that life around the lab has slowed at all. We are now back to working on individual projects. There were, however a couple of special events last week.
Rich Carlstedt came to visit and brought along his model of the Monitor’s main steam engine. This incredible model was built to a 1/16th scale and we believe it to be the most accurate model of the engine in existence. Rich probably knows more about the engine than any man alive and was happy to share this knowledge with us during a special guest lecture. He also ran the model for us, a fascinating thing to see. If you would like to see what the Monitor’s main engine would have looked like while in action, you should go and check out this YouTube video.
Rich will be returning in March to deliver a presentation on the engine as part of the Battle of Hampton Roads weekend. Mark your calendars for the the weekend of March 4-5 2017.
Elsa unfortunately missed Rich’s visit as she was up in Washington attending a symposium put on by the Smithsonian on the mechanics of art materials. This two day conference was both technical and fascinating. The first day focused on the behavior of materials when they are subjected to a range of temperatures and relative humidities. The second day included sessions on how museums in northern Europe are storing artifacts in a way that both helps to preserve those objects and is environmentally friendly, and how much artifacts move inside a crate during shipping. Elsa came back with lots of new information to share!
Stay tuned for more posts on conservation treatments, coming soon!