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We need your help!

The Virginia Association of Museums (VAM) is running their Virginia’s Top 10 Endangered Artifacts program again this year. We have nominated the Dahlgren gun carriages. We’ve written quite a bit about the treatment of these composite artifacts in the past (see this post, this post and this postamong others). Being composed of wood, iron, and copper alloy parts renders them one of the most complex objects to conserve in the USS Monitor collection. All of these materials require individual incompatible treatments causing conservators headaches to develop new strategies for their care. Now we need your help to get them onto the top ten Endangered Artifacts list that will promote our conservation efforts. Please go vote at www.vatop10artifacts.org. The public is invited to cast their votes from August 1 to 31. VAM will announce the honorees on September 27th.

We’ll be back with more conservation adventures soon. Now, go vote!

Interior of the USS Monitor’s turret showing the gun carriages in situ.
Lifting a gun carriage out of the turret.
Turning the gun carriage over so that it is right side up.
Elsa and Gary disassembling the port gun carriage.
Elsa and Kate cleaning one of the wooden gun carriage sides.
Laurie dry ice blasting the iron frame of the port gun carriage
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