My Cart

The Mariners' Museum and Park

Tag: Conservation

  • USS Monitor: Oil Reservoirs

    • Conservation
    • Technology
    • USS Monitor

    Oil reservoirs are a tool commonly found on USS Monitor‘s engine. Also known as an oil cup or lubricating cup, they were used on steam engines to keep valves and levers constantly lubricated.

  • Conserving the Samuel Hartt Pook Papers

    These documents outline, firsthand, the career of Naval Architect Samuel Hartt Pook. These historic papers highlight one of the most significant advancements in American Naval history. At the onset of the Civil War, Pook and his father (also a naval architect) aided the transition of the US fleet from wooden to iron and steel-hulled warships.

  • Boring USS Monitor’s Dahlgren Guns

    Monitor’s guns are the largest guns to ever be bored, giving this significant conservation step its own mark in history. The removal of the marine material was the final mechanical cleaning step before the guns can be dried and put on display.

  • Conquering the (never really conquered) Wild

    • Art
    • Collections
    • Conservation
    • Women's History

    A little over 20 years after its last major treatment, Conquering the Wild was due for a day at the spa.

  • Dahlgren Gun Tools: an In-Depth Look at Treatment, Part III

    • Conservation
    • USS Monitor

    In this blog post we’ll continue the discussion about one of USS Monitor’s gun cleaning tools, and the conservation treatment it has undergone.

  • Tied up in rope conservation and more! 

    • Conservation
    • Science
    • USS Monitor

    Something we seldom mention here is the time we spend doing maintenance on large tanks in the Wet Lab as well as in the “Tank Farm”. This summer, we took care of three large tanks located outside and two large tanks inside the Wet Lab.

  • Make a little birdhouse in your….tank farm?

    • Conservation
    • Wildlife

    We’ve had our fair share of animal interactions in the Conservation Lab. With the Park surrounding the Museum, and the tank farm (outdoor tanks for storing large objects) so close to the woods, we expect to get the occasional turtle, goose, or squirrel coming to inspect our work. What we didn’t expect was to have a several-year-long battle with….bluebirds.

  • Telling a Story: A Documentarian Eye

    • Art
    • Collections
    • Conservation
    • Photography

    Documentary photography is a genre of the medium where the goal is to tell a story through images. The idea is to take photos that, viewed together, can give you a more complete understanding of an event, a person, or even just a location. A do

  • Dahlgren Gun Tools: an In-Depth Look at Treatment, Part II

    • Conservation
    • Science
    • Technology
    • USS Monitor

    In this blog post we’ll continue the discussion about one of USS Monitor’s gun cleaning tools, and the conservation treatment it has undergone.

  • Getting the Collection “Ship-Shape”: The Small Craft Survey

    • Collections
    • Conservation
    • Cultural Heritage

    The small craft collection contains a diverse variety of vessels ranging in size, shape, function, and source culture. Because the Museum’s small craft originate from such a variety of contexts, each boat comes to the Museum with its own quirks and challenges resulting from its history of use. To get a better understanding of the collection, its condition issues, and its needs, it is necessary to evaluate each small craft, one-by-one.

Scroll to Top