Posts fromLesley Haines

USS Monitor Center

Civil War Lecture this Saturday on Technology in the 1800s

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Join us this Saturday, January 14, for our monthly Civil War Lecture series!

This month we’re looking at the technological revolution of the 1800’s which gave birth to that marvelous ship the USSMonitor. But the Civil War “Battle of the Ironclads” is only a small part of the fascinating journey from sail to steam and wood to iron. From a revolving turret to rubber buttons, life aboard theMonitorwas a reflection of changes occurring globally thanks to the civilian Industrial Revolution and the modernization of the world’s navies. We’ll examine the inventions in the decades leading up to the American Civil War and the evolution of technology as a result of that fateful day at Hampton Roads!Read more

USS Monitor Center

To touch or not to touch: interacting with artifacts

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The Monitor’s propeller lost much of its strength while on the sea floor. The large platform and signs encourage people to examine it from a safe distance.

Every museum goer has encountered warnings about touching artifacts, but have you ever wondered just how damaging that contact can be? I think we would all agree that leaping a barrier and picking up a vase is a definite bad idea, but what about resting your hand on a chair or poking a polar bear specimen? The truth is even the lightest touch can cause harm.

Last week I took a break fromdry ice cleaningto work on the “梵giniaGun,” an IX-inch Dahlgren shell gun which sits at the entrance to the Ironclad Revolution exhibit. It was recovered along with the USSMerrimackby the Confederates and was used aboard the renamed CSS梵giniaduring the Battle of Hampton Roads (1862). It is a fascinating object that draws a crowd. Unfortunately, it also tends to draw wandering hands. My job was to remove greasy fingerprints from the side of the barrel. This got me thinking about how we protect objects and how although we have “do not touch” signs around the museum, visitors might not understand why this is such an important rule.Read more

USS Monitor Center

The Many Uses of X-rays

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The glass tube which could contain mercury.

Earlier this year we conducted一项调查显示围所有的小金属物体ting to be conserved. We assessed the condition of each, took a photo, and changed solutions. We also slated some objects for x-radiography.

There are three reasons these particular objects were singled out. First is to determine the condition of the object. When artifacts are submerged in seawater they are covered in a cement-like aggregate called concretion. This is a mixture of metal corrosion products, sediment, and sea life, including mollusk and corals. Concretions can be a thin hard shell scattered across a surface or entirely encase a group of objects in an amorphous lump. By x-raying these concretions we can:Read more

USS Monitor Center

Conservator on Deck

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Meet the conservators and collections team!
Meet our conservators and collections team!

This August is a great time to visit the Mariners’ Museum and Park! Not only is admissionone dollar, but we also have lots of amazing tours and talks going on throughout the entire museum. Come meet the staff of theMonitorCenter and learn more about the history, archaeology, and conservation of the ship. Every weekday from 2-3 pm, one of our staff will be on the observation deck overlooking the wet lab. This is a fantastic chance to ask questions and learn more about what we do in the labs. Check out the museumwebsitefor all the information you need to plan your day!

USS Monitor Center

Week Five in the Turret

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Although the outside of the nut is degraded, the inside threads are easy to unscrew.

Hello Everyone! We’ve been busy in the turret for the last few weeks. As Kate explained in her post earlier, we are concentrating on removing the remaining nutguards. There are a total of 24 ringing the inside of the turret in various states of preservation. So far we’ve dismantled the smaller fragments and are working towards the larger, more intact ones. We chip away at the concretion behind the nutguards and along the edges until they can be lifted off. Some are still bolted in place and the bolts can be unscrewed with a wrench due to the excellent preservation of the inner thread system.

Once the nutguards are detached, we concentrate on removing the concretion that formed behind the barrier. This consists of hard iron corrosion and concretion mixed with sludgy sand and softer corrosion products. In addition to revealing more of the turret walls, we are interested in any remaining artifacts lodged behind the plates.Read more

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