LAST DAYS OF USS MONITOR

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The Monitor Boys. Officers on deck.
The Mariners’ Museum
P0001.014-01–PN5987

After the ironclad’s showdown with CSSVirginiaon March 9, 1862, USSMonitorwas considered the ‘little ship that saved the nation.’ TheMonitorcontinued to serve in Virginia waters until September 30 when the ironclad was sent to Washington Navy Yard for much needed repairs. The ship’s complement changed due to desertion and re-assignment; nevertheless, it left the yard on November 8 to return to Hampton Roads. Having received a variety of improvements,Monitorwas positioned off of Newport News Point, guarding against any excursion by the Confederate ironclad CSSRichmond.

CAN WE ATTAIN FRESH LAURELS?Read more

“In the Land of Submarines”: Assessing Nishimura 3746

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Nishimura 3746 in 2020

Welcome to the second installment of our miniseries on Nishimura 3746, a Japanese midget submarine. We’re deep diving into an on-going project to resupport this one-of-a-kind vessel. Check out thefirst post in the seriesto learn about Nishimura’s history and how it arrived at the Museum.

The purpose of the project is to lift the sub onto a custom cradle and move it to a more accessible location. The sub currently rests on its keel and is supported by several blocks. A proper support will protect the hull, provide safe access, and bonus, can be used as an exhibit mount when the time comes to display it!Read more

“在潜艇”:西村的历史3746

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The Mariners' Museum and Park
Nishimura 3746 in storage, 2020.

Does anyone else look at this submarine and think of the Beatles, or is it just me? If we painted it, I think it could definitely pass for a (less artsy) version of the Yellow Submarine.

Well, soon, this object is going to undergo a pretty big move and we are majorly excited about it. To that end, we have been doing a lot of prep work to get the object ready, and we wanted to share it with you!Read more

Conservation Update: Turret Knife

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- credit The Mariners' Museum and Park
The USS Monitor turret under treatment

With most of our staff working from home these days, we haven’t been able to work on objects in the lab as much as we would like. But, I thought I would update you all on some work I completed back in March.

Some of you may remember ablog post from way back in 2017, when I found a bone-handled knife in the concretion of the turret. While the conservation department had found many objects and items in the turret before, this came as a bit of a surprise. Much of the concretion had already been removed from the turret, and we didn’t think there were many places left for objects to hide. But we were wrong! Hidden in the rails of the railroad tracking that were used to construct the ceiling of the turret was a knife!Read more

What is the American Institute for Conservation?

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亚博平台网址水手的博物馆和公园的佩奇施密特(left) working as part of the Wooden Artifacts Group Programs Chairs

If you’ve ever read any of our blog posts about conservation, taken a lab tour, or talked to a conservator at any museum, you might have heard one of us mention “AIC” or theAmerican Institute for Conservation. AIC is a national organization with thousands of members, including conservators and other museum professionals. It is a vital way for conservators to share information. So for this blog post, we thought we’d tell you a bit about what AIC is, how it helps us inform conservation decisions at The Mariners’ Museum and Park, and what we do at the Museum to contribute to AIC.

AIC holds an annual conference, which is usually located in a different city every year, giving conservators opportunities to not only attend lectures, but visit museums and conservation labs across the country. The conservation department at the Mariners’ makes an effort to present any new research produced at the annual conference. (You may have read about unique treatments we have been conducting in the conservation department in this blog before.) We make a concentrated effort to share our results at the annual conference, so that other conservators can benefit from our research. Even if experiments do not yield the results we were hoping for, the information helps other conservators when making treatment decisions.Additionally, we often find colleagues from other museums who want to collaborate in continued research through AIC conferences.Read more