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  • Spring (Dry Ice) Cleaning

    • Conservation
    • USS Monitor

    The Monitor crew is busy with spring cleaning. Dry ice cleaning, that is. Last month we tackled Monitor‘s skeg assembly.

  • Lifting and flipping USS Monitor’s Condenser 🏗️💦

    For the first time in 160 years, USS Monitor's condenser bed is right-side up! In this video series, you can watch our Conservation team separating the condenser and its support bed, flipping the bed, and lifting both elements into their new treatment tank.

  • USS Monitor Skeg Elements Move

    Watch our Conservation team move USS Monitor's skeg elements out of their treatment tanks and over to our tank farm where they will undergo dry-ice cleaning.

  • 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.

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