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 The Monument Research and Preservation
Program provides comprehensive assistance to parks and other
constituents nationwide in the care of public sculpture and monuments.
Typical services include assessment of preservation needs, art historical
research, courses and workshops for managers and technicians, and
production of publications, videotapes and other instructional
materials.
Conservation Planning Assistance
Monument Research
and Preservation Program staff carries out condition assessments of
monument and sculpture collections, provides assistance to set treatment
priorities, plans long-term maintenance programs for monuments, and
secures the services of qualified conservators to undertake specialized
work. For example, Program staff conducted an extensive assessment that
was completed at Gettysburg National Military Park. The assessment
provided information that led to our design of a monument maintenance
program for the Park's 400 monuments. The program featured the gentle
cleaning of monuments, landscape maintenance, and the application of
renewable protective coatings on bronze statuary. Staff training conducted
during the summer of 1996 established conservation parameters, and
provided maintenance staff with the knowledge and experience to carry out
routine monument maintenance. Ongoing technical assistance helps Park
staff to keep the maintenance program running smoothly.
Publications
The Monument
Research and Preservation Program produces educational materials designed
to convey an understanding of the significance of public sculpture and
monuments, and the need for their appropriate care. Among these are a
guest edited special thematic issue of CRM [Cultural Resource Management],
and the book The Preservation of Outdoor Sculpture and Monuments,
now in its second edition, designed to accompany Monument Research and
Preservation Program courses and workshops.
Currently underway is The Monumental News Scanning
Project through which we are digitizing nearly 50,000 pages, a fifty-year
run [1889-1938] of the leading monument industry trade journal in
preparation for its re-publication on CD-ROM. Found within the pages of
The Monumental News are a wealth of articles and advertisements by
and for sculptors, foundrymen, quarrymen, architects and others working in
the monument field during the heyday of public monument creation in the
United States. Upon its completion, this project will make a key primary
research source available for the first time to libraries, historians,
park interpreters, conservators, and the public at large.
Courses,
Workshops and Training
Educational programs are designed to serve
a wide range of audiences and needs. Week-long courses in monument
preservation held in Washington, DC and Chicago addressed the information
needs of managers of monument collections in the public realm. An in-depth
workshop on the care of historic cemeteries provided guidance to
maintenance staffs. Held at Cambridge, Massachusetts' Mount Auburn
Cemetery, the workshop made extensive use of training advantages to be
gained by visits to many other historic cemeteries and burying grounds in
the Boston area.
 Supporting training materials include comprehensive
books to guide monument managers, and magazine articles and videotapes on
bronze and stone preservation. The videotapes examine the materials and
construction methods used to produce monuments, the performance of
materials in outdoor environments, conservation theory and treatments, and
systems for providing long-term maintenance.
For more information on the Monument
Research and Preservation Program, please
contact:
Dennis Montagna,
Program
Manager
Monument Research and
Preservation Program
National Park
Service
Philadelphia Support
Office
200 Chestnut Street, 3rd
Floor
Philadelphia, PA
19106
215-597-5824
Dennis_Montagna@nps.gov
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