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7 Responses to “Lincoln Bicentennial Exhibit: Getting Ready for Prime Time”

1. Lincoln Bicentennial Says:
   October 31st, 2008 at 6:11 am

   [...] Lincoln including the Lincoln’s presidential papers, Jewelery from Mary Todd, and items that Abe was wearing and had at Ford’s Theater the night he was shot. addthis_url = ‘http%3A%2F%2Flivinginthedistrict.com%2F2008%2F10%2F31%2Flincoln-bicentennial%2F’; [...]

2. Frank Says:
   October 31st, 2008 at 7:33 am

   It appears that this will be a great exhibit. Thanks for posting about it in advance. It gives some of us time to plan ahead for travel, hotel, etc. It would be great to see updates posted on the preparations and progress of the show. Earlier this year I oversaw a project to record civil war artifacts as three-dimensional laser holograms. There’s much to be excited about with preservation and display technologies lately!

3. Justin Thorp Says:
   October 31st, 2008 at 9:57 am

   Matt, thanks for posting about this. If you didn’t blog about it, I’m not sure that I would have known about it happening.

   Also… I love the behind the scenes type stuff. Video would be great. I’d recommend checking out the Flip Mino Video camera. Do a google search for it. Makes it super easy to do quick interviews and then you can throw it on YouTube.

4. Matt Raymond Says:
   October 31st, 2008 at 12:29 pm

   We definitely will, Frank!

   And thanks for the tip, Justin.

5. Bob Meade Says:
   October 31st, 2008 at 8:52 pm

   Thanks. I’m impressed with the quality of the camera phone pics anyway - and I’m sure you had to use just the available light too.

6. Diane Vogt-O'Connor Says:
   November 4th, 2008 at 4:20 pm

   Interested in why the Mary Lincoln pearls and some other items are rarely on display “because of conservation requirements?” Our professional organization, the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (AIC) defines “conservation” as “The profession devoted to the preservation of cultural property for the future.” Basically conservators are all about making fragile cultural property sustainable so that it is available for your children and your grandchildren. Future generations may have new tools, new theories, or new methods to test out against valuable and unique original collection items such as books, photographs, documents and records, as well as Mary Lincoln’s pearls.

   The lights, temperature, relative humidity, and other environmental factors found in exhibit environments may speed deterioration, shortening the life expectancy of unique original items. When not on display, digital technologies allow us to view and work with high quality copies for most purposes, while keeping fragile originals safe. So, conservators will carefully determine how long valuable original items can withstand exhibit conditions, while still being available to future generations for new exhibits, copy technologies, and research usages.

   Conservators also examine fragile original items, document them, treat them, and provide preventive care to them, such as rehousing, monitoring their storage environments, and saving them in case of emergencies. Conservators also conduct research that results in exciting new treatments, tools, and technologies, some of which are listed on our Website at: http://www.loc.gov/preserv/. At this site you also will find a section on Preparing, Protecting, Preserving Family Treasures, to assist you in saving your family’s history.

   Finally conservators want to explain who we are and what we do, through public education so that the world understands, “why conservation matters.” Conservation is how the past is sustained for the enrichment of the future. Thanks for reading Matt’s blog on our conservation lab. We love to be able to share our work with you.

7. Diane Vogt-O'Connor Says:
   November 13th, 2008 at 3:38 pm

   Are you interested in why the Mary Lincoln pearls and some other items are rarely on display “because of conservation requirements?” The American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (AIC) defines “conservation” as “The profession devoted to the preservation of cultural property for the future.”

   Conservators are all about making fragile cultural property sustainable so that it is available for your children and their children’s children. Future generations likely will have new tools, new theories, and new methods to test out against irreplaceable original collection items (such as books, photographs, documents and records, as well as Mary Lincoln’s pearls.)

   The lights, temperature, relative humidity, and other environmental factors found in exhibit environments may speed deterioration, shortening the life expectancy of unique original items. So, conservators will carefully determine how long valuable original items can withstand exhibit conditions, while still ensuring that the originals will be available to future generations for new exhibits, copy technologies, and research usages.

   Conservators also examine fragile original items, document them, treat them, and provide preventive care to them, such as monitoring their storage environments and saving them in case of emergencies as well as conducting research that results in exciting new treatments, tools, and technologies, some of which are listed on our Website at: http://www.loc.gov/preserv/. At the LC’s Preservation Directorate web pages, you also will find a section on “Preparing, Protecting, Preserving Family Treasures,” to assist you in saving your family’s history.

   Finally, conservators want to explain who we are as professionals and what we do to preserve the past for the future. We want you to know “why conservation matters,” so you will join us in sustaining the best of the past’s cultural property for the use by the brightest of the future.

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