The Department of Veteran Affairs provides patient care and veteran's benefits -
including burial-related entitlements - to 70 million veterans and eligible family
members. An agency of the Department of Veteran Affairs, the National Cemetery
Administration maintains 3.6 million occupied gravesites in its 120 national cemeteries
and 33 soldiers lots, which total more than 14, 250 acres.
Visitors to national cemeteries expect to find the burial grounds well-cared-for and
looked after. Part of this expectation is that the headstones are well-aligned and display a
pristine, white appearance. These beliefs lead to relatively frequent cleaning of federally
issued headstones, particularly compared to cleaning efforts undertaken in private
cemeteries. Over time national cemetery staff and visitors have noticed a deterioration of
stones from weathering. When headstones show significant loss of legibility or
deteriorating conditions, the headstones are replaced.
One contributing factor to the weathering of stones may be the selection and use of
chemical cleaners on a regular basis. C. Price notes that cleaning is one of the first steps
in the conservation of stone and leads to improved appearance. However, cleaning with
unsuitable cleaning methods can damage the stone by the loss of surface, staining, deposition of soluble salts, or making the stone more vulnerable to pollution or biological
growths.1
Within the fields of conservation and historic preservation, guidelines for the care of
cultural resources, such as cemetery headstones, have been established based on ethical
considerations.2, 3 First and foremost, a conservation treatment, such as cleaning, should
do no harm. Staff and volunteers undertaking the cleaning should choose the gentlest and
least invasive methods. Guidelines also recommend that those undertaking the work
should not use chemicals without thorough understanding of how those chemicals react to
the materials of the artifact and any material that may have been applied later.
On December 16, 2003, the National Cemetery Administration took the lead to organize
an interagency task force to develop solutions to shared issues of interagency
responsibility for historic government-provided headstones in an effort to supply
consistent service to the American public in keeping with agency policy and mission.
Topics included definitions of what is "historic," the science and technology of
appropriate cleaning, and when to repair or replace. One outcome of this task force was
the identification of the need for scientific research on cleaning methods for headstones.
Based on observations in national cemeteries, documentation in conservation literature,
ethical considerations, and recommendations of the Interagency Task Force on
Government-Issued Headstones, this research study was devised through collaborative
efforts of the National Cemetery Administration and the National Center for Preservation
Technology and Training.
2.1. Purpose of Study
On September 13, 2004, the National Cemetery Administration and the National Center
for Preservation Technology and Training entered into an agreement to study the
effectiveness of commercially available cleaners to remove biological growth from
federally-issued headstones. The project goal was to test cleaning products for
effectiveness and appropriateness and to make recommendations of products and
methods best suited to both clean and preserve the headstones.
Cleaners in this study are evaluated based on multiple criteria to include:
- Appearance immediately after cleaning and over time,
- Physical changes to the stone, such as surface roughness or porosity,
- Chemical changes to the stone, such as chemical interactions with the cleaners or
residual chemicals left on the stone,
- Biological activity after cleaning and over time, and
- Ease of use and suitability for large-scale cleaning projects.
Main tasks associated with the project include both field and laboratory testing over a
two-year period. The project is designed as a two phase project.
Phase one of the study includes the selection of cleaners and national cemetery test sites
within five NCA regions or Memorial Service Networks. One aspect of the research
looks at chemical cleaners that represent a variety of cleaning actions, for example basic
versus acidic cleaning or ionic versus non-ionic cleaning. The research includes different
geographic and climatic regions, such as a semi-tropical versus a dry or temperate
climatic zone. Finally, cleaners are tested on two different types of marble - Colorado
Yule marble from Marble, Colorado and White Cherokee marble from Tate, Georgia.
Five cleaning products are tested in side-by-side test patches on headstones in sunny and
shady areas of each cemetery. Concurrent with the test patch studies, a series of cut
marble samples are treated with each of the five products and exposed beside the test
patch stones. These samples are used in both non-destructive and destructive laboratory
testing. These laboratory samples help detect residual cleaning products on the stone
and aide in evaluating potential stone deterioration.
Phase two of the study is based on results of the test patch evaluations after at least nine
months of study. Based on phase one, three cleaning products are further tested on whole
headstones. Whole stone studies allow for further evaluation based on visual appearance
and ease of use.
1 Price, C.A., 1996,
Stone Conservation, an Overview of Current Research. Santa Monica, CA: Getty
Conservation Institute, J. Paul Getty Trust, pp 7-14.
2 Code of Ethics and Guidelines for Practice of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and
Artistic Works, revised 1994, Washington, DC: AIC.
http://aic.stanford.edu/about/coredocs/coe/index.html
3 The Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation & Illustrated Guidelines for Applying the
Standards (1992), National Park Service, Washington, DC.
http://www.cr.nps.gov/hps/tps/tax/rhb/index.htm