NCPTT

The National Center for Preservation Technology and Training (NCPTT) in partnership with Save Our Cemeteries, Inc. (SOC) will be holding a Limewash Workshop on June 13, 2009 in New Orleans, Louisiana.

The purpose of this event is to educate people about the differences in cast and wrought iron and preservation/restoration methods for each type of material. This workshop will be useful to anyone who cares for historic buildings, parks, or cemeteries.

Improper cemetery maintenance can jeopardize the landscape’s historic character and irreversibly damage historic features. Join us for a 2-day workshop in Brookline, Massachusetts to learn the basics of cemetery landscape preservation.

The Nationwide Cemetery Preservation Summit will be held October 19-21, 2009 in Nashville, Tennessee. The program will feature contributed papers, a poster session, and an optional half day of field sessions and workshops.

NCPTT is soliciting oral and poster presentations that focus on research and innovation in cemetery conservation and preservation for the NCPTT’s Nationwide Cemetery Preservation Summit to be held in Nashville, Tenn., October 19-21, 2009.

This course emphasizes sound maintenance techniques for cemetery and commemorative monuments that are sustainable, cyclic, non-invasive, and do no harm. The course will address documentation, maintenance plans, stone deterioration, cleaning, and resetting headstones.

There are many good resources for more information about cemetery preservation, including books, nonprofit organizations, and Internet sites.

NCPTT’s comparative research on cleaners for cemetery headstones will be featured as part of the Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute’s workshop on microbial colonization of stone. The workshop will be held April 20-22, 2009 in Washington, DC.

NCPTT researchers, in partnership with masonry experts from NPS Historic Preservation Training Center, recently completed a study to develop treatments for use on marble monuments in Historic Congressional Cemetery.

NCPTT hosted a two-day Cemetery Landscape Preservation Workshop in Natchitoches, Louisiana, September 16-17, attended by both NPS and non-NPS cemetery managers, maintenance personnel and volunteers.

NCPTT’s held its sixth annual Cemetery Monument Conservation workshop October 7-9, 2008, in New London, Connecticut. Twenty-six registrants participated in a variety of hands-on sessions.

NCPTT has received the PTT grant product “Wooden Artifacts in Cemeteries: A Reference Manual,” submitted by the Historic Preservation Commission; the City of Aspen, Colorado, and Anthony & Associates.

This report provides information and progress on the comparative study of commercially available cleaners for federally issued headstones.

The City of New York Parks and Recreation seeks a Monument Coordinator. Salary: $43,000 - $50,000.

The National Center for Preservation Technology and Training (NCPTT) will continue its highly successful training on the conservation of monuments commonly found in cemeteries with a new workshop focused on the conservation challenges of the New England region. The workshop will be held Oct. 7-9 in New London, Conn.

A critical and long-standing challenge in the preservation field has been finding unmarked graves.

NCPTT and the City of New London, Conn., will present the sixth annual Cemetery Monument Conservation workshop on October 7-9, 2008.

NCPTT’s Cultural Diversity Intern, Candida D’Avanzo, is studying African American burial traditions in the Cane River region.

NCPTT recently recorded its first podcast. In it, conservator Jason Church talks about NCPTT’s cemetery monument conservation initiative and about his experiences growing up that led him to the field of cemetery conservation.

NCPTT and the City of New London will deliver the sixth annual New England Cemetery Monument Conservation workshop on October 7-9, 2008, in New London, Conn.