NCPTT’s 2011 Annual Report is now available for download. The report details NCPTT’s wide-ranging and varied research program. In response to the Mississippi Canyon Oil Spill, the Center completed research on cleaners for removal of crude oil from historic masonry and archeological collections, updated building and site assessment tools at the request of FEMA, and developed a baseline and injury assessment tool for the Oil Spill Incident Command. Onsite assistance was provided to the State of Louisiana for the cleanup of Ft Livingston, a 3rd System fort on the Gulf coast. NCPTT also updated disaster preparedness information on its website in advance of hurricane Irene, assisted Chalmette National Cemetery by evaluating wind-damaged headstones and offering treatment recommendations, and undertook research on best practices for cleaning government-issued headstones.
Also during 2011, NCPTT hosted or participated in 20 training events, held in 7 states and the District of Columbia, and provided training to 1300 people. Workshops offered in 2011 included Cemetery Conservation Techniques in St. Augustine (with the University of Florida), Preservation of Ornamental Iron in Savannah, Ga., LEED for Historic Buildings in Washington, DC, Historic Tree Preservation in Fredericksburg, VA, and a Preservation Reengineering Symposium which explored traditional design principles to decrease energy consumption in an historic house museum. The Center also co-hosted and helped instruct the National Park Service course on historic property management for facility managers. Work continued on a landscape maintenance curriculum in partnership with the Olmsted Center and various private nonprofit partners, and a new video was produced on Turf Management at National Parks and Other Historic Sites (filmed at the Cane River Creole National Historical Park located downriver from NCPTT’s headquarters).
NCPTT presented a five paper session on Cultural Resource Response to the Gulf Oil Spill at the George Wright Society biannual meeting, two papers at the American Institute for Conservation meeting, a symposium at the American Institute of Architects convention (attended by more than 500 architects), and a paper on the use of laser profilometry in stone conservation at the Lasers in Art Conservation Conference (LACONA) in London England.
The Center’s heritage education efforts included offering a “Conservation Scientist for a Day” event to the Avoyelles Public Charter School students, hosting a K-12 robotics training camp, and producing a video on Burial Traditions in the Cane River Region (part of the Center’s Underserved Communities initiative). NCPTT’s Youth Initiative this year funded a field study of African-American historic resources in our local community and introduced a diverse group of high school students to historic preservation.
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