News

Historic wrought iron and steel bridges are being replaced at an alarming rate. Those that remain are often rehabilitated using inappropriate techniques or are downgraded for limited highway traffic or pedestrian use. Lansing Community College in Lansing, Mich., is using a PTT Grant to develop and provide training based on modern and historic technologies to address the national need for preservation expertise in preserving historic metal truss structures.

2009 Award Entry Announcement
The Society for History in the Federal Government (SHFG) invites entries for its’:�
John Wesley Powell Prize (Historic Preservation)
 The award alternates annually in recognizing excellence in the fields of historical display and historic preservation.  Entries submitted in 2009 should be for historic preservation projects completed in 2008–2009 by or for units of [...]

The 2010 PTT Grant proposal submissions closed as of 11:59:59 PM central time on October 15, 2009.
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Washington, D.C.—The Foundation of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (FAIC) has launched a new wiki website based on a digital version of the conservation catalog literature. The site, www.conservation-wiki.com, was made possible by a generous grant from the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training (NCPTT).
In 2008, FAIC was awarded [...]

This workshop will showcase the current and latest practices in seismic engineering. Principally oriented to structural engineers and technically oriented architects, attendees and presenters will interact informally while exploring a variety of building structural systems, materials and typologies, from adobe, wood, masonry, reinforced concrete, to steel frame and one story to midrise.

The deadline for paper submission to the 2010 Structural Analysis of Historic Constructions conference has been extended to October 23, 2009.
 The conference will be held in Shanghai, China, on October 6-8, 2010 (SAHC-2010). SAHC-2010 will provide a forum for practitioners and researchers to exchange views and experiences in future direction and cooperation in historic buildings, [...]

Ohio State University is looking to provide ethnobotanists, archeologists and analysts with a new way to identify fibers found in prehistoric artifacts. Through a grant from NCPTT, the university is creating an online database containing digital images, explanatory text and terminology that is designed to give researchers important information about artifacts.

Today The Preservation Technology Podcast joins NCPTT’s Andy Ferrell, as he speaks with Tom Jones, an urban conservator for the West Ward Urban Ecology Project in eastern Pennsylvania. They will discuss the West Ward Ecology Project and something called the Green Design Laboratory.

Download Episode 10 as an mp3 or subscribe via iTunes.

Lansing Community College in Lansing, Michigan, is presenting a three-day workshop on March 8, 9 and 10, 2010, to introduce a wide variety of interested personnel, including State Historic Preservation officers, Department of Transportation officials, engineers, engineering students, general contractors, and historic bridge preservationists, to restoration processes of historic metals using electric arc welding, heat straightening, and hot riveting processes. Funded in part by a grant from the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training.

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.

In this episode, Jason Church speaks with Curtis Deselles, an intern with the Materials Research program at NCPTT, discusses the use of eddy currents and eddy current technology in conservation science. Mr. Deselles has built several eddy current analyzers, custom software, and presented on this topic at a non-destructive conference in St. Louis.

NCPTT has been using eddy current technology in preservation and will be bringing this tool to the iPhone platform in 2010. Download Episode 8 as an mp3 or subscribe via iTunes.

This summer, NCPTT, the Tulane School of Architecture, the Preservation Trades Network, and Save Our Cemeteries hosted training on treatments for above ground cemeteries damaged during Hurricane Katrina.

Topics included masonry applications, preservation technology, limewash, appropriate treatments for tombs, and a history of the cemeteries of New Orleans. This video was produced by Tulane University.

NCPTT, in cooperation with the Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation, will host a round table discussion to consider the creation of an historic landscape maintenance certification program.

Discussion topics will include defining target audiences, training subjects, and training formats. The day and a half-long meeting will be held at Hampton National Historic Site, Towson, Maryland, Sept. 1-2, 2009.

For more information, contact Debbie Smith.

NCPTT’s Andrew Ferrell and Kirk Cordell became LEED Accredited Professionals after recently passing the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) exam.

This improves NCPTT’s capacity to shepherd NPS preservation projects through the LEED certification process, and to help NPS architects, facility managers and other cultural resource personnel to become LEED accredited professionals.

The National Center for Preservation Technology and Training (NCPTT), Cane River National Heritage Area (CRNHA), and Cane River Creole National Historic Park (CARI) will showcase recent research at the 9th annual Preservation in Your Community (PIYC) on August 11, 2009 at 5:30 p.m. at NCPTT’s Lee H. Nelson Hall on Northwestern’s campus.

NCPTT has completed the rewriting and editing of 12 Standard Treatments for the DOD.

Sixteen additional treatments are under review, and DOD comments will be incorporated as they are received.

This effort is directed at improving the technical content of the draft DOD treatment standards and the stewardship of DOD cultural resources.

NCPTT joined Tulane School of Architecture, Preservation Trades Network and Save our Cemeteries to host “Cities of the Dead: Above-Ground Cemetery Preservation, Conservation, Documentation Methodology and History,” July 13-31, in New Orleans, La.

NCPTT’s Executive Director, Kirk Cordell, joined representatives from the Southeast Region and the Washington Office to review current NPS policy and treatment of historic national cemeteries and to make recommendations to Deputy Director Quintana.

The review included site visits to Andersonville National Cemetery (ANDE), Andrew Johnson National Cemetery (ANJO), Fort Donelson National Cemetery (FODO), and Stones River National Cemetery (STRI) to examine operations at the national cemeteries managed by those parks.

NCPTT’s Mary Striegel participated in a National Science Foundation/Andrew Mellon Foundation workshop held to examine and improve the state of science used to study, preserve and protect cultural patrimony.

Forty participants met to identify areas where new research in basic science can provide a foundation for significant improvements in understanding the way art and artifacts were created and how best to preserve them.

NCPTT recently hosted Lorelle VanFossen, one of the world’s most popular bloggers, for a workshop on the art of writing for the web. VanFossen taught NCPTT employees how to connect to the Center’s audience through timely and effective content as well as search engine optimization techniques.

The workshop is part of a larger social media strategy that NCPTT is implementing to better serve the needs of the preservation field.