Community Conservation: A ‘Hands-On’ Approach for Bringing the Rhetoric of Preservation to the People!

Summary

The Conservation Laboratory at the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum is a year-round artifact treatment facility that is open to the public during the museum season. The lab works to preserve artifacts from a variety of regional archaeology projects. Museum visitors have the rare opportunity to see conservation as it happens, and to ask questions about the treatment process. As part of Vermont Archaeology Month in September 2013, conservators have taken more direct action in engaging our visitors by inviting them into the lab where they will have a hands on approach in doing actual conservation. In doing so, members of the community will be exposed to a wide variety of material specific treatment methods. The public will also understand the importance of stewardship and protection of our irreplaceable archaeological resources. This paper will focus on the results of the public’s experience during Archaeology month.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Enfants de la patrie: Historical Archaeologies of National Identity and Nationalism   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2014

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): SYM-41,07