Lisa Duncan, Art Conservator, LLC

I spent the summer working at Historic New England’s Harrison Gray Otis House in Boston, MA.  Historic New England (HNE), formerly known as the Society for Preservation of New England Antiquities (SPNEA), is one of the largest organizations for preserving regional heritage in America.  The majority of the collection consists of over 40 historic houses that span nearly four hundred years of history in New England. Historic New England also strives to archive New England history and has additional collections of over 20,000 architectural drawings by regional architects and over 300,000 photographic images and photographic memorabilia.

Historic New England has a defining collection of over 800 daguerreotypes.  During the summer I created a database to survey the collection and then completed half of the examination records.  The daguerreotype was the first photographic likeness made commercially in America starting in 1839.  It continued to be the primary form of photographic portraiture until it was eclipsed by the ambrotype just before the civil war.  HNE’s collection is predominantly portraits and many are still labeled with the name of the sitter.  Many of the daguerreotypes are made by Boston’s best daguerreotypists including Lorenzo G. Chase, John Plumbe, Jr., Litch & Whipple, Southworth & Hawes, Tyler & Co., and John Adams Whipple.  All sizes and case types are represented in the collection from the most common to the rare and unusual. The most prized collection of daguerreotypes is the 20 whole plate daguerreotypes made by Southworth & Hawes.

In October 2009 I was contacted by the Oregon State Library (OSL) to do a general survey of their collection.  I spent two days on-site meeting with staff and surveying the collection.  The circulating collection is accessible to all Oregon citizens and I would strongly recommend a visit if ever in Salem, OR.  The OSL has an extensive collection of early telephone books and a fabulous collection of glass plate negatives by Oregon photographer Myra Albert Wiggins, among other fascinating materials.

While working at Heugh-Edmondson Conservation Services, LLC, I participated in the treatment of two Jefferson National Expansion Memorial (JNEM) Competition Drawings.  The competition was held in 1947 to design the 90 acre memorial complex along the Mississippi River in St. Louis, MO.  The complex commemorated the Lousiana Purchase, the first civil government west of the Mississippi River, and the most important Federal Court case fought over slavery in Missouri called the Dred Scott Case.  The winner of the competition was Eero Saarinen and structural engineer Hanskarl Bandel who designed the St. Louis Arch.

Several hundred competition drawings were submitted and all were preserved by the National Park Service.  As necessary, they are receiving treatment at Heugh-Edmondson Conservation Services, LLC.  Some are more damaged than others, suffering the test of time in compromised environments.  The National Park Service is now storing them in good conditions and hopes to exhibit the best ones in the near future.