Vol. 18, No. 17Jan. 21, 1999

National Park Service supports advanced preservation research

The National Park Service, through its National Center for Preservation Technology and Training, has awarded a grant to the UD to support the development of a new protocol for analyzing historic mortars.

UD researchers will develop and test methods for accurately identifying deteriorating historic mortars as a necessary prelude to developing preservation and conservation strategies for historic architecture. Work is being conducted in the new Laboratory for Analysis of Cultural Materials, within the University's Center for Historic Architecture and Design and the Museum Studies Program. Co-investigators for the project will be faculty member Chandra L. Reedy, director of the laboratory, and Elizabeth Goins, an architectural conservation scientist hired to assist with the effort.

The $49,956 grant will help the University continue recent efforts to develop new research programs in architectural preservation and conservation.

Since 1996, the National Park Service's National Center for Preservation Technology and Training has provided funds totaling $189,000 to Reedy and graduate student Elizabeth Bede, for research on the deterioration of architectural stone.

That research has focused on evaluating the effects of the primary deposition of sulfur dioxide on carbonate stone. Reedy and Bede are collaborating with Mary F. Striegel at the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training in Natchitoches, La.

Together, the two projects represent a new emphasis at UD on scientific studies to support architectural preservation and conservation efforts, according to Reedy.