Maritime Heritage Collection

The Maritime Administration (MARAD) is an agency within the U. S. Department of Transportation dealing with water-borne transportation. It maintains a collection of around 1,500 artifacts relating to the maritime history of the United States. Many date to the 1940’s and were removed from MARAD National Defense Reserve Fleet vessels, the merchant ships that supported the Naval engagements during WWII. Examples include navigational instruments, handguns, ship’s bells, binnacles, builder’s plates, and name boards. Many different types of material are represented from finished and unfinished brass, rubber, painted surfaces, and wood.

Our conservators transported these artifacts to our DC-based studio where they were photographed, documented, and stabilized through specified conservation treatments. The artifacts were then returned to MARAD’s storage for future planned museum display.