What’s New in Architectural Collections?

October 2007

Packet’s Court Warehouse

Thanks to nearly $1 million in grants, the architectural fragments and models collection is now housed in a renovated setting with expanded space and new shelving, climate control, fire protection, and security systems. Staff members are taking advantage of these upgrades to systematically organize and catalogue the 15,000 architectural fragments and 50 models. The staff also works with Colonial Williamsburg employees and colleagues from other research institutions to study the material culture of the collection.

Poor lighting, absence of climate control, and
inadequate storage led to the acquisition of grants
to improve conditions for the collections.

Contractors install new
sheetrock to separate the
collections from the rest of
the warehouse.

Tom Taylor supervises the installation of new
Steiner Moore shelving for the collections.

Improved conditions transformed typical
warehouse space into a useful research facility
for the collections.

Storage for the Chesapeake collection includes a
mezzanine level in new warehouse space for
unobstructed access to a large number of
architectural fragments.

May 2006

Preservation Discoveries at the St. George Tucker House

A grant-based project to replace and paint the existing roof at the St. George Tucker House was completed in November of 2005. The final report detailing the interdisciplinary research with associated discoveries during the restoration is now available.

Summer Work

Two interns assisted the Department of Architectural Collections Management and Conservation with the processing of the Foundation’s architectural fragments collection during the summer of 2005.  The project goals included conducting a comprehensive inventory, re-shelving, and preparing the collection for inclusion into the collections management database (TMS). 

Caroline Warner worked with the hardware collection, consisting of more than 1,000 locks, latches, hinges, and fasteners.  Caroline has a B.F.A. in architectural history from the Savannah College of Art and Design and is currently a graduate student in the American Studies Program at the College of William and Mary.  Each piece in the collection was added to the inventory, researched, tagged, given a condition assessment, and entered into a searchable database.  A digital photograph was taken of each fragment before it was packaged and stored in cabinets.  Caroline met with Ken Schwarz, Historic Trades Master Blacksmith, who provided information on historic lock manufacturing methods.

Travis Fulk worked with the shingle collection, consisting of more than 230 shingles and shingle fragments of wood, slate, tile, metal and concrete.  Travis is a graduate student in historic preservation at the Savannah College of Art and Design.  The first step was to search the collections to locate all shingles and roofing materials.  After gathering all the shingles from the various fragment groups, Travis followed similar inventory and archiving procedures as Caroline used with the hardware collection.  Travis met with Ken Nuttle, Facilities Maintenance Carpenter, to discuss historic manufacturing methods and wood identification.  The shingles were then relocated and organized in special shelving units to facilitate future study.