AIC's 46th Annual Meeting

Located at Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum in Southern Maryland, the Maryland Archaeological Conservation (MAC) Laboratory is a tailor-made, state-of-the-art facility where conservation, archaeological research, and curation of Maryland’s archaeological collections occur. The MAC Laboratory not only conserves the State’s archaeological collections but also provides conservation services and guidance to Cultural Resource Management firms, government agencies, non-profit organizations, and museums throughout the United States. Over the past few years, the MAC Laboratory has steadily built a rapport with the City of Deadwood, in South Dakota, while conserving a variety of historic artifacts from their archaeological collections. In September of 2016, the City of Deadwood sent three metal solder dot cans with paper labels to the MAC Laboratory for conservation treatment. Each cylindrical can has a lead soldered seam along the side, a lead solder-filled hole in the lid, and are likely made of tin-plated iron. The cans are part of a collection of artifacts that were unearthed during the relocation of a historic structure, known as the Fountain House, within the city in March of 2015. The cans arrived at the lab with a corroded metal surface and stains and soil partially obscuring the fragile and fragmentary paper food labels that were still in situ. The artifacts presented a unique conservation challenge, as the paper labels had to be detached entirely from the metal can in order to treat the materials separately. Each material required a different approach to cleaning and stabilization. This poster will highlight the collaborative nature of the project and the techniques employed to conserve these uncommon archaeological objects.