Rediscovering Princess Carolina: Preventive Conservation as a Catalyst for Reengaging with an Archaeological Collection, presented by William Hoffman, Director of Conservation and Chief Conservator Elsa Sangouard, Senior Archaeological Conservator

Where: DeWitt Wallace Collections and Conservation Building Conference Room

Please enter through the main entrance at the front of the building.

309 1st Street Williamsburg, VA 23165

When: Thursday, November 19, 2026

5:30 pm- Reception with refreshments

6:00 pm- Presentation

You may have recently seen the publication in JAIC regarding the treatment and care of Princess Carolina. Hoffman and Sangouard’s presentation will give an overview of the project as a whole and provide the most up-to-date information regarding the ongoing treatment and preventive care.

In 1982, the remains of the 18th century merchant ship Princess Carolina were discovered and partially excavated under 175 Water Street in Lower Manhattan, New York. This ship is the earliest surviving American built merchant ship. After Princess Carolina was no longer seaworthy, it was used as infill to extend New York City’s shoreline and subsequently filled with materials contemporary to the period. The excavation recovered nearly 400 timbers and 15,000 small artifacts. In 1988, the collection was donated to The Mariners' Museum and Park in Newport News, Virginia.

A talk for conservators, preservationists, and anyone concerned with what is happening to our nation’s built and cultural heritage presented by Bryan Clark Green, Ph.D., Visiting Associate Professor of Practice, School of Architecture, Virginia Tech. This event will by held on Thursday, October 22 at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture, 428 N. Arthur Ashe Blvd., Richmond, Virginia. Conversation and refreshments begin at 5:30pm with the presentation starting at 6. All interested are invited to attend. No RSVP is required. We hope to see you there. For more information, contact president.vaconservation@gmail.com.

Join us on September 17th for this highly anticipated, conservation focused tour of the Campbell Archaeology Center, which opened to the public in April 2026. Colonial Williamsburg is the birthplace of historical archaeology - a field that uses material culture to understand the development of the modern world - and decades of excavation here have produced one of the nation’s largest collections of 17th to early 19th century artifacts.

Kate McEnroe, Conservator of Archaeological Materials, will lead our tour of the new 40,000 SF facility, featuring expanded exhibition spaces, environmentally controlled storage areas, state of the art conservation laboratories and a public archaeology teaching lab where visitors and community members can physically engage with artifacts…

Our May Member’s Meeting will be hosted in Richmond on Wednesday May 27th from 5:30-7:30 pm at the historic Maymont Mansion. Refreshments from 5:30-6:30 and Talks and Walking Tour 6:30-7:30. After a massive renovation project, which we heard about at last year’s March Meeting, Maymont Mansion is open again! We are excited to be welcomed back to view the Mansion and hear from some of your colleagues who worked on various projects throughout. Be sure to wear your walking shoes! We will meet in the Garden Hall for refreshments before heading over to the Mansion for the talks. The nearest parking is located at the 1700 Hampton Street, Richmond 23220. To remind you of what we saw last year, view our May Newsletter from last year! Friends of VCA are welcome and encouraged to attend.

Join us for our March Member’s Meeting on Thursday, March 19, 2026 which will be hosted in Williamsburg at the Muscarelle Museum of Art and feature a presentation from Mark Lewis and Marla Curtis on their treatment of the Chrysler Museum’s monumental Thomas Cole painting, The Angel Appearing to the Shepherds. The Chrysler Museum’s largest painting was also the most badly damaged. A team of conservators was assembled to tackle this restoration. The work was carried out in the gallery and allowed visitors to interact with conservators throughout the process. This presentation will provide some background on the artist and describe the treatment process which took over 600 hours to complete. This talk will be open to the public, including patrons of the museum and students at William and Mary.

Hello VCA! 

Please take a moment to RSVP for next week's January Member Meeting at the James Branch Cabell Library in Richmond featuring presentations from current third-year graduate students. As a special bonus for this meeting, VCU's Library Collections Care program and student interns will be highlighted earlier in the evening! If you plan to attend the meeting, be sure to take note of the parking information below. 

We hope to see you there!

Join us at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture in Richmond for our November meeting! From 4:30-5:00, VCA members are welcome to tour the current special exhibits, Give Me Liberty and/or Un/Bound: Free Blacks in Virginia, 1619 to 1865. Enjoy refreshments in the Lacy Meeting Room beginning at 5:00 with our main presentation from Carey Howlett “Scientific Imaging and Southern Furniture: Revealing Inscriptions and Refuting Impressions” from 6:00-7:00 pm.

Greetings VCA Community!

Please join with VCA members for an Angels Project at the Pamunkey Indian Reservation in King William County on Saturday, October 25 beginning at 9:00 AM.

We will meet at the Pamunkey Museum on the reservation and spend the day cleaning and packing plaster pottery molds from the tribe's pottery school, which is currently undergoing restoration. This will be a dusting and cleaning project to remove dirt, dust and mold. N95 masks and nitrile gloves will be provided. We will have a few HEPA vacs on site and will need a few more. If you have one, let us know if you can bring it along, or if you can't join us for the day, let us know if you would be willing to loan your HEPA vac for the project…

Hello VCA!

The VCA will be hosting a table later this month to talk about conservation with current students and the public at the College of William and Mary. This will be part of a two-day symposium, Art Conservation NOW: A Symposium on Current Issues and Careers, organized by the university. We are hoping to have a variety of conservators available before and after the talks. We will provide handout materials and a monitor with a looping slideshow to highlight conservation efforts by our members. This event is free and open to the public, so VCA members are welcome to also attend the talks. Also please note that the Thursday afternoon event will take the place of our typical September meeting. As the talks are geared towards students and the public, it will be a great opportunity to see how our colleagues convey what we do in our field and for us to engage with the next generation of conservators!

If you are interested in helping with the VCA table, please use the linked signup form here. During the presentations, volunteers will not be required to stay at the table, so they may take a break or watch the talks.

VCA Members and Friends,

As a public outreach project for the VCA, we will be participating in "Antiques Day at Maymont", to be held October 4 from 10AM to 5PM.  This is an event where the public is invited to bring objects in for a conservation assessment and recommendations for care and conservation.

We're hoping to have at least one conservator from each of the five specialties (paintings, objects, paper, textiles and wooden objects) on hand for the full day.  We're breaking the day into three sessions, so, if you have only a few hours to spare,  you can choose to serve for one session rather than devoting the entire day. Because attendees will be bringing objects as well as space limitations in the room, you'll note that this event does not include specialties such as architecture or preventive conservation. However, please reach out if you would like to have your contact information or business cards available for referrals. 

Join us for an exciting May Member Meeting with a presentation from Richmond based stained glass conservator, Scott Taylor! We can look forward to learning about the recent treatment and installation of three Tiffany panels from All Saints Episcopal at the VMFA, followed by a visit to the gallery to see them in place. Additional projects over the years have included Tiffany windows at Hollywood Cemetery's Ginter Mausoleum, All Saints Episcopal, and Maymont and other stunning works at St. John’s Church, Churchill, and the Confederate Chapel behind the VMFA. Please RSVP via the link at the bottom.

As a special bonus for this meeting, members will be able to view the latest lower level special exhibition, Frida Kahlo: Beyond the Myth. Please be sure to select your prefered time slot when completing your RSVP.