by Paul Andriscin, Michael Blakeslee, and Tobrina Calvin (the project team)
In the summer of 2022, the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation was awarded a grant from the American Battlefield Protective Program (ABPP), National Park Service, for the “Mount Independence Collections Stewardship Project” to develop and implement an integrated system for collections stewardship. This includes the study and digitalization of artifacts at Mount Independence. The grant allowed for the purchase of equipment, including a camera, tripods, photo light box, other lights, copy stand, and several types of scanners. Work began in earnest in November 2022 and continued throughout the winter and into spring.
The team of site interpreters and grant project collection assistants Tobrina Calvin, Michael Blakeslee, and Paul Andriscin, under the supervision of Historic Sites Regional Administrator Elsa Gilbertson began the project with studying artifacts from the 1992 – 1993 Mount Independence Underwater Survey of Lake Champlain. The team reviewed all objects in this collection, took high quality photographs of the items, and entered the items into the updated State Historic Sites PastPerfect account. PastPerfect is a cataloguing system and software used by many museums in the United States.
The extensive collection of ordnance recovered ranging from mortar bombs, round shot, bar shot, and grape shot led the team to have a new respect for the cannoneers who handled these heavy items. Working and seeing all the artifacts throughout the winter of 2022-23 gave all of us a chance to gain knowledge and a perspective of how the people stationed here lived and survived.
By utilizing new technology and equipment, digitalizing artifacts will enable the study of artifacts without handling them and allows for their greater protection. The availability and ease of using digitalized photos will permit future historians access to the vast collection of these pieces.
Thousands of items, such as maps, archeology reports, slides and pictures were and are being digitalized, catalogued, and put into Past Perfect. Considering the fragility of many of the artifacts, Past Perfect will allow the staff and future researchers to “see” the items without handling them.
Along with historical items, slides taken at archeological field schools in 1989, 1990 and 1992 were examined, selected for quality, relevance, and content value, and digitally photographed. This ensures a long-lasting and more readily useful pictorial record of past “digs” on Mount Independence. These will enhance the understanding of many sites that were explored, and the items found at them.
The next step in the project is filming short videos of knowledgeable staff and other experts describing selected artifacts and how they were used. The videos will be posted on the Vermont State Historic Sites YouTube channel and perhaps other platforms. The grant project was extended to the end of February, in part due to lack of access to the site when the Vermont State Historic Sites were closed in July after the heavy rains and flooding earlier in the month.
A future article will discuss more of the findings and some of the team’s favorite artifacts.
The Courier 