Heritage Preservation Coordinating
Assessments of Historic Monuments
for Department of Veterans Affairs
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Wisconsin Monument, Marietta National Cemetery, Marietta, GA |
In order to address the condition of historic monuments memorializing our nation’s war dead, the National Cemetery Administration (NCA) of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has contracted with Heritage Preservation to assess the condition of memorials in VA cemeteries. Located from Augusta, Maine to San Diego, California, these monuments include simple markers, obelisks, and elaborate figures. They are made of granite, bronze, limestone, marble, and zinc.
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Soldier's Monument, Allegheny Cemetery, Pittsburgh, PA |
This assessment phase comes out of a 2006 comprehensive survey by NCA staff and volunteers of the approximately 960 monuments in the 125 national cemeteries and 33 soldiers’ lots maintained by NCA at the time. The process was based on the model developed by Heritage Preservation’s Save Outdoor Sculpture! (SOS!) program in its inventory of the nation’s collection of outdoor sculpture. Heritage Preservation worked with conservators to assess 85 monuments in 41 NCA cemeteries in 2009 and an additional 76 will be assessed in spring and summer 2010.
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4th Army Corps Obelisk, Chattanooga National Cemetery, Chattanooga, TN |
SOS!, a project of Heritage Preservation, helps communities across the United States preserve and promote their sculpture. SOS! began in 1989 by involving 7,000 volunteers in cataloging and assessing 30,000 publicly accessible outdoor sculptures. Fifty-four percent were determined to be in critical or urgent need of conservation. The data is accessible via the Inventory of American Sculpture database at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Support Heritage Preservation as we work to save outdoor sculpture and monuments.