New Fredericksburg Courthouse and Clerk’s Office Location

Researchers and students be advised, the Fredericksburg Clerk's Office is now open in its new location, just down the street, at 701 Princess Anne Street on the first floor. The new facility does not allow cellphones, backpacks or computers. … [Read more...]

Chris Young ’11 at the Saving Places Conference

The Center for Historic Preservation partially funded Chris Young's ('11) trip to the Saving Places Conference in Denver, Colorado. The following are his thoughts from the conference: At the beginning of February, I was granted the opportunity to speak at the 2011 Saving Places Conference in Denver, Colorado. I received my invitation over winter break and within hours, I accepted and finalized my plans for the trip. My email invitation included the words Colorado and historic preservation within the same sentence. It was an easy decision and I knew this was an opportunity I couldn’t resist. Despite brief notification, Colorado Preservation Inc and the Center for Historic Preservation at UMW agreed to support my trip. So, before I knew it, I was en route to Denver and headed to present at one of the largest preservation conferences in the country. … [Read more...]

Chemistry and Historic Preservation: A Collaborative Research Project on Bricks and Mortar

The blog Between the Cracks details two undergraduate students’ work as researchers partaking in the Summer Science Institute program at the University of Mary Washington. Sarah Smith, majoring in Chemistry, and Chris Young, majoring in Historic Preservation, spent the last 8 weeks of the ten week program researching and testing brick and mortar samples from some of Fredericksburg’s most historic structures. The samples extracted from each building underwent a series of tests to determine the elemental concentrations of calcium, sulfur, iron, silica, and magnesium. With this information, Sarah hopes to link the bricks with kilns used in 18th and 19th century Fredericksburg. Chris aims to scientifically distinguish the different periods of construction at the Mary Washington House, ca. 1772. The re-evaluation of building materials can add to the historic descriptions of the buildings as well as aid in the remediation techniques used in the preservation of historic buildings. The blog … [Read more...]