See What We've Done, (pdfs)
Steamboat
Bertrand Metals Conservation
The Ford Conservation Center staff is preserving
thousands of artifacts from the 1865 shipwreck of the steamboat
Bertrand, now on the property of the DeSoto Wildlife Refuge,
USFWS across the Missouri River from Blair, Nebraska. Over 200,000
artifacts were recovered from the wreckage of the steamboat in
the late 1960's. The items have been stored for the past thirty
years. There are more than 10,000 metal artifacts that are actively
corroding and will perish if not conserved. The DeSoto National
Wildlife Refuge, USFWS, and the Ford Conservation Center at NSHS
have formed a partnership to save the Bertrand Metals.
Hopewell
Vessel Reconstruction
The remains of at five Hopewell low fired
terracotta ceramic vessels were excavated in the summer of 2006
at an archeological site in Ohio. Three of the vessels were found
to have three-footed bases, a feature rarely found among Hopewell
pottery, thereby greatly increasing the body of knowledge regarding
Hopewell ceramics.
Native
American Collection
The NSHS and Ford Center staff is preserving
a stunning collection of 3,000 Native American artifacts, headdresses,
moccasins, weapons, and clothing that tell the stories of Nebraska
and Plains Indians and related events that shaped the history
of our state. The Museum of Nebraska History collection includes
artifacts from many tribes and important individuals such as
Sitting Bull and Standing Bear and events like the Wounded Knee
Massacre, people and stories that reverberate today. Highlights
of the collection include objects from Susan LaFlesche Picotte,
the first female Native American medical doctor, as well as one
of the oldest examples of Plains Indian woodcarving in the world.
The collection is used widely for exhibit, loan to other museums,
and research.
