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NOAA's Heritage Success Stories
Office of Coast Survey's Copper Plate Collection
A copper plate storage facility located at NOAA's headquarters. |
Beginning in 2004, NOAA's Office of Coast Survey embarked on a multi-year project to clean and restore more than 550 scribed copper plates, glass negatives, and electroplate alto (or positive) plates representing the evolution of nautical charting in the United States since the Coast Survey's creation in 1807.
The restoration process includes stripping years of dirt and corrosion from each plate, inking, and application of a protective coating. The project will systematically restore the collection as funds become available. To date, 11 percent of the collection has been cleaned and restored.
Stored in a non-climate controlled warehouse for over 25 years a Maryland warehouse, the collection was moved in 2003 to a state-of-the-art storage facility at NOAA's headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Examples of the plates, along with actual prints and facsimiles of the resulting charts are on display in NOAA's office space.
The Coast Survey Copper Plate Collection is a companion collection to Coast Survey's Historical Map & Chart Collection, which gives the public access to over 20,000 nautical chart and historic map images (available on the web at http://www.noaa.gov/charts.html).
Coast Survey plates are available for exhibit loan and long term display. Currently, plate and print sets are loaned and displayed in many exhibits throughout NOAA, Department of Commerce and Congressional office buildings. A plate and print set of Galveston, Texas was recently placed on long-term loan to the House Commerce and Energy Committee conference room in the Sam Rayburn Building, Washington, DC. All plates are tagged and tracked through the NOAA Heritage Property System.
For additional information contact Curtis Loy at Curtis.Loy@noaa.gov.
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