AIC's 52nd Annual Meeting

The Warren Lasch Conservation Center (WLCC) in Charleston, South Carolina serves as the repository for the collection of the H.L. Hunley submarine (1864) project currently undergoing conservation and documentation. Raised from submersion in 2000 and largely excavated by 2006, this submarine is historically significant as the first to successfully sink an enemy ship in battle. Over 3000 objects have been recovered from the submarine, including personal artifacts of the crew and submarine components in various states of degradation. Included in the collection are the leather shoes of all eight crew members. The waterlogged shoes were first excavated, documented, and partially conserved from 2002 to 2004. The excavation of the shoes presented a complex scenario for the team. They were part of an assemblage of composite materials that included leather, foot bones, textiles, metal, and soft tissue from the skeletal remains of the crewmembers. The excavation revealed that foot bones were still contained within the shoes, some of them still articulated. Additionally, soft tissue and remnants of wool socks were also present. The shoes provided archaeological information on many levels, including the site formation process, as the shoes were filled with sediment, osteological data, as well as archaeological evidence related to the shoes themselves.

Once excavated, the leather shoes were found to be in different degrees of deterioration with the majority of them exhibiting iron staining that related to their proximity to the iron hull. In some instances, the shoes were found to be completely encapsulated in concretion and required different mechanical and chemical techniques to free them. Several studies were performed to remove the iron staining from the shoes as well as to find adequate bulking agents to freeze-dry the leather.

The shoes were then impacted by a challenging period in the WLCC’s history where the storage of artifacts in a stable environment was not possible and the resulting fluctuations in temperature and relative humidity lead to a darkening of the preserved leather. This shift in the coloration between the time they were initially treated and their current appearance was noted when the shoes were re-examined so that they could be studied to be included on the report required by the US Navy as custodians of the submarine. The final phases of treatment involving reconstruction and the development of a plan for the storage and display of the shoes was revisited in 2022. In collaboration with archaeologists at the WLCC, stylistic options for the shoes were considered as conservators developed a new conservation plan. Material challenges relating to the extremely fragile condition of the previously waterlogged leather, and ethical considerations concerning the level of intervention called for, are being addressed in treatment solutions. These shoes present the opportunity to consider the changes in conservation decision making that have been developed over the past twenty years as well as the results of a changing environment. At the end of their reconstruction the shoes will be ready for display alongside many of the other artifacts from this historic vessel.