During the weeks at my internship at Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site, I have learned more about artifact care and preservation. Below is a picture of me putting a protective coating of wax onto a bronze relief. This process we do annually while weekly we dust reliefs to remove pollen and dust particles

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In the recent weeks I have also learned how to create a museum exhibit. The process for creating labels and finding appropriate artifacts is a long one, but well worth the effort! My exhibit was about James Earle Fraser, a friend and student of Augustus Saint-Gaudens. The focus of my exhibit was the Special Commemorative Medal of Honor that he presented to Augustus in 1901 at the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo, NY. Below is an image of my final display case.

The case was made up of multiple different objects. In the top shelf is a bust of Augustus that was made out of plaster and has pencil marks for which a measuring instrument called a pantograph machine was used to scale the piece. The pantograph would trace the bust and cut a larger or smaller identical image with a cutting tool. The bust was used to make the profile image of Augustus that can be found on the bottom shelf. The middle shelf displays the reverse of the medal in which there is Greek imagery of Pegasus, the winged horse, and a nude man holding a hammer and chisel.

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We also made presentations to go along with our exhibit. Below I am giving a presentation to a group of visitors that explains what is in the case and a brief history of who James Earle Fraser was and his connections to Saint-Gaudens.

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