SPRINGFIELD, IL (11/06/2012)(readMedia)-- The former director of the Illinois State Military Museum will assist the New Jersey National Guard Museum recover and preserve its artifacts affected by Hurricane Sandy and the subsequent, widespread flooding.
Lt. Col. Mark Whitlock of Springfield said the New Jersey National Guard Museum's curator was looking for someone with experience assessing the restoration needs based on an artifact's condition to recover and stabilize the artifacts.
"I did this after hurricane Katrina in 2005," said Whitlock, who serves as the Illinois National Guard Command Historian. "I took a team that included a couple of artifacts experts and a forensics expert specializing in weapons to Jackson Barracks Military Museum in New Orleans to recover artifacts."
Whitlock was the director of the Illinois State Military Museum from 1995 to 2011 before serving a year with the U.S. Army Center of Military History in Washington, D.C. He has also served on the National Guard Bureau museum advisory council for the past 10 years.
The New Jersey National Guard Museum boasts the nation's largest collection of New Jersey related Civil War research material. Whitlock said he expects to be in New Jersey for just over a week and concentrate on the preservation of the New Jersey National Guard Museum's collection of weapons, uniforms, Civil War flags and other archival materials.
"Without assistance from museum specialists from other states, the New Jersey National Guard stands to lose its history," said Whitlock.
