By Vanessa Torres
USA -(Ammoland.com)- While in San Antonio, I had the privilege to visit The Historic Alamo Mission of San Antonio. Originally known as the Misión San Antonio de Valero. A former Roman Catholic Mission it is known all over the world as the site of The Battle of the Alamo in 1836. I had the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Richard Bruce Winders, a Historian, and Curator for The Alamo.
He is Speaking with us about the current practices being done to restore this historical site. The Alamo is composed of stones that naturally deteriorate, and it can not be stopped, but conservators are trying to slow the progress down.
He is also speaking with us about one of their more interesting and popular exhibits, The Firearms of the Frontier. This Exhibit premiered in October, 2014 and has been extended through to the end of May.
What are some recent studies and practices being done with Preserving the Alamo?
“We are in he middle of the phases in which we are analyzing how to get a picture of what the state of the Alamo is (the church.) Currently we have stone conservators working on this phase”.
“We are also getting a lot of help from Texas A&M University who are currently constructing models and other studies dedicated to helping with the preservation. We have trinity University currently working with Pam Rosser, our conservator. She is working with Trinity’s Chemistry Department testing the walls to see what the historic pigments are made of. This is the phase where we are trying to determine the current state of the Alamo. From this point on we will be entering the planning phase of the current situations”.
“With the documentation that we have, we will be working on the plan of preserving what we have for generations to come. The Final Phase will consist of going through with our plan of preservation. These are the current steps that we our working on. It is one of those things in which if you are aware of the situation, and seen what has been going on in the recent years, then you will realize that these has been a lot of progress made”.
“This is what we do behind the scenes”.
What can you tell us about the Firearms of the Frontier Exhibit currently in The Alamo, until May 31st?
This exhibit was so well received by visitors of the Alamo that we have decided to extend it. The Contributors of this exhibit are very excited of the popularity seen in this exhibit. They want for the public to really enjoy what has been collected.
We took a different approach with this exhibit. Rather than just displaying the firearms in a random order we took it a step further by displaying it in a chronological order of how the technology of each firearm has evolved throughout time from 1836-1876.
The Standard firearm in 1836 in a single shot flintlock rifle. The technology of the firearms did not start really changing in Texas until the 40 years gap of 1836-1876. We essentially go from the normal flintlock to what we could consider modern firearms. These are firearms in the sense that are so iconic throughout history.
With this exhibit we wanted to show how you get from a standard single shot flintlock rifle to a much more reliable firearm. Prior to this time the prime piece that was still in the works was the percussion cap. It was meant to replace certain aspects of the flintlock rifle. It is still not 100% but it exceeded the original aspects of the flintlock. It went on from there to the different forms of teachnology that was seen in the progression of the firearms. This Progression was pushed by the industrial revolution.
This is a story of technology. It shows how technology changes throughout history. The prime questions being answered with this exhibit are related to how to adapt older style firearms into something much more modern.
For anyone who has never been to the Alamo this is a very exciting time to go and check out this amazing exhibit. The Alamo exhibits are constantly evolving so check this one out before its gone!
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