R.M.S. Titanic Collection^*

Over more than two decades, Conservation Solutions, Inc. — co-founded and led by Joseph Sembrat — carried out the assessment, treatment, and ongoing care of nearly 5,500 artifacts recovered from the R.M.S. Titanic wrecksite, in partnership with R.M.S. Titanic, Inc. / Premier Exhibitions. The work ranged from the smallest personal effects to the largest object ever raised from the site.

Joe spearheaded the raising, conservation, and mounting of the 17-ton hull fragment known as the “Big Piece,” along with landmark objects including the first-class D-Deck gangway door, a lifeboat davit, the steam engine's eccentric strap, ship fittings, and dining service. Each object was desalinated, cleaned, dried, and stabilized using preventive conservation methods developed for waterlogged, heavily corroded marine metal.

Treatments combined electrochemical desalination, extended sodium-carbonate soaking, low-pressure steam and ultra-high-pressure water-jet cleaning, corrosion converters, and protective microcrystalline-wax coatings. The conserved artifacts and the Big Piece traveled to exhibitions across the country, with periodic maintenance treatment to keep the collection stable on long-term public display.