Carolyn Elstner and Tom Van Winkle speaking on Ellwood. There is no charge or reservation necessary to attend the meeting. A dab of distilled water here, a swish of solvent there and a slice of yellowed marble at the James Monroe Museum and Law Office began to whiten. Over time, people put things on this. They spilled things on it, and it soaked in, said Boyers Givens, a fine arts conservator from Richmond.
Marble is very porous.
Her job for the past year has been to delicately strip away dirt and grime on objects owned by the Fredericksburg museum at 908 Charles St. This helps give visitors a clearer idea of the fifth president s life and times. The marble slice, for example, is part of the top of a brass-trimmed, mahogany Louis XVI bureau that Monroe and his wife, Elizabeth, purchased it in France while he was ambassador there in the 1790s. It was one of several matching pieces, including the desk on which he later signed his famous doctrine. The Monroes paid handsomely to ship the furniture from Paris to Richmond, where Monroe served as governor.