Historian Helps Protect the Past
by Denise Wright
Nassau Town historian Melody Howarth’s goal has always been to preserve history for future generations. As she describes it about being a historian, “it has reinforced my desire to protect and conserve our historic footprint by educating everyone around me in its value.” Howarth has an “innate curiosity and zest for the truth” about history and has always been interested in “making things look the best.”
For the past seven years as a historian, she has been creating exhibits in the town hall and local library, completing genealogical research and developing programs and presentations about the Nassau area to educate people about the power and value of an area’s past. However, Howarth has made preservation, and restoration her life’s mission through her restoration business on Elm Street in Nassau called Mel’s Belles Restorations.
She began her career in her teens in her father’s auto body repair business. She describes working with her father banging out dents as “my initial start but looking back; it was to be an essential part of my future. The skills that I learned were needed for the restoration of all items.” She studied Interior Design at Hudson Valley Community College and Doll Restoration in Virginia. As she puts it, “this continued my insatiable desire for history” and an “urgency to save the past.” Doll restoration then elevated into repairing ceramic items like vases, figurines and plates. Howarth studied with conservators from England, worked for a conservation lab and now consults with mentors from Peebles Island, Colonial Williamsburg and Caretakers of History of Delmar, New York. She stresses that if someone is interested in this field, two disciplines to focus on would be conservation and art, but this field is a “life-long learning process.”
Howarth has traveled extensively but says, “Nassau owns my roots.” She loves the “rich history from the Native Americans who owned this land to the Europeans who resettled here. The beautiful early structures are everywhere. Nassau makes a great backdrop for my work, and it is my home.” She has studied Native American, European, and Asian ceramic segments for over 25 years. She has looked at pottery collections at Deerfield village, Historic Eastfield Village, The New York State Museum, Colonial Williamsburg, Winterthur Museum and Library. She also continued her education on Stone conservation through Cathedral Stone in Brooklyn this past September and was granted State contracts to restore vandalized cemetery stones.
Mel’s Belles Restorations (melzbellesbellesrestora
tions@gmail.com) conserves and restores antique and modern ceramic artifacts, heirlooms, pottery, stoneware, and cleaning and repairing gravestones and has clients from all over the country. The goal of the approximately six-week restoration process is to “stabilize” the item by removing dirt and impurities. Still, it is “labor-intensive,” and she assures clients that she only uses “the finest conservation materials and artist pigments.” She prides herself on “flawless results” because she knows that each item has “a history of its own,” which is “sentimental” but also significant historically.
Concerning gravestone restoration, Howarth stresses that it is vital to get a professional’s help. Cleaning products that untrained individuals recommend could “do more damage and shorten the longevity of the stone.” She stated that bleach is not advisable and leaves “a residue that breaks the stone apart.” She teaches a class in gravestone cleaning through Schenectady County Community College that can be taught to a group or community organization. She cautions that if a stone has fallen or is leaning that a professional is required. The density and type of rock have to be determined, and “concrete is never the answer.”
Typically people wonder if it is worth it to restore an item, but Howarth stresses on her website, “The buyer always determines the value. If they ask if your item has been repaired and you say yes, they will say, ‘Then it is not worth as much.’ If your item needs repair, the buyer will say, ‘it’s not worth as much because I will need to have it repaired.” An item’s treasured past is a serious topic for Howarth, and she is proud to be able to preserve an item for future generations to learn about the past. In her over 30 years of experience, she has worked with objects made of clay, plaster, cement and stone, to name a few, and asks that if you have an item you have questions about to contact her so she can provide the “best possible restoration” for your heirloom.