Bradley A. Rodgers (Ph.D., Union Institute)

Professor. Rodgers specializes in Nautical Archaeology, Conservation Science, Ship construction and the transition of Sail to Steam, Wood to Iron hulls, and Great Lakes history and archaeology. His latest book, The Archaeologist’s Manual for Conservation, 2004, simplifies non-toxic conservation procedures, to help bring conservation back into the archaeological field. In this light Rodgers presently directs, and has designed, and built the ECU conservation laboratory, while continuing to consult nationally and internationally on various conservation projects. Rodgers has conserved artifacts from both land and water sites dated from the 16 th century onward including cannon, anchors, wood, organics, and smaller composite artifacts. He has also devised and built many of the specialized devices and equipment used at the laboratory and is currently reviewing the possibility of recommending (and creating) archaeological conservation as a specialty within the archaeological field. Rodgers has directed the preponderance of field projects for ECU in the past 20 years. These projects range geographically from Midway Island in the Pacific to Bermuda in the Atlantic and from the Caribbean Sea to Lake Superior. He represented ECU on the team that discovered the remains of the USS Saginaw at Kure Atoll (2003) and is presently concluding a two-decade research survey of major 19 th century vessel types found beneath the Great Lakes. Publications to date include his first book, Guardian of the Great Lakes, 1996, as well as numerous international articles, book chapters, and site reports. Dr. Rodgers, with colleague Dr. Corbin, are completing a manuscript concerning the Montana, largest of the U.S. stern wheeled western river steamers. He teaches maritime history, conservation, and field schools.  

Email: rodgersb@ecu.edu

Monographs and Books

2007 High Plains Leviathan. University Press of Florida, Gainesville (with Annalies Corbin). Manuscript in preparation

2007 Shipwreck Archaeology of the Inland Seas. Wayne State Press, Detroit, MI. Manuscript in preparation

2004 The Archaeologist's Manual for Conservation, A Guide to Non-Toxic, Minimal Intervention Artifact Stabilization. Kluwer/Plenum Publishers, New York, NY.

1996 Guardian of the Great Lakes: The U.S. Paddle Frigate Michigan. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, MI.

Journals