ALCC Research Initiatives
   
   


The ALCC operates in a manner similar to that of a specialized task force, undertaking research initiatives by professionals in the field that provide greater knowledge about issues central to the lighthouse community. This has led to better management of these historic structures and their use as assets for the public benefit.

To date, those issues have  included the way the government disposes of lighthouses, the fate of Fresnel lenses, federal financial assistance for  lighthouse preservation, insurance issues, lighthouse visitor policies, educational programming, artifact identification, artifact inventory and collections management, and disaster management preparedness.

   
   
   
   

CURRENT PUBLICATIONS

A
LCC Position Paper: The Future of Historic Optics in U.S. Lighthouses (57k)

ALCC Public Access and Visitor Policy Survey (110k)

Text of the National Historic Lighthouse Preservationon Act of 2000  (33k)

Annotated Bibliography of Children’s Lighthouse Books  (1.05mb)

   
   
   
   

FRESNEL LENS INITIATIVE

The first National Lighthouse Lens Survey was released in 2001 at the Sixth Maritime Heritage Conference in Wilmington , N.C. It listed more than 400 classical Fresnel lighthouse lenses in the United States, and two pre-Fresnel Lewis-Argand lenses. The inventory was a compilation of databases researched by Mike Vogel of the Buffalo Lighthouse Association and the American Lighthouse Coordinating Committee and by Al and Helen Gademsky of Ohio.

A second edition was released at the ALCC/Buffalo Lighthouse Association/National Park Service lens preservation workshop in Buffalo N.Y. in October 2002. Following that, lighthouse historian and nationally-known lens researcher Tom Tag undertook the compilation of a complete database to serve as the United States entry in a complete global inventory envisioned by the Optics Work Group of the World Lighthouse Society. The new database conforms to standards developed by the Optics Work Group, using an international lens terminology glossary compiled by Mr. Tag with the assistance of other task group members.

Updated listing of all Classical Fresnel Lenses within the United States V.7. (405k)

   
   
   
    ALCC - Jump to Lamp Identification Project Page    
   
   
    ON-GOING RESEARCH  
Will be a
vailable on-line in PDF format by 2010

Disaster Preparedness Plan for Historic Light Stations


Completion of a US lighthouse lamp database  
   
   
   
    NOTE: Many of the files available for download on this website are in Adobe PDF format. Click on the link at right to download a free copy of Adobe Reader if you are unable to open PDF files.