San Quentin inmates are lending a hand to the Alcatraz Island Museum Project. They are making bronze castings of the last remaining plaque that used to mark the cell door locking mechanism.
After securing a $400,000 donation, the Alcatraz project committee turned to San Quentin to cast 24 bronze plaques depicting the manufacture’s name
Over the years, the original plaques have been removed, possibly taken as souvenirs or given away as staff retirement gifts.
Amanda Williford, Golden Gate Recreation Area curator for the Museum Project, was reluctant to part with the last remaining plaque. However, after meeting with Richard Saenz, San Quentin Machine Shop instructor, and the students doing the work, she put the plaque in the machine shop staff’s care.
“The foundry will melt down and cast the new plaques from molten bronze poured into sand molds made from resin castings created from the remaining plaque,” Saenz said. “This method of metalworking originated thousands of years ago and the technique of getting an exact replica of the original can be tricky. It is great to see this project happening along side of the continuing work we are doing for NASA.”
