Since 1989, ninety-four monuments have received conservation treatment through the sponsorship of the commission. In some instances, the efforts of the Commission have extended beyond Maryland's borders, to memorialize the contributions of Marylanders who fought on the battlefields of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Brooklyn, New York and Stephenson, Virginia.

Professional conservation treatment has been provided for thirteen life-sized sculptures of bronze, copper, marble, granite, and cast concrete, four large bronze relief sculptures, and many smaller relief sculptures and tablets. Resources include works by Stanford White, Giuseppe Moretti, Baltimore sculptors Hans Schuler, Joseph Maxwell Miller, Edward Berge, Ephraim Keyser, Frederick Volk, and stock monuments by E. M. Viquesney, the American Bronze Company, and the W. H. Mullins Company. Grants and technical assistance were provided by the Commission to the City of Baltimore for restoration of the Battle Monument. Treatments have followed the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Historic Preservation Projects, and have been provided by qualified object conservators and preservation stone masons under the direction of the Maryland Historical Trust.

In the years since the Commission was formed, donations have been raised through the generosity of various individuals, private groups and veterans’ organizations. Additional financial resources have been provided through community sponsorships and by working with civic and governmental organizations such as the National Park Service, with which the Commission worked to treat monuments at Antietam National Battlefield, Gettysburg National Military Park and Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine. The Commission has also provided grants to the City of Baltimore in support of its efforts to conserve the Battle Monument and the Francis Scott Key Memorial Fountain.

The Commission has sought community sponsorship and has shared funding on a number of projects. In Williamsport and Rockville, sponsors have agreed to provide long-term care. The Commission has recently secured its long range efforts by having its budget become part of the annual budget of the Department of Veterans Affairs, approved by the Maryland General Assembly. With this solid commitment of funding, and an understanding of the importance of continued maintenance, the Commission has established a program to preserve the work thus far accomplished. Forty-six of the historic monuments with bronze sculpture or tablets receive routine maintenance to ensure the initial wax coating treatment continues to protect the bronze. These monuments have been placed on a two-year maintenance cycle: a conservator washes the stone and bronze components and touches up any areas of bronze where the wax coating has started to break down. Maintenance of this kind is far less costly than treatment for bronze that has been allowed to deteriorate.

Rededication ceremonies hosted by local sponsors or the Commission have honored those memorialized, educated the public about Maryland's military history and fostered awareness of Commission activities. Rededications have been held for the Maryland monuments at Antietam National Battlefield, the Elkton World War I Memorial, the Rockville Civil War Monument, the St. John's College World War I Memorial in Annapolis, the Victory Monument in Frederick, the Madonna of the Trail Monument in Bethesda, and the Maryland Four Hundred Monument in Brooklyn, New York.

Maryland Military Monuments Commission booklet

Statutory Authority: Executive Order 01.01.1989.06