Last week Nathan had the pleasure to visit the John Woodman Higgins Armory Collection at the Worcester Art Museum. He was assisting his good friend Dale Utt III, a rocket scientist, sword fighter, owner of True Edge Archive, and a leader in the field of 3D photogrammetry, who had been hired to make 3D models of some items from the Higgins Collection.
Dr. Nathan Clough and Dr. Jeffrey Forgeng, curator at the Higgins Collection in front of some polearms, summer 2023
He got to examine and handle a bunch of artifacts, including some really great swords and a beautiful 16th century armor.
From the left, Jeffrey Forgeng, Dale Utt III, and Bill Macmillan (conservationist at the Higgins) setting up a close helm for photogrammetry
In today's video Nathan discusses what they were up to, and some projects we will be building based on several pieces from the Higgins, in particular Nathan discusses a 16th century sword with a serrated edge and several rather odd features.
A 16th century sword with unusual features from the Higgins Collection
Nathan Clough, Ph.D. is Vice President of Arms and Armor and a member of the governing board of The Oakeshott Institute. He is a historical martial artist and a former university professor of cultural geography. He has given presentations on historical arms at events including Longpoint and Combatcon, and presented scholarly papers at, among others, The International Congress on Medieval Studies.
Craig Johnson is the Production Manager of Arms and Armor and Secretary of The Oakeshott Institute. He has taught and published on the history of arms, armor and western martial arts for over 30 years. He has lectured at several schools and Universities, WMAW, HEMAC, 4W, and ICMS at Kalamazoo. His experiences include iron smelting, jousting, theatrical combat instruction and choreography, historical research, European martial arts and crafting weapons and armor since 1985