TriMech’s 3D Scanning Expertise Helps Roanoke College Create a Stunning Sculpture to Honor Enslaved People in the School’s Past

With its striking design, powerful emotional impact, and commemorative significance, the new “Authors and Architects” memorial is a lasting tribute to the contributions and sacrifices of hundreds of men, women, and children who were enslaved by the founders of Virginia’s Roanoke College between 1842 and 1865. Enslaved Black artisans, craftspeople, and laborers built the college’s original buildings and made Roanoke College what it is today.

Beautifully cast in bronze with exquisite detail, the monument had a years-long journey to completion. That journey included a critical step handled by TriMech’s 3D scanning services.

Artist’s unique vision brought to life

Roanoke Professor Jesse Bucher is College Historian and Director for the Center for Studying Structures of Race. As part of a wider effort to understand the role of slavery in the life of the college, Jesse was tasked with producing a permanent memorial on campus.

The process began with a partnership with Creative Time, a public arts nonprofit, to identify an artist. A diverse jury of stakeholders selected Sandy Williams IV of Richmond. Sandy’s vision – a configuration of books in the shape of a large cube – is now a large bronze sculpture, unveiled in April 2025.

Jesse explained that the books are embossed with the names of enslaved people with ties to Roanoke College.

Names of enslaved people embossed in the books

“The names of 829 people who had a direct connection to the college, either as laborers or as slaves held by college leadership, are displayed on the spines of the books. The blank book covers and pages remind us that many names were not recorded and remain unknown. The result is about 900 book surfaces in total.”

Creating digital replicas of old books

Design firm Johnson Atelier helps artists transform their work into finished sculptures. They suggested that real books could be scanned and digitally manipulated to form the structure Sandy envisioned, and recommended TriMech’s services.

The prototyping and production experts who make up TriMech’s Advanced Manufacturing Services provide a full suite of solutions that includes 3D scanning. Using advanced equipment, they provide digital representations of physical objects large and small, including historical and cultural items.

The books Jesse selected for scanning are from the original college library and represent various shapes, binding styles, textures, and fonts.

“We chose books that had a certain resonance. We needed different surfaces, different applications of leather, and a variety of types of stitching. We also needed some very large books to represent the ledgers from the county archives.”

Using the Artec Leo to scan the books

TriMech Solutions Consultant Caleb Overcash used the portable, cordless, “point and shoot” Artec Leo to capture each book. The Leo allows you to see the 3D replica being built in real time on the touch screen. You can rotate the model and immediately assess what you’ve captured.

Processing up to two million points per second, the Leo offers resolution up to .2 millimeters and accuracy up to .1 millimeters.

Jesse said he had no idea a 3D scanner could produce that degree of quality.

“The 3D renderings that TriMech produced have such impressive resolution. It would be one thing if you were scanning an item just to have a digital existence, but we needed to use the data as the foundation for all the steps that would take us to a full-sized sculpture. It worked out unbelievably well.”

Respect for the significance of the project

The rare books got true white glove treatment; to position the books for scanning, Caleb created an acrylic stand.

A book on an acrylic stand to be scanned

“We needed somebody used to working with historic objects, not just in industrial settings,” Jesse explained. “TriMech is experienced working with precious artifacts. The best part was that Caleb was super invested. He didn’t just arrive to do a job. He understood that we were making public art that’s going to be here a century from now. He wanted to get it right just as much as we did.”

Caleb scanned about 30 different books so the designers would have a wide choice when manipulating shapes and styles to suit Sandy’s vision. The digital model the designers created became the foundation for a mold used to cast the molten bronze.

Valuable research fills gaps in family and community history

Jesse said his first challenge was that college staff and students knew almost nothing about the enslaved people who lived in the region. He brought together a group of 18 students to go through college and community archives and document everything they could find.

Countless hours of work culminated in a website containing information about more than 6,500 people. The Genealogy of Slavery project is now live.

The final sculpture on display at Roanoke College

“People have contacted me from distant states saying they are related to somebody in the database. The students came to understand the dots they were connecting. Yes, we were making a significant public memorial; at the same time, we were helping people discover truths about their family and the history of our community.”

3D scanning applications for artists and historians

Jesse said working with TriMech and learning more about 3D scanning was a great experience.

“People reach out to learn more about our monument, so I’ve told other artists about the process. I see so many other applications for 3D scanning. We have some other projects in mind for the future.”

To learn more about the Roanoke College memorial, visit roanoke.edu/cssr/memorial.

To learn more about TriMech’s Advanced Manufacturing Services, visit davidc1194.sg-host.com/custom-manufacturing-services/ or contact us to discuss your project.