• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Documents Return to National Archives

Posted on: Wednesday, 17 September 2003, 06:00 CDT

The nation's history is on display again at the National Archives.

After being locked away for two years at an undisclosed location, the original Constitution, Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence have returned to rotunda of the Archives after undergoing treatment to ensure their longevity.

For the first time, all four pages of the Constitution will be on permanent display. Previously, just the first and last pages were.

President Bush will help unveil the exhibit Wednesday, with Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and congressional leaders. On Thursday, the rotunda will be opened to the public.

The documents, displayed at the Archives since 1952, were shielded from the public when the building's marble and limestone rotunda was closed to tourists on July 5, 2001, for the renovation project. The documents were given a careful review, the first close examination of the three pieces of history in half a century.

John Carlin, archivist of the National Archives and a former Kansas governor, thinks the remodeled rotunda and remounted documents will help convey their historical significance.

"We want people to have a real experience coming here," Carlin said during a preview for the media Tuesday. "We want them to come away with feelings about the importance of records, the importance of these documents."

The new exhibit will be much more user-friendly.

For example, the Declaration of Independence was mounted high on a wall in the previous exhibit, which made it hard to read. Now, it will be housed in an exhibit case on the ground. So too will the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, to allow the documents to be more accessible to people in wheelchairs and to small children.

The historical originals are showing their age a bit, with yellowing around the parchment's edges. But the documents, known collectively as the Charters of Freedom, underwent an extensive restoration process in their absence.

Some flakes of ink from the charters had begun to curl and lift upward, explained Catherine Nicholson, senior conservator at the Archives. The conservation team inserted super-small droplets of adhesive beneath the flakes to reattach the ink to the parchment.

Modern encasements also were built for the documents. The new cases, outlined in 24-karat gold-plated titanium, are filled with argon, an inert gas that helps preserve the documents, according to Rick Judson, the project engineer.

The glass in the cases also won't rest directly on the documents, as it had before.

Experts also renovated two large works by the 20th century muralist Barry Faulkner. They depict the presentation of the Declaration of Independence to John Hancock, president of the Continental Congress, and James Madison presenting his final draft of the Constitution to George Washington.

The cost for renovation of the charters and the re-encasements was $4.8 million, Judson said. Archives staff could not provide an estimate for the rotunda refurbishment, but the total tally for the continuing renovation of the National Archives building is more than $100 million.

---

On the Net:

National Archives: http://www.archives.gov

More News in this Category