A conservator examines the ink on Page One of the Constitution, letter by letter. In the treatment of this document, the most important step was to ensure that the original iron gall ink remained well adhered.
The nation's founding documents, with their timeless messages of liberty and freedom, are now ready for the twenty-first century. The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rightsβwhich laid out the reasons for revolution, the framework of a new government, and the rights of individualsβhave been returned to the National Archives Building's historic Rotunda in Washington, D. These documents, known collectively as the Charters of Freedom, were removed from display on July 5, , and have undergone long-planned conservation treatment and are sealed in new state-of-the-art encasements before being returned to the Rotunda.
The conservation work and re-encasement of the Charters of Freedom had been discussed for years at the Archives. The long-awaited renovation of John Russell Pope's landmark building provided the opportunity to make the Charters ready for the new century. For almost fifty years, the Declaration, the Bill of Rights, and pages 1 and 4 of the Constitution had been on continuous display, sealed in glass and metal encasements filled with the inert gas helium, with an additional loose sheet of glass resting directly on the parchment.
The encasement glass was beginning to show evidence of deterioration, which would eventually affect the visibility of the documents. This glass deterioration was a serious concern because it also indicated that the environment within the encasement was more humid than intended. The design of the encasements did not permit easy access to the documents, since the encasements could not be opened and resealed.
Advances in techniques for mounting parchment for exhibition and a greater understanding of materials also argued for removing the Charters of Freedom from the encasements that had protected them for fifty years. All of these conservation and scientific factors led to the decision to re-encase the Charters.
