Founding Documents Back on Better Display Than Ever

For decades, the nation’s founding documents were treated like second-class citizens, pressed under the glass surfaces of outdated display cases that were slowly crumbling and made public viewing difficult.

Now, after a painstaking and pricey restoration, the hallowed pages of the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights are newly enshrined in gleaming, $4-million gold-plated display cases and basking in a glory long overdue.

Thursday marks the National Archives’ reopening of its permanent display of the “Charters of Freedom,” which will allow the public an up-close look at the very foundation of the United States.

“It’s exciting to say the public can come back ... to see the documents that are the building blocks of our democracy,” said United States Archivist John Carlin. “The public will once again have access to the Charters.”

The documents will be displayed along the curved walls of the building’s 65-foot-high rotunda, which received some dressing-up of its own with a new marble floor and subdued fiber-optic lighting.

National Archive officials decided to close the exhibit in 2001 after discovering that the glass encasements were deteriorating, leaving small crystals on the surface of the documents.

Concerned that the tiny fragments might mar the surface of the fragile documents, conservators removed them from their casings for analysis. Meanwhile, engineers set out to build new cases that would both preserve and enhance the documents. The new, airtight cases, fitted with high-tech gaskets, are filled with argon gas to prevent fading. Unlike the old display boxes, conservators will be able to open and reseal the new cases at anytime

“The good news was the documents were safe,” said Kitty Nicholson, a conservator with the National Archives who worked on the project. “[But we thought] ‘We could really do a better job if we had the opportunity.’ ”

Archivists put the documents through a series of analyses to assess their condition, Nicholson said.

Under a high-powered microscope, conservators examined each letter of each line of all the documents to find any flakes of ink that had lifted from the page.

Any loose ink was secured using a fine watercolor brush dipped in a gelatin adhesive that was dropped under the edge of each loose ink flake.

“We did every single letter that had a lifting flake,” Nicholson said.

To remove the tiny ripples that had formed on the documents as they sat directly under the glass in their original encasements, conservators humidified the parchments and dried them as they were being stretched.

The top edges of the Constitution that were eaten by insects were repaired, and any other holes in the documents were filled with a handmade Japanese paper. Officials did very little work on the Declaration of Independence because of its fragile condition.

On the whole, however, the documents are well-preserved, Nicholson said.

“Physically, [the documents] are quite strong,” she said.

The text was handwritten on parchment made from animal skin that is more durable than paper and should last “for centuries,” Nicholson said.

In the rotunda, two giant murals, one depicting Thomas Jefferson delivering the Declaration of Independence to John Hancock and the other showing James Madison giving the Constitution to George Washington, have been remounted. The paintings’ surfaces, which had bubbled over time, were repaired.

The opportunity to view the documents up close could be one of the most rewarding aspects of the new exhibit, officials said.

Previously, visitors had to climb three steps to see the Constitution, which excluded visitors in wheelchairs and small children.

“Most Americans come with a sense that [the documents] are very important,” Nicholson said. “[Now], it’s going to look as if you can reach out and touch them. It’s you and the documents.”

Before Thursday’s public opening, dignitaries including President Bush, Supreme Court Justice William H. Rehnquist and congressional leaders will celebrate the documents’ new home in a rededication ceremony in the rotunda.