St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-07-22
BADLY FADED DOCUMENT.
DECLkRA TON or INDEPENDENCE NOR
HLEcIRLE.
The Fading the Direct Result of
Careiessness in Exhibiting 1t
to the PubIic-Now Kept
Locked Up in a Safe-Charles
Summers Regard for the Dec =
laration.

Locked Up in Safe-Charles
Summers Regard for the Dec
laration.
Washington Star.
The original Declaration Of Independ-
ence, of which Bancroft. the historian,
said that it had received a renown
more extended than that of any other
paper in existence" has faded away be-
yond the possibility of restoration. The
names OF the signers to this great
charter of American liberties are no
longer legible. After hundred
and eighteen years Of careless
guardianship, in various cuStodies-
during the greater portion of which
period it was thoughtlessly exposed to
the destroying in tluences of light and
air and needless handling-now when
the lrreparable hav oc is done and the
| precious archive has become hardly
more than blank and wrinkled sheet
of parchment, solicitude for its preser-
walton has begun to be felt, and at last
1t is cared for as 1t should have been
cared for years ago.
| 1t was my privilege, some time since
"a privilege then accorded to few. and
now, under the strictest prohibition. &C.
| corded to none-to see and touch this
| precious document. 1t is kept locked
| up in steel safe in the library of the
department OF state. 1t is spread out
fiat in mahogany portfolio. made to
slide in and out of the safe. and over it
| is sheet of thick paper and plate of
oIoco 10 fa ko
| light, and Is as little exposed to the air
as is possible without placing it in a
vessel from which the atmosphere has
| been exhausted.
THE FAMOUS DOCUMENT.
The document is a single sheet of
| parchment thirty-six inches long and
thirty-two inches wide, and bears no
| scrolls or decorations, such as are seen
upon many of the copies that are so COM
mon. The body of the writing having
been evenly and clearly written when
the instrument wasiengrossed.h has faded
evenly, but it can hardly be made out,
while the signatures, which were writ
ten, perhaps. with a different ink and
another pen, are faded beyond recogni-
ton, many of them being wholly gone
and others partly so. The heavy stroke
of the pen in the of John Hancock's
bold autograph is still visible. but that
Is the only line that is distinct.
The history Of the origin of this great
| state paper is we'll known to most
Am ericans, but is always interesting
The story of the varied and disastrous
fortunes of the document itself during
the past lis years is less known. and is
| here told:
On the Goth of june, 1776, a commit.
tee, of which Thomas Jefferson was
chairman, was appointed by the CONT
mental congress, then, sitting at Phila-
delphia, to draft declaration setting
| forth the reasons why. the thirteen
| colonies should become indepen-
dent of England. Jefferson was
! requested by the other members of the
committee to prepare the draft, and his
draft, when presented, was at once ap-
proved by a majority of the committee,
few verbal alterations only being
suggested. On July copy of this
! draft was laid before congress, and,
after hot debate of three days, few
sentences were stricken out and the
Declaration was then adopted 1t was at
once entered upon the journal OF the
congress; but the engrosSed copy, on
parchment, was not prepared and signed
until Aug. 2.
During the first twenty-four years of
its existence the Declaration was pre-
served among the archives of the gov
ernment at Philadelphia. and during all
or part of that time it was undoubt-.
edly rolled up, is it shows, by the cracks
in the parchment, that it must have
been rolled up for long period, and it
is known that subsequent to that time
it was hung up exposed to public gaze.
WHEN BROUGHT TO WASHINGTON.
When in the year 1900 the national
| government was transferred to WASH
| ington, the Declaration was carried
there and deposited i'll the depart ment
of state, where it remained for forty
one years. In the year 1871, sub
| stantial building having been erected
for the use of the United States patent
office, which had formerly been in the
| state department, and the state de-
partment being in brick building, not
| tire-proof, Daniel Webster, secretary
OF state, addressed letter to
Henry L. Ellsworth. the commits
sioner of patents, and req uested
him to receive the Declaration
| and other valuable documents in his
custody for their safekeeping. This re-
quest was complied with, and for the
next thlrty-five years the patent Office
retained charge of the precious paper.
but it was while there that it suffered
| Its greatest injury. 1t was hung up,
exposed to public view, behind the glass
In one end of a case of patent Office
| models. AT certain hours of the day the
sun shOne directly upon it, and, of he
cessity,it gradually faded. 1t Is amazing
| almost beyond the power of belief that
| OF the dozen commissioners Of patents
who had the custody of this doc.
ument during those thirty. five years,
not one Of them saw that it was being
ruined and no one of them had the fore
thought to take it out of the sunlight
and put 1t away in darkness. In Eng
| land such treatment of any important
state paper unheard of. Magma Charta,
the death warrant of Queen Mary, and
other archives in Lincoln cathedral and
the British museum. four or five times
as old as our Declaration of Iudepend.
ence, are still kept in condition Of per-
feet preservation.
AN EFFORT TO RESTORE.
In the year 1875 congress woke up to
the outrage that was being perpetrated,
and appointed a commission, consisting
of the secretary of the interior. the sec
rotary Of the Smithsonian institution,
Prof. Joseph Henry and Ainsworth r.
SpoGord, the librarian of congress, ITO
have resort to such means as will most
effecthally restore the writing of the
| original manuscript of the Declaration
of Independence, with the signatures
appended thereto. Experts were con-
suited by this commission and finally,
Oh the suggestion of Prof. Henry, the
matter was referred to the National
Academy of Sciences. 1t having become
known that the great Declaration was
fading away, the public became inter.
ested in the effort made for its restoya
ton. and the public press urged the inl-
| NJ I,