Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-04-28
CARE IN THE KEEPING
CONDITION OF THE DECLARATION
OF INDEPENDENCE.
Committee Recommends Present
Method Of Protecting the
Venerable Document.

The Secretary of State having asked for
the appointment of a committee of the Ma
tional Academy of Sciences to examine ana
report upon the present condition OF lne
Declaration of Independence, President
Agassiz of the academy complied promptly,
and the committee reported directly to the
Secretary of State.
In giving the report to the press the De-
partment of State wishes to correct an
erroneous impression concerning the exhl-
bition of the declaration. which, although
sent to Philadelphia from the patent office
for exhibition at the centennial exposition.
has never since been on exhibition at any
OF the great fairs. Notwithstanding reports
to the contrary. It was returned to the
Department of State from the patent office
in March, 1877, and since then it has never
been out of the department building for any
purpose. and for more than year past 1t
has not been on exhibition in the depart
ment, owing to its condition.
Report Of the Committee.
The report of the committee of the Ma
tional Academy of Sciences follows:
I'm response to communication receiv
ed from you, committee was appointed by
President Agassiz of the National Acad-
envy of Sciences to confer with you with re-
gard to the present condition of the Dec
laratfon of Independence, and to make such
recommendations as SDOuiQ seem Die
to insure the preservation of this precious
instrument. The committee also re-
quested to send its report to you directly
in order to avoid the delay which might re-
suit from reporting in the usual manner to
the officers of the academy. The members
of the committee are John s. Billings, Ira
Remsen and Charles F. Chandler.
After comforting with you, the committee
was given an opportunity to make a careful
examination of the instrument with the as
sistance of Mr.. A. H Allen, chief of the
bureau of rolls and library, and with the
assistance of DR.. Wilbur M. Gray of the
Army Medical Museum. The instrument
has suffered very seriously from the very
harsh treatment to which it was exposed
in the earlier years of the republic. Folding
and rolling have creased and broken the
parchment The Wet-preSS copying opera
ton to which it was exposed about 1920, for
purpose of producing a fac-simile copy,
removed large portion of the ink Sub
sequent exposure to the action of light for
more than thirty years while the inStru
ment was placed on exhibition has resulted
in the fading of the ink, particularly in the
signatures. The present method of caring
for the instrument seems to be the best
that can be suggested.
No Evidence Of Disintegration.
THE committee is pleased to find that no
evidence of mold other disintegrating
agents can be discovered upon the parch-
ment by careful microscopic examination;
nor any evidence that disintegration Is now
in progress.
The investigation has been facilitated
by the photograph that was taken in 1888,
two years after the previous examination
by a committee of the academy. and we
would suggest the desira bility of taking
another photograph of about the same size.
at the present time. and from time to time
in the future as an aid to future investiga-
tons
THE committee does not consider 1t wise
to apply any chemicals with view to re-
storing the original color of the ink, be-
cause such application could be but partial
ly successful, a considerable percentage
of the original ink was removed in making
| the copy about 1920, and also because such
application might result in serious discol-
Grafton of the parchment; nor does the
committee consider 1t necessary or advis-
able to apply any solution such as COLO
dion paraffin, etc, with view to strength
ening the parchment or making it moisture
proof.
THE committee is of the opinion that the
present method of protecting the instru
ment should be continued; that it should
be kept in the dark and as dry as possible,
and never placed on exhibition
For the last nine years the Declaration
has been kept fiat in its frame between the
sheets of glass in the drawer of a steel case
out of the light and air.