19th Annual Preservation Conference
Parchment and Titanium: Preserving the Charters of Freedom
Held Thursday, September 22, 2005
National Archives At College Park
Auditorium and Conference Rooms
The 2005 Preservation Conference focused on the multi-year, state of the art project undertaken by the National Archives (NARA) to preserve and re-encase our nation's most treasured documents — the Charters of Freedom. The Charters include the:
The conference addressed issues of interest to archivists, historians, conservators, librarians, museum curators, exhibit designers and preservation specialists.
Conference Theme
The conservation, preservation and re-encasement of the Charters of Freedom.
Topics
- History of the Charters of Freedom
- The history of encasements for preservation storage and display
- The design, fabrication and testing of a modern encasement
- The challenges of managing a multi-year interagency preservation project
- What conservation staff learned during examination and treatment of the Charters
- The fully accessible Rotunda and new display criteria for the Charters
- Meeting the challenge to preserve the nation's best known and valued historical documents
- Lessons learned, new technologies and applications for the field
Presentations
History and Context of the Charters of Freedom Documents
Dr. Milton O. Gustafson
Chief, Diplomatic Branch (retired NARA)
Encasement History, Theory, and Use as a Preservation Tool
Don Etherington
President
Etherington Conservation Services
NBS Encasements: History and Examinations Prior to Disassembly
Margaret Ann T. Kelly
Research Chemist, Document Conservation Laboratory (NARA)Dr. Charles R. Tilford
Consulting Physicist – Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory
National Institute of Standards and Technology
New Encasement Design Criteria
Norvell Jones
Chief, Document Conservation Laboratory (retired NARA)
Managing the Inter-Institutional, Multi-Year Re-Encasement Project
Richard P. Judson
Project Manager, Space and Security Management Division (NARA)
Encasement Fabrication and Testing: Processes and Innovations
Richard L. Rhorer
Mechanical Engineer, Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Design and Production of Paper for the New Encasements
Timothy Barrett
Paper Specialist and Research Scientist
University of Iowa Center for the Book
The Charters of Freedom Documents: Examination and Treatment
Mary Lynn Ritzenthaler
Chief, Document Conservation Laboratory (NARA)Catherine Nicholson
Supervisory Conservator, Document Conservation Laboratory (NARA)
Display Criteria: Access, Lighting and Aesthetics
Christina Rudy Smith
Head of Exhibits, Museum Programs (NARA)Michael L. Jackson
Senior Exhibition Designer, Museum Programs (NARA)