Program 11, Episode 301

Tech Watch

In the late 1700's three of the worlds most important documents were written here in the United States.   Now called the Charters of Freedom, The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution, and the Bill of Rights were conceived and written by early Americans who believed that tyrannical rule and oppression should be replaced by individual liberties and freedom.

Until the mid twentieth century these documents were proudly displayed for the general public. Without adequate preservation techniques, they became faded and quite brittle. This changed in 1951 when the documents were placed in specially adapted encasements which were designed to slow down the deterioration process.  

In the late 1990's, deterioration was discovered on the documents and required immediate attention. To help determine why the documents appeared to be deteriorating and how to fix the problem, the National Archives asked researchers at NASA Langley Research Center to perform a series of tests on the atmosphere inside the encasements.