Preservation at the National Archives

May 25

The Supreme Sacrifice This Memorial Day, let’s remember and honor the millions of service members who sacrificed their lives defending our freedoms. As National Archives St. Louis’ Preservation staff mends and cleans damaged military records, we find forms like this one all too often.  AGO Form 0353, Finding of Death of Missing Person, states that a service member has been missing for 12 months and is presumed dead, so the Secretary of the Army has set an official date of death.  The form is important because the date of death determines survivors’ benefits.  It also gives a sense of closure, although the family of an MIA never fully has closure unless the service member’s remains are recovered.

The Supreme Sacrifice

This Memorial Day, let’s remember and honor the millions of service members who sacrificed their lives defending our freedoms.

As National Archives St. Louis’ Preservation staff mends and cleans damaged military records, we find forms like this one all too often.  AGO Form 0353, Finding of Death of Missing Person, states that a service member has been missing for 12 months and is presumed dead, so the Secretary of the Army has set an official date of death.  The form is important because the date of death determines survivors’ benefits.  It also gives a sense of closure, although the family of an MIA never fully has closure unless the service member’s remains are recovered.

May 24

A Washington Post article on "Let There be Light" a John Huston Film -

Congratulations Criss Kovac for a mention in the Washington Post! This article discusses “Let There Be Light” a film that was preserved at the National Archives.

Learn more at the National Film Preservation Foundation http://www.filmpreservation.org/.

View the film at http://www.filmpreservation.org/preserved-films/screening-room/let-there-be-light-1946.

May 14

[video]

May 03

Back in February we posted about the unveiling of the 1297 Magna Carta and we also posted a video about the making of the state-of-the-art encasement. We worked closely with our partners at  National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to fabricate the encasement.  usagov: Image description: The Magna Carta rests in its argon-filled encasement at the Archives Conservation lab. Engineers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology designed and built a state-of-the-art encasement and transport cart to protect the National Archive’s prized copy of the 1297 Magna Carta. The first Magna Carta was signed in 1215 by King John of England. He was forced by an assembly of barons to put in writing, for the first time, the traditional rights and liberties of the country’s free persons. After another confrontation with barons, Edward I not only reissued the Magna Carta in 1297, but for the first time, it was entered into the official Statute Rolls of England and became the foundation of English law. Learn more about the science behind the Magna Carta encasement. Photo by Hill, National Archives

Back in February we posted about the unveiling of the 1297 Magna Carta and we also posted a video about the making of the state-of-the-art encasement. We worked closely with our partners at  National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to fabricate the encasement. 

usagov:

Image description: The Magna Carta rests in its argon-filled encasement at the Archives Conservation lab. Engineers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology designed and built a state-of-the-art encasement and transport cart to protect the National Archive’s prized copy of the 1297 Magna Carta.

The first Magna Carta was signed in 1215 by King John of England. He was forced by an assembly of barons to put in writing, for the first time, the traditional rights and liberties of the country’s free persons. After another confrontation with barons, Edward I not only reissued the Magna Carta in 1297, but for the first time, it was entered into the official Statute Rolls of England and became the foundation of English law.

Learn more about the science behind the Magna Carta encasement.

Photo by Hill, National Archives

May 02

[video]

May 01

[video]

Apr 27

The Archives I Conservation lab is featured in a wonderful two-page spread in the May 2012 issue of Washingtonian magazine. On pages 26-27, the spread is in the “Capital Comment” section called “Behind the Scenes” and is titled”Treasure Trove.” Congratulations to Morgan Zinsmeister, Annie Wilker, and Daniel Dancis!

The Archives I Conservation lab is featured in a wonderful two-page spread in the May 2012 issue of Washingtonian magazine. On pages 26-27, the spread is in the “Capital Comment” section called “Behind the Scenes” and is titled”Treasure Trove.” Congratulations to Morgan Zinsmeister, Annie Wilker, and Daniel Dancis!

Apr 19

[video]

Apr 18

sfmoma: Today marks 106 years since the San Francisco Earthquake rocked our city. The death toll from the disaster is estimated to be above 3,000, representing the greatest loss of life from a natural disaster in California’s history. Pictured here: Arnold Genthe’s Looking up Market Street towards Twin Peaks, 1906 (via SFMOMA) More photos from SFMOMA’s collection: Arnold Genthe, Untitled, 1906 Willard E. Worden, Earthquake Damage to Union Street, 1906 Grove Karl Gilbert, Richard Lewis Humphrey, John Stephen Sewell, Frank Soulé, The San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of April 18, 1906…, 1907

sfmoma:

Today marks 106 years since the San Francisco Earthquake rocked our city. The death toll from the disaster is estimated to be above 3,000, representing the greatest loss of life from a natural disaster in California’s history.

Pictured here: Arnold Genthe’s Looking up Market Street towards Twin Peaks, 1906

(via SFMOMA)

More photos from SFMOMA’s collection:

Arnold Genthe, Untitled, 1906

Willard E. Worden, Earthquake Damage to Union Street, 1906

Grove Karl Gilbert, Richard Lewis Humphrey, John Stephen Sewell, Frank Soulé, The San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of April 18, 1906…, 1907

When Records Get Dirty Over the past four years, Preservation Programs in St. Louis has been dealing with a few extremely nasty problems—namely, mold infestation and bird guano. Some of the mold was related to the 1973 fire, at the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC). Other areas had leaks that developed after the 6th floor was demolished (because it had burned), and the fire suppression and pipe systems had to be re-adjusted. But how did the bird guano get into the records? St. Louis is known for its extremely hot and humid summers, and in our old building many of the non-archival records storage areas weren’t climate controlled. The staff members frequently opened the windows (removing the screens, for some reason), and in flew the birds. You can guess the rest. We found nests. We found feathers. We even found eggs. We didn’t want to bring these contaminated records to our clean, new, archivally climate-controlled building. We received funding to have most of them—12,372 boxes’ worth—sent away to be gamma radiated, at a cost of nearly $1.5 million. But first we had to survey all of the boxes. We found 14,719 cubic feet of moldy records and 8,200 cubic feet of boxes with guano in them. The preservation technician in the above photo didn’t actually treat the records; the guano-infested boxes were hauled away for cleaning by movers in full hazmat suits. Techs weren’t even allowed to touch the guano boxes, so that we didn’t spread contaminated material during the survey. Thankfully, the project is nearly over. And while there is still more work to be done, we were able to make the records safe to handle for future use.

When Records Get Dirty

Over the past four years, Preservation Programs in St. Louis has been dealing with a few extremely nasty problems—namely, mold infestation and bird guano.

Some of the mold was related to the 1973 fire, at the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC). Other areas had leaks that developed after the 6th floor was demolished (because it had burned), and the fire suppression and pipe systems had to be re-adjusted.

But how did the bird guano get into the records? St. Louis is known for its extremely hot and humid summers, and in our old building many of the non-archival records storage areas weren’t climate controlled. The staff members frequently opened the windows (removing the screens, for some reason), and in flew the birds. You can guess the rest. We found nests. We found feathers. We even found eggs.

We didn’t want to bring these contaminated records to our clean, new, archivally climate-controlled building. We received funding to have most of them—12,372 boxes’ worth—sent away to be gamma radiated, at a cost of nearly $1.5 million.

But first we had to survey all of the boxes. We found 14,719 cubic feet of moldy records and 8,200 cubic feet of boxes with guano in them. The preservation technician in the above photo didn’t actually treat the records; the guano-infested boxes were hauled away for cleaning by movers in full hazmat suits. Techs weren’t even allowed to touch the guano boxes, so that we didn’t spread contaminated material during the survey.

Thankfully, the project is nearly over. And while there is still more work to be done, we were able to make the records safe to handle for future use.