Magna Carta Unveiled! Yesterday the 1297 Magna Carta was unveiled after having been repaired and re-encased. We are thrilled that this important document will be back on display for the American people, and will be secure in its encasement for many many years to come. Yahoo! News featured a great article on the unveiling of the 1297 Magna Carta and the amazing work by our conservators and our partners at NIST. Check out the article here.
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Magna Carta Unveiled!

Yesterday the 1297 Magna Carta was unveiled after having been repaired and re-encased. We are thrilled that this important document will be back on display for the American people, and will be secure in its encasement for many many years to come.

Yahoo! News featured a great article on the unveiling of the 1297 Magna Carta and the amazing work by our conservators and our partners at NIST. Check out the article here.

Video Short Documents 1297 Magna Carta Encasement Project
 

The National Archives is today releasing a short documentary video, “The Encasement of Magna Carta.”  The video is part of the ongoing series Inside the Vaults, and can be viewed at this link: http://tiny.cc/MAGNACARTA

The document will to return to public display on February 17, 2012.

Magna Carta is on loan to the National Archives from its owner, philanthropist and co-founder of the Carlyle Group, David M. Rubenstein.  Mr. Rubenstein underwrote the fabrication of its new encasement.  The encasement was designed by the National Archives in cooperation with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg, Maryland, where the encasement was fabricated.

Re-encasing the 1297 Magna Carta

After treatment was completed, the 1297 Magna Carta was sealed in a state of the art encasement last month. In the top photo, National Archives conservators and conservation scientists worked together to remove the encasement top for cleaning before the document was installed.
The bottom photo at was taken by NARA’s project partner, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and shows  the aluminum block being machined to fabricate the encasement base.
The encasement was flushed and filled with humidified argon to ensure long term stability when it  returns to  exhibit  February 8.

Why the 1297 Magna Carta is at the National Archives

In case you were wondering, the 1297 Magna Carta is one of 17 surviving versions of Magna Carta in the world today, the only one in North America, and the only Magna Carta in private hands. The document is on loan to the American people from David M. Rubenstein, co-founder of The Carlyle Group in Washington, DC. After its re-encasement, it will return to display in the Rotunda Gallery on Wed Feb. 17th.

The Magna Carta put in written form traditional rights and liberties of “all freemen of our kingdom.”  It is seen as a source for some rights and liberties in the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and is particularly meaningful for visitors coming to the National Archives to see those documents in the Rotunda.  

Treating the 1297 Magna Carta

Conservation at the National Archives is pretty amazing. Can you imagine treating one of the most important documents in world history? Not only have our conservators worked on the Charters of Freedom, but recently they turned their attention to the 1297 Rubenstein Magna Carta. Treatment was one phase of a major project leading to its encasement and public display.

This video shows a behind-the-scenes look at the treatment and encasement of this milestone document.