Symposium on hermetic storage

A History of Encasements: Technology Preserving the Charters of
Freedom Symposium
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Green Auditorium
Gaithersburg, Maryland
Monday September 17th, 2001 (Constitution Day)
<URL:http://www.mel.nist.gov/charters_seminar/>

In its centennial year, the National Institute of Standards and
Technology (NIST) will complete the second set of hermetic
encasements for the nation's founding documents the Declaration of
Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. The
Technology Preserving the Charters of Freedom Symposium will:

    *   outline the context for the new encasements;

    *   describe the 1950s encasements and present new data on their
        performance;

    *   review the design, manufacture and initial performance
        results for the new encasements; and

    *   discuss the philosophy and implementation of the on-board
        instrumentation for the new encasements.

Analyses of gas extracted from the 1950s encasements indicate
remarkably low leak rates, while raising questions about some of the
gas constituents identified. The new encasements appear to establish
a benchmark for zero-maintenance hermetic encasements with
sophisticated on-board instrumentation, which provide for rapid
access to the artifacts if required by the conservators.

This symposium celebrates the achievements of two generations and
two multi-organizational teams. Companies small and large,
universities, and government agencies including the National
Archives and Records Administration (NARA), NIST, the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the Los Alamos
National Laboratory have all contributed to the project of designing
and building the new encasements.

For further information, please contact:

    Kerra J. Johnson, Conference Secretary
    National Institute of Standards and Technology
    100 Bureau Drive, Stop 8220
    Gaithersburg,  MD 20899
    301-975-6602
    Fax: 301-990-3851


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 15:10
                   Distributed: Monday, July 9, 2001
                       Message Id: cdl-15-10-010
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