COMMITTEES ON BEHALF OF THE GOVERNMENT 28 1 



" Professor Wm. B. Rogers, 



" President of the National Academy of Sciences. 



" Sir : The Committee of the National Academy of Sciences, to which was 

 referred the question of the restoration of the faded writing of the original 

 manuscript of the Declaration of Independence, respectfully reports: 



"That, in the judgment of the Committee, it is not expedient to attempt to 

 restore the manuscript by chemical means, partly because such methods of restora- 

 tion are at best imperfect and uncertain in their results, and partly because the 

 Committee believes that the injury to the document in question is due, not merely 

 to the fading of the ink employed, but also and in a large measure to the fact that 

 press copies have been taken from the original, so that a part of the ink has been 

 removed from the parchment. 



" The Committee is therefore of the opinion that it will be best, either to cover 

 the present receptacle of the manuscript with an opaque lid or to remove the 

 manuscript from its frame and place it in a portfolio, where it may be protected 

 from the action of light; and, furthermore, that no press copies of any part of it 

 should in future be permitted." ^^° 



As a result of this report the receptacle containing the parch- 

 ment was provided with wooden doors. It was removed from 

 exhibition in 1893, sealed between glass plates and placed in a 

 steel safe, where it was no longer exposed to light and was 

 secure from careless handling. It continued thus until 1903 

 when John Hay, Secretary of State, entertaining suspicions that 

 the document was still deteriorating, requested that it be ex- 

 amined again by a committee of the Academy. Under date of 

 April 14, 1903, he addressed the following letter'"" to President 

 Agassiz : 



" Department of State, 



"Washington, April 14, 1903. 

 " Alexander Agassiz, Esq., 



" President of the National Academy of Sciences, Cambridge, Mass. 



" Sir : In accordance with the provisions of section 3 of the act of incorporating 

 the National Academy of Sciences, I desire to invite the attention of the National 

 Academy of Sciences to the condition of the Declaration of Independence, and to 

 suggest that a committee be appointed to e.xamine it in the library of this Depart- 

 ment, and that such recommendations as may seem practicable be made to me 

 touching its preservation. It is now kept out of the light, sealed between two 



""Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., vol. i, pp. 180, 181. 

 "°Rep. Nat. Acad. Sci. for 1903, p. 13. 



