Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771
ENGINEERING COLLOQUIUM
Monday, October 3, 2005 / 3:30 PM, Building 3 Auditorium
Margaret Kelly and Richard Rhorer
"Preserving the Charters of Freedom: Conservation and Engineering Challenges"
ABSTRACT -- The Charters of Freedom include the Declaration of Independence [1776], the United States Constitution [1787], and the Bill of Rights [1789], our nation's founding documents. On permanent public exhibition at the National Archives, these iconic parchment documents require preservation in perpetuity. This presentation outlines the conservation-driven design criteria for the new Charters encasements, and the engineering challenges met during their fabrication and testing.
SPEAKERS --
Margaret Ann T. Kelly is a research chemist in the Document Conservation Laboratory of the National Archives and Records Administration. Ms. Kelly earned an A.B. from Vassar College in Art and Biology and a M.S. in Forensic Chemistry from the University of Pittsburgh. After serving 14 years as a forensic chemist in federal law enforcement at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Ms. Kelly now enjoys the more genteel pursuits of document conservation research and testing. Projects include ongoing studies of the anoxic enclosures employed for the Charters of Freedom; determining the deleterious effects of the current mail irradiation program on the federal records so treated; and the evaluation and testing of marking, stamping, and writing inks intended for use on permanent records.
Richard L. Rhorer is a mechanical engineer in the Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Mr. Rhorer earned a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of New Mexico. After serving 28 years as a weapons and device engineer in manufacturing development at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Mr. Rhorer joined NIST where he has continued his mechanical engineering contributions as Chief of the Fabrication Technology Division; and currently, in machining process research for the Manufacturing Metrology Division.