Preserving America's Birth Certificate
by Charles Daniel
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A 500 year old map gets sealed up tight and goes on display. Find out what makes the map one-of-a-kind.
A map thought lost for almost five centuries is found and is now on display. It's often called
's birth certificate. Next, jacqueline
london tells us about this precious piece of history and how it's kept in pristine condition.
In a dimly lit room, where no sunlight is allowed, sits one of the rarest maps in the world.
Created in 1507, the waldseemüller (walled-sah-mue-ler) Map is the first map to show a pacific ocean, the western hemisphere and a continent called
.
But a 500 year old, one-of-a-kind map needs a special display case. Conservators worked with engineers at the national institute of standards and technology to design a unique, air-tight enclosure.
The encasement is sealed with a thick sheet of non-reflective laminated glass to keep out harmful ultraviolet light. While sensitive monitoring devices measure temperature changes 24-hours a day. Special valves flush out oxygen from the air -- which damages the paper and ink -- and replace it with harmless argon gas.
The map -- known as
's birth certificate -- cost 10 million to purchase, but well worth the cash.
Safekeeping
's history with science.
Engineers from the national institute of standards and technology built the map encasement, which is six times larger than any other historical document case they've every built before. The map is currently located in the library of congress in W
ashington , D-C.
A STATE OF
THE ART FRAME : Engineers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) built an encasement to protect the Waldseemüller map, produced in 1507. It was the first to show both the Atlantic and
Pacific
Oceans , and an outline of the land separating the two. The frame is about ten feet by six feet, and made from two solid pieces of aluminum. It also includes a double sheet of non-reflective laminated glass and interior environmental monitoring devices, along with valves that allow preservationists to control the gases inside the case. Additionally, the engineers designed a system to raise and lower the map for display and maintenance.
WHY GO THROUGH THE TROUBLE? This map, which marked the first use of the word “” as a designation for the continents now called North and
South America , is over 500 years old. Like any other old map, book, or scroll, it requires special care. If not properly protected, the ink will fade and the paper will break down. Filling the encasement with inert argon gas flushes out all the oxygen and stops the chemical reactions that can damage both the ink and the paper. NIST expects the seals to remain effective for more than twenty years.
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