Customer Reviews

NOVA: Saving the National Treasures

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The big 3 of U.S. historical documents are the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Bill of Rights. They are on display each day of the year except Christmas at the National Archives and all of their futures are uncertain.

Over the course of decades, these treasures have seen their fair share of deterioration and the aging process has not been kind. This was not lost on anyone and during a 5 year period at a cost of almost 5 million dollars, a demanding and painstaking process was undertaken to help save these most important papers.

A world class team of physicists, chemists, engineers, and conservators were assembled to tackle this delicate project and their efforts are explored here. Besides designing and building new casements, several members had to unseal, examine, and restore all of the documents, if possible, to a more pristine condition.

The state of the art technology used in making the new casements is fascinating. The process is both laborious and meticulous and it is shown here in good detail. Also reworked was a new design for the rotunda at the National Archives to showcase the refurbished documents and that project is looked at also.

Distributed in-between the main chapters of saving the documents, there are several interesting segments on the long and detailed history of the Declaration of Independence which happens to be the most revered of them all.

NOVA isn't known for many extended length documentaries beyond the one hour mark and this is mostly what I've seen from them. In my opinion, they are very adept at producing high quality shows in compact time frames that rarely disappoint. `Saving the National Treasures' is no exception and this was an enjoyable and educational program that I would recommend to everyone.