National Archives battles fading of original Declaration of Independence
The original Declaration has faded under decades of public display, even as Trump asked aides about moving it to the Oval Office. Its worn parchment now tests what the country centers.
Donald Trump asked aides in 2025 about moving the original handwritten Declaration of Independence to the Oval Office, a request that quickly ran into concern about the document’s fragility and the cost of moving it. The parchment remains in the National Archives Rotunda in Washington, D.C., where it has been on display since 1952 behind argon-filled glass and under heavy security.
Years of public display have faded and worn the document, even though it is not legally binding and carries no force of law.
Archivists removed the Declaration from the Rotunda in 2001 so they could prepare it for a new case. When they examined the reverse side, they found only a docket reading “Original Declaration of Independence dated 4th. July 1776,” not a hidden map or some other revelation. The document was already showing signs of age by 1820, when Secretary of State John Quincy Adams commissioned William J. Stone to make a full-size copperplate engraving. That 1823 Stone engraving became the most frequently reproduced version of the Declaration.
The cases now in the Rotunda were installed during the National Archives renovation from 2001 to 2003. They use argon to create an oxygen-free environment, and five encasements have maintained that environment for 20 years. The Rotunda’s light level is kept below 3 footcandles to reduce damage from exposure. In 2023, the encasements continued to protect the Founding Documents.
The preservation work has intensified as the Archives prepared for the nation’s 250th anniversary in 2026 and renovated permanent galleries ahead of the celebration. More than a million visitors a year still come to see the Declaration.
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