Preservation Lab at the National Archives-- Boxing our Treasures

The video takes viewers inside the preservation lab at the National Archives where specialists construct custom boxes for items as varied as a Cold War-era pistol and a 1761 Indian treaty. The boxes can be simple affairs, built to house a book -- or extremely complex, holding multiple, related items in multi-chambered constructions. Conservation technician Richard Hnat shows how items are digitally measured and conservation specialist Doug Mcrae shows how those measurements are translated into custom instructions for the Archives' automated box-making machine. Gail Harriman explains that the materials used to construct housings meet rigid archival standards: acid free, lignin free, high cotton content, etc.