This June marks the 200th anniversary of the declaration of the War of 1812. The “House Declaration of War” of June 4, 1812 is undergoing conservation treatment. The previously laminated document was treated to remove cellulose acetate. After delamination, a conservator repaired tears and filled losses. This ‘during treatment’ photo shows a new paper insert being fitted to fill a loss. Visit the U. S. Capitol Visitors’ Center fall exhibition to see the completed document on display.
The District of Columbia Emancipation Act
On April 16, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed a bill ending slavery in the District of Columbia. Passage of this act came 9 months before President Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation. The act brought to conclusion decades of agitation aimed at ending what antislavery advocates called “the national shame” of slavery in the nation’s capital.
The DC Emancipation Act is currently being featured at the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center. You have until the beginning of September to see the Act before it comes back to the National Archives!
New records from the holdings of the Center for Legislative Archives went on display this week at the Capitol Visitor Center (CVC) to tell the story of “Congress and the Civil War”. The documents posted above show the new additions to the exhibit which will be on view for the next 6 months. The Center for Legislative Archives provides exhibit support and roughly half the documents for the CVC.
Senate resolution declaring vacant the seats of seceding senators, 3/14/1861, Records of the U.S. Senate
Senate seating chart, Congressional Directory, 1863, Publications of the U.S. Government
Map of the U.S. including Western Territories, 12/1848, Records of the U.S. House of Representatives
Memorial of Clara Barton praying for the establishment of some mdoe of ascertaining information concering mission soliders, 2/1/1866, Records of the U.S. House of Representatives
Rolls of missing soldiers accompanying the memorial of Clara Barton, 7/1865, Records of the U.S. House of Representatives
An Act for the release of certain person from service of labor in the District of Columbia, 4/16/1862, General Records of the U.S. Government
