The Public Vaults

“The Public Vaults,” National Archives and Records Administration, Constitution Ave. between 7th and 9th Streets, NW, Washington, DC 20408. Permanent exhibition, opened Nov. 12, 2004. Day after Labor Day–March 31, 10–5:30, April–Friday before Memorial Day, 10–7; Memorial Day weekend–Labor Day, 10–9. Free. 9,000 sq. ft. Marvin Pinkert, project director; Christina Rudy Smith, head of exhibitions; Bruce Bustard, lead researcher; Ray Ruskin, in-house designer; Gallagher & Associates, exhibition designer. Democracy Starts Here (video); 11 mins. Internet: exhibition description, text, photographs, news and events, and membership information (March 2, 2006). The short video at the entrance to “The Public Vaults” begins with a hushed sweep through the rotunda in which the nation's founding documents (Declaration of Independence, Constitution, Bill of Rights) are again available for public viewing after a renovation completed in 2003. After a brief pan of this solemn space of marble columns and ceremonial splendor, the video changes tone. An up-tempo beat hastens the pulse, soundtrack to a rapidly changing pastiche of the less lofty stuff of archival collec-tions—a glimpse not only of more mundane documents and records but also of book carts, compact storage shelving, and rows of Hollinger boxes. No voiceover is required to make the point. The National Archives are much more than the charter documents, and this exhibition is an exploration of a dynamic process—the preservation of the past through its documents and the vigorous use of those public records. An eleven-minute introductory film, shown in the William G. McGowan Theater, elucidates this message: records ought never to grow stale; the power of documents lies in the uses to which we put them

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