SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) - From more than 1,000 documents written by President Abraham Lincoln, a copy of the Emancipation Proclamation signed by Lincoln, or Mary Todd Lincoln's wedding dress, the items held at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum (ALPLM) are invaluable. They are also incredibly fragile.
ALPLM Registrar Anna Dvorachek works behind the scenes, ensuring each artifact in the facility is well-preserved.
"There's just a lot of different ways that our artifacts can be affected," Dvorachek said. "If you have a handwritten letter by Lincoln, you don't want to see that fade to where you can't read it anymore."
The biggest concerns for most of those artifacts are light, moisture and humidity. For metal objects, moisture can lead to corrosion. Writing on paper will fade if it is exposed to too much light.
"Some of our more historical or impactful documents, we are monitoring those down to the second," said Dvorachek. "And then with some of our other ones, it's more of looking at how can we rotate these on and off display and give them proper rest time so we can obviously extend their life as long as possible."
Dvorachek uses different sensors and pieces of technology to monitor light levels and exposure. They also have sensors that determine any contact with moisture.
The museum is getting a new smart case, which intuitively monitors light contact for some of the more significant paper items. The case will sense how close people are to the case, and turn the lights off when people are not close enough to view the object. This increases the longevity of the artifacts by reducing light exposure.
Dvorachek is just one of many staff members who are in charge of protecting and monitoring artifacts at the ALPLM.
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