page_title: United States Bullion Depository
section_title: Historic documents
hierarchical_section_title: United States Bullion Depository / History / Historic documents
caption_attribution_description: English: Photograph of Archibald Macleish unboxing crate holding the Declaration of Independence and US Constitution after arriving back to the Library of Congress on 1 October 1944 after having been stored at the United States Bullion Depository at Fort Knox since 1941 Caption reads as follows:Librarian of Congress Archibald MacLeish (center), himself takes a screwdriver to the case in which the great documents are sealed in bronze cylinders. In all, 4789 cases of documents, rare books, and incunabula (books printed before 1500) were returned to the Library of Congress from five hiding places in Virginia and Ohio. The photograph is in a story about the return of important documents to the Library of Congress after being sent to secure locations at the outbreak of World War 2. The story mentions a "secret" hiding place which in later years was revealed to be Fort Knox. The photograph shows the case being opened as "#4", which in later years was revealed to have housed the Consitution of the United States and the Declaration of Independence, which were stored at Fort Knox. See Puleo, Stephen. American Treasures (p. 180). St. Martin's Press.
context_page_description: The United States Bullion Depository, often known as Fort Knox, is a fortified vault building located next to the United States Army post of Fort Knox, Kentucky. It is operated by the United States Department of the Treasury. The vault is used to store a large portion of the United States' gold reserves as well as other precious items belonging to or in custody of the federal government. It currently holds roughly 147 million troy ounces of gold bullion, over half of the Treasury's stored gold. The United States Mint Police protects the depository.
  The Treasury built the depository in 1936 on land transferred to it from the military. Its purpose was to house gold then stored in New York City and Philadelphia, in keeping with a strategy to move gold reserves away from coastal cities to areas less vulnerable to foreign military attack. The first set of gold shipments to the depository occurred during the first half of 1937. A second set was completed in 1941. These shipments, overseen by the United States Post Office Department, totaled roughly 417 million troy ounces, almost two-thirds of the total gold reserves of the United States.
context_section_description: Librarian of Congress Archibald MacLeish expressed concern with the safety of the Library's precious artifacts as soon as he took office in 1939.  As the Battle of Britain was fought during the summer and fall of 1940, MacLeish asked the U.S. Geological Survey about locating underground storage for "valuable paintings and books" and "within reasonable distance of Washington." In December 1940, he directed his staff to create a detailed catalog of the Library of Congress's most "irreplaceable" assets, and the space required to store them. Primary attention was given to those items "considered most important for the history of democracy."
  When it became clear that Congress would not fund the building of a separate facility, Macleish sought other options. On April 30, 1941, he requested of the Treasury Secretary some thousands of cubic feet at Fort Knox for the most notable items in the Library. The Secretary replied, offering the Librarian ten cubic feet. In July, when the inventory was complete, and it had been determined that some 40,000 cubic feet would be required for the storage of all unique and irreplaceable materials of the Library, the original ten cubic feet offer was raised to 60.3 cubic feet.
  MacLeish prioritized items to be sent to Fort Knox.  These items were: the Constitution of the United States (signed original); the Declaration of Independence (signed original); Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address (autographed original); Lincoln's Gettysburg Address (first and second autographed drafts); a Gutenberg Bible (St. Blasius–St. Paul copy); the Articles of Confederation (signed original); and Lincoln Cathedral's exemplified copy of Magna Carta, which had been on loan to the United States for the 1939 New York World's Fair.  The items were packed in four crates and then shipped by train to the depository on December 26, 1941.
  While the vault was invulnerable to bombing attack, it was not climate controlled, and so the documents were vulnerable to changes in temperature and humidity, as well as insects. So special precautions were taken. The items were locked in bronze containers that had been heated for six hours to drive off any moisture.  The containers were then embedded in mineral wool and placed in wooden cases hermetically sealed with lead.  An air conditioning unit and calcium chloride dryers were installed in the vault.  Frequent inspections were made.  On May 1942 repairs were made to the Declaration.  In April 1943, the Declaration and the Constitution were removed from and then taken back to the depository so they could be displayed at the opening of the Jefferson Memorial.  On October 1, 1944, all items were returned to the Library of Congress.  The copy of Magna Carta was returned to England after the war in January 1946.
caption: Archibald Macleish unboxing the Declaration of Independence and US Constitution after arriving back to the Library of Congress in October, 1944 after having been stored at Fort Knox.
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