Spring 2014
MURALS RECEIVE CONSERVATION
TREATMENT AFTER 60 YEARS
As Faulkner predicted, the murals did stay
in decent condition for about 40 years. By
1986, however, they were exhibiting buck-
les and bulges due to the crumbling of the
plaster behind them and deformation of the
canvas. In 1999, needed conservation work
for the murals was officially designated as a
“Save America’s Treasures” project. e proj-
ect was timed to coincide with the first-ever
top-to-bottom renovation of the National
Archives Building, during which it would be
closed to visitors. Conservation of the murals
was completed by November 2002, and they
were reinstalled on the Rotunda walls.
•
e story of these historic murals, which
enhance the meaning of the documents on
display just below them, is fascinating in it-
self, for it sheds light on the differing inter-
pretations about the roles of many of those
we call the “Founding Fathers.” How each
man is depicted tells a lot about him and the
beliefs he brought to the Pennsylvania State
House in 1776 or 1787 to debate either the
Declaration or the Constitution.
Although Faulkner kept the main visual
focus of the murals on a single subject, ei-
ther the Declaration of Independence or
the Constitution, he was able to inject other
messages.
Taking into consideration the possible
symbolic meanings of the “Lincoln” cloud
(Civil War) and Hamilton’s gray uniform
(War of 1812), Faulkner appears to have
used costuming and the sky to expand the
scope of history represented from the early
days of the Republic.
In that sense, the murals span the arc of
our nation’s early history.
P
N S
e author is grateful to the following indi-
viduals for their assistance and advice in retrieval
of information and documents used to assemble
this article: Richard Blondo and the staff of the
Research Libraries at the National Archives and
Records Administration, Washington, D.C., and
College Park, Maryland; Emily Moazami of the
Photographic Archives, Research and Scholars
Center, Smithsonian American Art Museum,
Washington, D.C.; Marisa Bourgoin, Richard
Manoogian, and Margaret Zoller of the Archives
of American Art, Washington, D.C.; Doug
Copeley, New Hampshire Historical Society;
and Alan Rumrill, Historical Society of Cheshire
County, Keane, New Hampshire.
Summary descriptions of Faulkner’s rationale
for the organization and content of the murals, as
well as their painting and installation, were found
in the autobiography Barry Faulkner: Sketches from
an Artist’s Life (Dublin, New Hampshire: William
L. Bauhan, 1973); and Alan F. Rumrill and Carl B.
Jacobs, Jr., Steps to Great Art: Barry Faulkner and the
Art of the Muralist (Keene, NH; Historical Society
of Cheshire County, 2007). A more detailed de
-
scription was provided in a transcript of a presenta-
tion made in 1957 by Faulkner to the Keene (N.H.)
Daughters of the American Revolution, in the Barry
Faulkner Papers in the Archives of American Art,
Research Collection, Series 3: Writings: “Archives,”
1957 (www.aaa.si.edu/collections/container/viewer/
Archives--282658).
e contract hiring Faulkner to paint the
murals is in the Records of the Public Building
Services, Record Group (RG) 121, National
Archives at College Park, Maryland.
e stages in the evolution of the murals from
their original sketches through their painting and
installation are captured in the U.S. Commission
of Fine Arts correspondence and meeting minutes
in the Records of the Commission of Fine Arts,
1893–1981, RG 66.
Photographic reproductions of the sketches and
studies Faulkner submitted to the Commission for
review are in the Peter A. Juley & Son Collection
at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Only
three of the reproductions carried identifications
of the portrayed individuals, and none of the
reproductions are dated. Fortunately, a “Rosetta
Stone” for matching portrayals with names in the
form of listings was included with a letter from
Faulkner to Charles Moore of September 20,
1934, in Record Group 66.
e process of conserving the murals is sum
-
marized in Richard Blondo, “Historic Murals
Conservation at the National Archives” in
Prologue: Quarterly of the National Archives and
Records Administration 44 (Fall 2012): 26–29.
Interpretation of the murals proved to be a
daunting task. Faulkner’s explanations to the com
-
mission on his murals (Records of the Commission
of Fine Arts, RG 66) contain only the core elements
of the organization of his compositions. With the
exception of the differences in clothing of Jefferson
and Adams in the Declaration, the records do not
provide a basis for the poses and costuming in the
individual “portraits” and a rationale for the color
schemes promised to the commission.
Further information about the organization of
the Declaration mural’s composition, roles of in
-
dividual delegates, and personal and professional
lives were was found primarily in the Journals of the
Continental Congress, 1724–1789, ed. Worthington
Chauncey Ford, et al. (Washington, D.C.: 1904–
37), vol. 4, and Reverend Charles A. Goodrich, Lives
of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence, 2nd
ed. (New York: omas Mather Publisher, 1832).
For the Constitution mural, the same type of
information, as well as the members of the com
-
muttee writing the Articles of Confederation
came from Max Farrand, ed., e Records of the
Federal Convention of 1787 (New Haven, CT:
Yale University Press, 1911), vols. 1–3; Catherine
Drinker Bowen, Miracle at Philadelphia: e Story
of the Constitutional Convention May to September
1787 (Boston: Little, Brown and Company,
1966); and Farrand, e Fathers of the Constitution:
A Chronicle of the Establishment of the Union (New
Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1921); and oth
-
er articles and books about individual delegates.
e comment on Sherman’s character is a direct
quote from “Letter from Jeremiah Wadsworth to
Rufus King,” June 3, 1787, in Farrand’s Records of
the Federal Convention of 1787.
e commentary on Alexander Hamilton’s mili
-
tary uniform is based on information from James
L. Kochan, e United States Army, 1812–1815
(Oxford, England: Osprey Publishing, 2000); and
David Cole, “Survey of U.S. Army Uniforms,
Weapons and Accoutrements,” (www.history.army.
mil/html/museums/uniforms/survey_uwa.pdf ).
Lester S. Gorelic volunteers as a do-
cent at the National Archives Building
in Washington, D.C. He retired
in 2009 from the National Cancer
Institute, Rockville, Maryland, where most recently as
program director, he developed and managed portfolios
of federal grants supporting the research training and re-
search career development of cancer researchers. He holds
a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Chicago.
© 2014 by Lester S. Gorelic
Author
54 Prologue