Ink of the US Constitution?

[inkyfingr]

What type of ink was used on the original US Constitution(s)? Any ideas?

[Shangas]

Probably would've been Iron Gall ink or some variety of powdered ink.

[wpblaw]

What type of ink was used on the original US Constitution(s)? Any ideas?

 

This suggests that iron gall ink was used by the engrosser, though a 2006 White House press release suggests that invisible ink may have been used on portions, too - perhaps the ones authorizing warrantless wiretapping?

 

[DerMann]

This suggests that iron gall ink was used by the engrosser, though a 2006 White House press release suggests that invisible ink may have been used on portions, too - perhaps the ones authorizing warrantless wiretapping?

The invisible ink was obviously used to guide Nicholas Cage to his family's long lost treasure, duh

[Ondina]

What type of ink was used on the original US Constitution(s)? Any ideas?

 

This suggests that iron gall ink was used by the engrosser, though a 2006 White House press release suggests that invisible ink may have been used on portions, too - perhaps the ones authorizing warrantless wiretapping?

 

 

Yeap, the waterboarding, etc was written with the same invisible ink, too.

 

It must have been iron gall. And still standing!.

[jkenton]

Yeap, the waterboarding, etc was written with the same invisible ink, too.

 

It must have been iron gall. And still standing!.

 

Correct me if my memory fails me, but the constitution looks like it is written on some sort of leather (sheepskin), rahter than paper.

[MYU]

Yeap, the waterboarding, etc was written with the same invisible ink, too.

 

It must have been iron gall. And still standing!.

 

Correct me if my memory fails me, but the constitution looks like it is written on some sort of leather (sheepskin), rahter than paper.

I believe it is parchment.

 

"Parchment is a thin material made from calfskin, sheepskin or goatskin. Its most common use is as the pages of a book, codex or manuscript. It is distinct from leather in that parchment is not tanned, but stretched, scraped, and dried under tension, creating a stiff white, yellowish or translucent animal skin. The finer qualities of parchment are called vellum. It is very reactive with changes in relative humidity and is not waterproof."

[Ondina]

Yeap, the waterboarding, etc was written with the same invisible ink, too.

 

It must have been iron gall. And still standing!.

 

Correct me if my memory fails me, but the constitution looks like it is written on some sort of leather (sheepskin), rahter than paper.

 

According to this, animal parchment http://content.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=7468

 

And this is the formal term for each concept: http://www.archives.gov/preservation/forma...per-vellum.html

Edited August 27, 2008 by Ondina

[Iridium]

This suggests that iron gall ink was used by the engrosser,

 

I think it's pretty obvious that iron gall ink was used on all of the "Charters of Freedom" documents.

 

though a 2006 White House press release suggests that invisible ink may have been used on portions, too - perhaps the ones authorizing warrantless wiretapping?

 

Why the attitude, hmmm? What are you hiding?

 

The invisible ink was obviously used to guide Nicholas Cage to his family's long lost treasure, duh

 

It was the Freemasons! The Illuminati! I didn't realize that Noodler's Blue Ghost had been around for so long....

 

By the way, there are still some light pencil marks that weren't completely erased (used mostly to keep the writing straight), as well as areas where ink was scraped off because the engrossers goofed.

 

It must have been iron gall. And still standing!.

 

Some of the documents look none too good for being just a couple of hundred years old, though. The US Declaration of Independence is in the poorest shape by far because it had been exposed to bright light (facing a wall exposed to direct sunlight) for decades, moisture and airborne contaminants for most of the rest of the time, and strong chemicals that were used in producing a matching copper plate. While the document is still partially readable, even John Hancock's famous signature is all but gone now. Fortunately, reproductions can still be made that exactly resemble the original document before it was damaged. The original printed Declaration (which some might consider the real original) is presumed lost (the printer probably tossed it out when he was finished), but a couple dozen of the distributed copies still exist. It's kind of funny (and sad) to compare such treatment to how the documents are cared for now (sealed in argon-filled vessels with tightly controlled humidity and temperature, as well as dense light filters).

[cohengm]

There is an interesting story which deals with the ink used to pen the US Consitution. The US Constitution was penned by Jacob Shallus. He was a Mennite who worked in Philadelphia for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. At that time, the capital of the colonies (i.e. USA) was in Philadelphia. He was paid $30. to pen the US Constitution. The US Consititution is made up of a vellum parchment. The ink used was gallitonic. The story goes on to say Mr. Shallus obtained this ink from a Torah scribe, a person who would write Torah scrolls for the Jewish faith. The source of this specialized ink was either Persia (aka Iran) or China. It wasn't until 1937 that Congress authorized an effort to determine who penned the US Consitution as the country celebrated the 150th anniversary of it's existence.

[dcwaites]

The big problem with iron gall inks is that up until the late 1800s there was no set formula/recipe. Consequently batches varied quite a lot, especially when made by different people.

 

You can see this very well in books like the Codex Sinaiticus and the Book of Kells, where there is often a noticeable difference between the ink used in the original writing and later corrections.

[amberleadavis]

When I was reading up on how inks fade, I read quite a lot about how historical documents have been fading away too.

 

Here was the PBS / NOVA website dedicated to the preservation of the Declaration of Independence. The Dec was definitely iron gall and parchment (treated sheepskin). Here is the link on Archives.gov.

 

What we probably don't know or remember, is that the Declaration and Constitution were not just one single copy. Think about it. The "real" Declaration of Independence would be the physical letter received by the King. Turns out, that Britain still has that original and a few of the copies we think of as "originals." Also, a lot of the damage to the documents was done by the process of creating copies.

[amberleadavis]

There is an interesting story which deals with the ink used to pen the US Consitution. The US Constitution was penned by Jacob Shallus. He was a Mennite who worked in Philadelphia for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. At that time, the capital of the colonies (i.e. USA) was in Philadelphia. He was paid $30. to pen the US Constitution. The US Consititution is made up of a vellum parchment. The ink used was gallitonic. The story goes on to say Mr. Shallus obtained this ink from a Torah scribe, a person who would write Torah scrolls for the Jewish faith. The source of this specialized ink was either Persia (aka Iran) or China. It wasn't until 1937 that Congress authorized an effort to determine who penned the US Consitution as the country celebrated the 150th anniversary of it's existence.

 

 

Welcome aboard!

[Runnin_Ute]

There is an interesting story which deals with the ink used to pen the US Consitution. The US Constitution was penned by Jacob Shallus. He was a Mennite who worked in Philadelphia for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. At that time, the capital of the colonies (i.e. USA) was in Philadelphia. He was paid $30. to pen the US Constitution. The US Consititution is made up of a vellum parchment. The ink used was gallitonic. The story goes on to say Mr. Shallus obtained this ink from a Torah scribe, a person who would write Torah scrolls for the Jewish faith. The source of this specialized ink was either Persia (aka Iran) or China. It wasn't until 1937 that Congress authorized an effort to determine who penned the US Consitution as the country celebrated the 150th anniversary of it's existence.

Great first post!!!

 

Welcome, welcome!!! to the nuthouse:)