An authentic anastatic facsimile of the original handwritten 1776 Declaration of Independence has been rescued from obscurity by Tom Lingenfelter of Bucks County, PA. Lingenfelter, historian and President of the Heritage Collectors’ Society, said the copy provides definitive evidence of how the original Declaration was damaged.
The little-known anastatic process, patented and nused briefly in the late 1840’s until eclipsed by photography and other advancing printing technologies, produced perfect likenesses of original documents, a huge advantage over other contemporary methods. However, the
process relied on taking a direct contact impression using an acid-based solution and occasionally damaged or destroyed the original.
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