Hope You Got That Declaration Shot in Already!

Word is filtering down today that the National Archives will be banning photography come February 24th (we saw it on the Post via WeLoveDC). According to their notice in the Federal Register, the Archives "seeks to ensure the necessary protection for the documents from the cumulative effects of photographic flash and to enhance the overall visitor experience."

Now we aren't going to quibble with the first part of their explanation. The Declaration of Independence, Constitution, Bill of Rights, etc. are priceless national treasures (I don't care if Nic Cage says so too, they are!) and the American people are going to hold the Archives responsible for their condition. If too many visitors' flashes are going off, so be it. I tell my groups on the bus, most of my teachers re-iterate it, the guards at the door tell visitors, and we're reminded before we go into the Rotunda. And yet, I still have a handful every year that don't get the message. So if this is what has to happen, ok then.

But I don't buy the second part. As quoted in the Register, "NARA does not believe that this rule will create problems for tourists. The agency believes this rule creates a better visitor experience." Now, this rule will, quite frankly, create a better tour guide experience for me. But I fail to see how this is better for visitors. There are three places that every group kills my time-line getting the same shot: here, the White House, and from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial looking east. I used to rail against this, try to hurry them along, bemused at these silly tourists and frustrated at the havoc they are wrecking with my schedule.

And then it dawned on me, as it has failed to do with the National Archives: this is the experience they are here to get, not my feeble attempts. Its my problem, not theirs; hurrying along trying to cross things off a list. So what if ten thousand people this month have already got the same shot? Or that a simple flickr search can get dozens of the same image? Or, as the Archives so patronizingly says, " the National Archives Shop has facsimiles of various sizes and price ranges available for purchase". None of these get it. The point is, that these cheesy pictures have served to make the visit real and theirs to hundreds of thousands of Americans every year. It's a connection they both communally and individually achieve. Now we'll all just file by, respectful and silent. Like at a tomb.

And also, speaking as someone reasonably familiar with the ways of Washington, it is supremely cheesy to slip this out in the Federal Register. A sixty day comment period only announced in the Register? Come on, that's weak. Like I said, if it has to happen for preservation reasons, most of us can support that. Why not announce it then? Did you think we wouldn't notice? There's a reason only three people commented; no one saw it! We expect better, Archives. I can't help but notice that your website still does not reflect this change.

The National Archives is an incredible institution, one of my favorite places to visit. This was poorly handled.