Did You Know...

A Look Back at Constitution Day 1951

Constitution Day, September 17, commemorates the signing of the U.S. Constitution in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1787. On September 17, 1951, President Harry S. Truman, Librarian of Congress Luther H. Evans, and Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson presided over a ceremony during which the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence were placed in specially constructed cases that were filled with helium gas to prevent further deterioration. Later that year, it was determined that these historic Founding Documents would be transferred to the National Archives per the Federal Records Act of 1950. In 1952, the documents were transferred under armed guard from the Library of Congress to the National Archives. That December, Chief Justice Vinson presided over the unveiling ceremony.

The National Archives serves as the third home to the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. In 1921, per the recommendation of then-Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes, President Warren Harding signed an executive order transferring the documents from the State Department—where they had been housed for over 130 years—to the Library of Congress. The documents remained on display there, except for a few years during World War II when they were transferred to Fort Knox for safekeeping.