Using Technology to Preserve History

n the movie National Treasure, the hero was involved in uncovering clues about a treasure so great that it had been hidden by a secret society of Free Masons to keep it safe from falling into the wrong hands. During one part of the film the hero pieces together clues from a cipher code that is written into a series of letters that Benjamin Franklin wrote to his brother's newspaper, The New England Current under the guise of an elderly spinster.

To help break the code the hero made copies of the original letters using a digital document scanner. The digital scans that could be handled with ease were able to protect the original documents that were over 200 years old.

By making the digital copy of the original the hero of the film was able to examine the documents without damaging them, thereby preserving their historical value in mint condition. Although the plot to uncover the secret messages hidden in the cipher codes was foiled by agents from the FBI, the plan of viewing and deciphering the codes from the scanned documents was sound.

Scanning historical documents and data is an excellent way to display copies of famous parchments without endangering the originals. The Declaration of Independence for example can be found in many schools and colleges throughout the country in the form of digitally reproduced scans that would not be available without the technology of the document scanner.

Although the fictitious Hollywood portrayal of the movie has no foundation in there being some hidden treasure of vast wealth the fact that the preservation of historical documents and the fragile nature of those documents can be preserved with the aid of digital scans is very real and available to almost anyone that wants to preserve their originals and display a simulated copy.

Scanner Solutions (http://www.scannersolutions.com) offers professional scanners, Cannon document scanner parts, and services. Let us help you in the transition to a paperless company with document scanning and a Cannon document scanner. Billings Farnsworth is a freelance writer.