![Mary Lynn Ritzenthaler (28418431130)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/Mary_Lynn_Ritzenthaler_%2828418431130%29.jpg)
Mary Lynn Ritzenthaler is an American archivist who has served as the Chief of the Conservation Laboratory at the
National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) since 1985.
Education
Ritzenthaler received her undergraduate degree in English from
Wayne State University
Wayne State University (WSU) is a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's third-largest university. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 350 programs to nearly 25,000 ...
. She also attended Wayne State for her Master's in Library Science, with a concentration in archives administration.
Career
Ritzenthaler has served as the Chief of the Conservation Laboratory at the
National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) since 1985. She worked for the
Society of American Archivists
The Society of American Archivists is the oldest and largest archivist association in North America, serving the educational and informational needs of more than 5,000 individual archivist and institutional members. Established in 1936, the organi ...
(SAA) and the
University of Illinois-Chicago
The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) is a public research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its campus is in the Near West Side community area, adjacent to the Chicago Loop. The second campus established under the University of Illinois sy ...
. She has written extensively, as well as lectured throughout the United States, on archives preservation. Many of her lectures focused on techniques to preserve family photos, recipes, books and other papers. Her most well-known works are ''Preserving Archives and Manuscripts'' and ''Photographs: Archival Care and Management'', both of which were published through the
Society of American Archivists
The Society of American Archivists is the oldest and largest archivist association in North America, serving the educational and informational needs of more than 5,000 individual archivist and institutional members. Established in 1936, the organi ...
. From 1999-2003, Ritzenthaler led the conservation team that treated and re-encased the
Charters of Freedom
The term Charters of Freedom is used to describe the three documents in early American history which are considered instrumental to its founding and philosophy. These documents are the United States Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, ...
(the
Declaration of Independence
A declaration of independence or declaration of statehood or proclamation of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the ...
, the
Constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When ...
, and the
Bill of Rights
A bill of rights, sometimes called a declaration of rights or a charter of rights, is a list of the most important rights to the citizens of a country. The purpose is to protect those rights against infringement from public officials and pri ...
). She was the last person to touch the Declaration of Independence before it was re-cased. She retired from the National Archives in 2016 after serving over 30 years in archives preservation and conservation.
Publications
* Preserving Archives and Manuscripts (2010)
* Photographs : Archival Care and Management (2006)
* Archives and Manuscripts : Administration of Photo Collections (1984)
* Archives and Manuscripts : Conservation (1983)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ritzenthaler, Mary Lynn
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
American archivists
Female archivists
Wayne State University alumni
University of Illinois Chicago faculty
National Archives and Records Administration