Just in time to coincide with the theatrical release of National Treasure: Book of Secrets, Disney has re-released National Treasure in a new two-disc collectors edition.
Benjamin Franklin Gates (Nicolas Cage) has heard the legend all his life of a treasure beyond anyone's dreams. It was supposedly hidden by the Founding Fathers and they left clues along the way to point to the treasure's location. Gates' own family has a special connection to the treasure and this is what motivates him to continue his quest.
He teams up with a shady financier by the name of Ian Howe (Sean Bean). Together they've gone to the Antarctic to follow up on the only clue Gates has to the treasure: a ship lost in the ice named Charlotte. The discovery of the clue there leads them to conclude that the next clue is on the back of the Declaration of Independence. Howe decides that their best option is to steal it.
Gates is totally against the plan and that's where they part ways. Gates tries to inform the authorities but no one takes him seriously. This leaves him with only one choice: in order to protect the Declaration of Independence he has to steal it himself. There's also no telling what he will find once he inspects it if he ever gets the chance. It quickly becomes a race to decipher the clues and find the mysterious treasure if it exists at all.
The film was a runaway success in its original theatrical and DVD release. It's no surprise, consider the fast-paced action of the film. At first blush, the idea of stealing the Declaration of Independence may seem implausible but the filmmakers manage to make it completely believable.
For the new edition of the DVD, Disney located additional deleted scenes not included in the first release (including commentary from director Jon Turtletaub). They added for new featurettes that greatly expands on the original offering.
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1 - Professional_Archivist
Archivists like Abigail Chase in National Treasure are people who work with original documents on a daily baisis. Archivists read, organize, preserve, and make available "treasures" most people rarely see. Massive digitization projects underway at archives and libraries around the world are now making images of these unique papers available to the public through the internet.
Anyone interested in learning more about the archival profession should check out sites like archivopedia.com. There you can search for historical documents and finding guides in the National Archives and other repositories, link to professional and educational organizations that deal with primary sources, use a free online encyclopedia of archival terms, read blogs of professional archivists to glimpse "behind the scenes" of archivists' lives, and read about primary source documents making news headlines. You can even chat with an archivist about using primary sources to help with history homework assignments.
Archives aren't just dusty papers in a basement or some warehouse. They are history. National Treasure is a wonderful example of making historic documents and their stories come to life.
--A professional archivist