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In the "design, style, and symbolism" section there are insufficient details and references related to Batholdi's original design that included the placement of broken chains in the statue's hands instead of tablet. Recommend the following be added: When Bartholdi created the first models, the statue’s hands were holding broken chains to signify the end of slavery. American financiers did not approve the idea, so Bartholdi replaced the chains with a tablet. Bartholdi, however, left broken chains at the feet of the stature which cannot be seen by visitors as they sit atop the pedestal, however, they can be seen from an aerial view.
References: Cite error: There are <ref> tags on this page without content in them (see the help page).Leary, Joy DeGruy. Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America's Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing. Milwaukie,
@Wehwalt I'm a little puzzled at the justification for my reversion. I'm aware the United States does not need to act upon the French politician's demands as he's not a government official, but surely it wouldn't matter irrespective of whether it were an MEP, the president, or any random member of the French public—there's never any burden on the US itself. It's not the obligation of the return that's important in my opinion, but instead the tension between the nations involved in the gifting of the statue itself. Surely that would warrant inclusion in the article? AviCapt (talk to me!) 01:49, 19 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Mainly because a demand for the return of the statue from someone without any power, a MEP, isn't very important in the 140 year history of the statue. And that's the gist of it, it isn't tension between the nations, it's a MEP who is not a French official. I would think differently about it if it were Macron, or a cabinet official. If this goes somewhere, of course reassess, but right now, there's nothing there. Wehwalt (talk) 01:52, 19 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]
There's a lot of coverage, including in WP:RS. WP:DUE isn't based on the political influence of individuals, but on coverage. Now there is no reason to go overboard of course, but a brief mention about it doesn't seem unreasonable. TylerBurden (talk) 20:26, 19 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]
We write for the long term here, the history of a statue that has been around 140 years. Per WP:RECENTISM, we "aim toward a long-term, historical view". Right now, we don't have that. We have one guy who got a lot of reaction, but he isn't even a member of the national parliament. Let's give it long enough to see if it has legs.Wehwalt (talk) 20:53, 19 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]
If (a pretty big if) I recall correctly, there was an article about the absolutely awful state of the statue in the 1980's in the engineering journal Corrosion (I think that's the correct name, could have been Corrosion Science?). The restoration of the statue then wasn't a given, it was controversial. Lots of people believed it wasn't worth the $ to refurbish - hence the need for the charitable funding drive led by Iacocca. I was shocked at how bad the corrosion was (based on that article), and how bad the structure was damaged (under the copper curtain walls). I find both the poor maintenance and the public's wishy-washy attitude towards it notable and need further exposition here, imho. It might also be a good idea to explain what galvanic corrosion is in a bit more depth and that copper and iron (or steel) form a galvanic cell with a hefty potential (potential = voltage = chemical potential = energy sorta kinda). Also, it's mentioned that asbestos was a failed effort to protect from galvanic corrosion. The problem with this is that if the asbestos was applied in ~1886 and it was found "to be a failure" in 1986, then it's arguably a damn fine success. Expecting an insulating layer - of any type - to function for multiple decades is overly optimistic. (depending on layer thickness, of course - the Ozone Layer works well enough) The painting of the Golden Gate Bridge in California never ends. By the time they get to one end, it's time to start over at the other. Same with any large engineering structure - coatings have life times. (This is why waste dumps, after being capped (sealed) still require monitoring and why nuclear fuel waste is so problematic. Nothing lasts forever. (The Appalachians were once higher than the current Rocky Mtns...) (Too bad the managers at the Arecibo Telescope were oblivious to well-established corrosion science - you get what you pay for, and they weren't willing to pay for structural integrity.) but I digress98.22.50.44 (talk) 06:54, 5 August 2025 (UTC)[reply]
That sounds like it would be a fair-size addition to this article, which is already approaching ten thousand words. It might be more useful to have a stand-alone article on the 80s renovation, including the technical, political and financial aspects. Wehwalt (talk) 16:21, 5 August 2025 (UTC)[reply]
level-4 vital article is rated FA-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.
