Statue of Liberty of War; since 1933 it has been maintained by the National Park Service. Public access to the balcony around the torch has been barred for safety since 1916. According to the National Park Service, the idea for the Statue of Liberty was first proposed by Édouard René de Laboulaye, president of the French Anti-Slavery Society and a prominent and important political thinker of his time. The project is traced to a mid-1865 conversation between de Laboulaye, a staunch abolitionist, and Frédéric Bartholdi, a sculptor. In after-dinner conversation at his home near Versailles, Laboulaye, an ardent supporter of the Union in
Conservation-restoration of the Statue of Liberty May 1982 the creation of a 21-member Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Centennial Commission (better known as the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation) which would act as an "umbrella group" overseeing the French American Committee and the Ellis Island Restoration Commission. The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation would try to privately raise funds for the restoration efforts. A report prepared by the NPS in September 1982, titled "General Management Plan", sought to discuss the fundraising aims and objectives of the newly created foundation, but reiterated most of the proposed measures (concerning the statue) of the earlier 1980 report "Analysis of Alternatives"