ALBANY - The major general was known well enough among his troops so that his abbreviated signature - "B. Arnold" - was sufficient to ensure safe passage for anyone bearing papers from the hero of Saratoga.

But in September 1780, that signature sealed Benedict Arnold's fate as America's most infamous traitor. The handwritten passes he scrawled for "John Anderson" - AKA John Andre, a British spy - are among the most treasured items of Revolutionary War letters, maps, records, relics and other artifacts in the collections of the state library and archives, located in the New York State Museum in downtown Albany.

Thanks to a nearly $164,000 matching grant from Save America's Treasures, a public-private partnership between the National Park Service and the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Arnold note that Andre hid in his boot and hundreds of other fragile documents dating back to the 17th and 18th centuries will be conserved.

Three-dimensional objects, such as one of George Washington's dress swords, also will be preserved. With one-third of its battles fought in New York, the state is a major repository for artifacts from the nation's war for independence, according to officials involved in the preservation project.

"It speaks to the tremendous emotional connection New Yorkers feel to the Revolutionary War, much in the way Southerners connect to the Civil War," said Robert Bullock, director of the Archives Partnership Trust, a not-for-profit organization affiliated with the state archives.

Many of the documents are charred around the edges, evidence of the 1911 fire at the state Capitol that destroyed or damaged a vast collection of books and documents dating back to New York's beginnings as a Dutch colony. In the upper left corner of one pineapple-shaped scrap, the second half of Washington's signature is discernible. Other documents bear the signatures of John Hancock and James Monroe.

The journal kept during New York's 1788 ratification proceedings for the U.S. Constitution ends in two columns of signatures, including those of Alexander Hamilton and John Jay.

But it's the Washington and Arnold items that give heft to New York's cache of Revolutionary War relics. In addition to the sword and pistol, the founding father's collection includes the first draft of his farewell address of 1796 and a rare, 263-year-old illustrated book of British military uniforms.

The Arnold treason papers include the passes he signed for Andre and a list detailing the defenses and troop strengths around West Point, supplied to the redcoat spy by the American whose name would become synonymous with treachery.

Andre was hanged as a spy soon after being caught near Tarrytown with the incriminating papers stuffed in his boot.

"It's neat to think these people handled these documents directly," Arpey said.