Conserved quantities are identified in the equations describing large-amplitude free vibrations of beams projected onto their linear normal modes. This is achieved by writing the geometrically-exact equations of motion in their intrinsic, or Hamiltonian, form before the modal transformation. For nonlinear free vibrations about a zero-force equilibrium, it is shown that the finite-dimensional equations of motion in modal coordinates are energy preserving, even though they only approximate the total energy of the infinite-dimensional system. For beams with constant follower forces, energy-like conserved quantities are also obtained in the finite-dimensional equations of motion via Casimir functions. The duality between space and time variables in the intrinsic description is finally carried over to the definition of a conserved quantity in space, which is identified as the local cross-sectional power. Numerical examples are used to illustrate the main results.