#ArchivesLandscape: Ansel Adams

Join us for our next #ArchivesHashtagParty, #ArchivesLandscape, taking place on Friday, February 7, 2025, on Instagram and X. Today we're sharing an update to Vincent Bartholomew's 2019 post on perhaps one of the greatest landscape photographers of all time: Ansel Adams. A keen landscape photographer, Ansel Adams is best known for his black-and-white photographs of … Continue reading #ArchivesLandscape: Ansel Adams

Romance of the Two Calendars: A Note on Dating Conventions

Today's post comes from Andrew Salyer, an archives technician at the National Archives at Philadelphia. The holdings of the National Archives tell stories. And not just stories about the United States, but also about the greater world stage. Case files created during the period of the Chinese Exclusion Act testify to this global scale. Chinese … Continue reading Romance of the Two Calendars: A Note on Dating Conventions

Historic Staff Spotlight: George Bloomquist

If you visited the National Archives Exhibition Hall—now known as the Rotunda—between the years 1942 and 1955, you would have likely seen one of the National Archives’ most dedicated and enthusiastic guards, George Bloomquist. Archivist of the United States Wayne Grover presenting an award to guard George W. Bloomquist at his retirement ceremony. Left to … Continue reading Historic Staff Spotlight: George Bloomquist

The First Presidential Inauguration

As we prepare for next week’s inaugural activities, we are looking back on our nation’s very first Presidential inauguration back in 1789. After the U.S. Constitution was ratified on June 21, 1788, the Confederation Congress passed a resolution providing that the states should choose Presidential electors on the first Wednesday in January of 1789. Congress … Continue reading The First Presidential Inauguration

More Than Watergate: The Perfect Place for a Library

Today’s post comes from Laurel Gray, an archives technician in the Research Rooms Branch at the National Archives in Washington, DC. It is the third of a four-part series on the archival ramifications of the Watergate scandal. When Richard Nixon took office in 1969, he got straight to work on his Presidential Library. He established … Continue reading More Than Watergate: The Perfect Place for a Library

A Space Cadet in the U.S. Navy: Robert Anson Heinlein

January 2 is National Science Fiction Day. Today’s post comes from Thomas Richardson, a former archives technician at the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis, Missouri. It examines one of the leading science fiction authors who drew much of his inspiration from his time in the U.S. Navy: Robert Anson Heinlein. In 2022 … Continue reading A Space Cadet in the U.S. Navy: Robert Anson Heinlein

Happy Holidays from the National Archives!

If you visited the National Archives Building in late 1974, you could purchase a specially designed holiday card with this design:  Drawing of Santa Claus viewing Charters of Freedom used on National Archives holiday greeting cards, 1974. (National Archives Identifier 35810640) The card showed Santa Claus and one of his reindeers looking at the Declaration … Continue reading Happy Holidays from the National Archives!

More Than Watergate: The PRMPA

Today’s post on the Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Act (PRMPA) comes from Laurel Gray, a processing intern with the Textual Division at the National Archives in Washington, DC. It is the second of a four-part series on the archival ramifications of the Watergate scandal. President Nixon sits before edited transcripts of his White House taped conversations … Continue reading More Than Watergate: The PRMPA

The Guardian of the Freedom Train’s Cargo: Delmar Robb

December 15 is Bill of Rights Day, which commemorates the ratification of the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution. Today we’re looking at the man who cared for the original Bill of Rights—and 126 other documents—during the 16-month Freedom Train trip across the country.  Visitors looking at the Bill of Rights in the Freedom … Continue reading The Guardian of the Freedom Train’s Cargo: Delmar Robb

Pre-federal Thanksgivings

Long before the President of the United States pardoned a turkey to celebrate Thanksgiving, the President of Congress issued proclamations encouraging its celebration. National Turkey Federation Chairman John Reicks, President Barack Obama and his nephews Austin and Aaron Robinson, react to an unexpected commotion by Tot, the National Thanksgiving Turkey, during the pardon of the … Continue reading Pre-federal Thanksgivings