Author Archives: Mary
Ratifying the Bill of Rights . . . in 1939
This post comes from Mary Ryan, managing editor of Prologue magazine. On December 15 we observe the 225th anniversary of the ratification of the Bill of Rights. One-by-one, from 1789 to 1791, the states ratified 10 amendments to the nation’s … Continue reading
While Chicago Burned
Today’s post was originally published in Prologue: Quarterly of the National Archives in the Winter 2011 issue (Vol. 43, no. 4). While Chicago Burned Records of an Obscure Court Case Yield New Details on the 1871 Fire By Ann Patricia Duffy … Continue reading
Posted in Chicago, Chicago Fire, National Archives Near You
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Regrets, he had a few . . .
This post comes to us from Miriam Kleiman, Program Director for Public Affairs. After 20 years at the National Archives (first as a researcher, then employee), I’m still delighted to discover new (to me) archival treasures. Not so long ago, a … Continue reading
Posted in The 1970s, Uncategorized
Tagged Australia, diplomatic cables, frank sinatra, sinatra, State Department
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Victory! Americans Everywhere Celebrated the End of World War II in 1945
(Today’s post is from Jim Worsham, editor of Prologue magazine, the quarterly of the National Archives and Records Administration, and is based on a longer article in the Summer 2015 issue.) President Harry S. Truman watched the clock closely, wanting … Continue reading
Posted in - World War II, Prologue Magazine, Uncategorized
Tagged Harry Truman, USS Missouri, V-J Day, World War II
Hitler’s Final Words
This post comes from Greg Bradsher’s latest article “Hitler’s Final Words” in Prologue magazine. Bradsher is a senior archivist at the National Archives and a frequent contributor to Prologue. A little after 11 p.m., Gertrude Junge, the 25-year-old secretary to Adolf Hitler, woke … Continue reading
Posted in - World War II, Prologue Magazine, Uncategorized
Tagged Berlin, Bunker, Eva Braun, Gertrude Junge, hitler, World War II
Ending the Bloodshed: The Last Surrenders of the Civil War
This post was originally published as an article by Trevor Plante in the Spring 2015 issue of Prologue magazine. Trevor K. Plante is chief of the Reference Services Branch at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. He is a supervisory archivist who specializes … Continue reading
Posted in - Civil War
Tagged appomattox, civil war, John Mosby, Joseph Johnston, Robert E. Lee, Shenandoah, Stand Watie, Ulysses Grant, William T Sherman
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Your Good Friend, Victoria R
Citizen Archivists! You can transcribe this document as part of our #SunshineWeek Transcription Challenge! The black-bordered letter sent to President Martin Van Buren relayed the official news that the king of the United Kingdom, His Majesty William IV, had died … Continue reading
Posted in - Presidents, Letters in the National Archives, Uncategorized
Tagged Great Britain, letters, Martin Van Buren, Queen of England, Victoria, William IV
An airing of grievances: A pension clerk’s appeal
In honor of Festivus, this seems like the perfect document for the airing of grievances. This feature was originally published in Prologue: Quarterly of the National Archives (Summer 2013). At the National Archives, and almost any other archival institution, one of the … Continue reading
Was Harding’s mistress a spy? The National Archives knows and tells.
Today’s post comes from Miriam Kleiman of the National Archives Public Affairs Staff. I’ve worked at the National Archives for many years and have always been content with our 13 Presidential libraries (Hoover through Bush 43). Sure, I’ve thought wistfully … Continue reading
Posted in Letters in the National Archives, Uncategorized
Tagged Carrie Phillips, letters, spies, warren harding, world war i
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Indian Treaties at the Museum of the American Indian
Almost 220 years ago, representatives of the United States and more than 1,600 people from Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy (Six Nations—Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Mohawk, and Tuscarora) gathered together near Canandaigua, New York (the Finger Lakes region) to discuss peace and … Continue reading
