May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. Visit the National Archives website for more information on our related holdings. Today's guest blogger is Zack Wilske, Senior Historian at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) Chinese Exclusion Act case files held at National Archives facilities across the country provide valuable resources … Continue reading Chinese Exclusion Act Case Files and the USCIS Master Index
Since the National Archives was established more than 80 years ago, millions of people from the United States and abroad have visited our historic building in Washington, DC. Ten of those visitors were sitting U.S. Presidents. In 1933, before there was a building, President Herbert Hoover became the first President to visit when he laid … Continue reading From 1600 to 700 Pennsylvania Avenue: Presidential Visits to the National Archives
In the National Archives Building in Washington, DC, hang portraits of the first nine Archivists of the United States, and Waldo Gifford Leland, who was instrumental in the agency’s creation. Sharing a wall with Leland and the first U.S. Archivist Robert D.W. Connor is the portrait of our second Archivist, Solon J. Buck. Buck became … Continue reading Solon Buck Portrait
March is Women's History Month! Visit our website for more resources on women's history and to see how the National Archives is celebrating the month. Today's post comes from Alan Walker, an archivist in Textual Processing at Archives II. I am flabbergasted at how popular this photograph has become. Mrs. Adelaide Ansley Checking Hygrothermograph in Stack Area, 1940. (National … Continue reading What’s Your Story, Adelaide Minogue?
March is Women’s History Month! Today’s post comes from Elle Benak in the National Archives History Office. In spring 1976 the National Archives held a ground-breaking conference on women’s history. It highlighted National Archives records that focused on the subject and discussed how women’s history could be studied as part of general history; not just … Continue reading Women’s History in the Archives
February is African American History Month! Visit the National Archives website to learn more about our many events and activities celebrating African American History. In the late 1960s the National Archives began hosting conferences for researchers and scholars. These were held on a variety of subjects, but all related to records held by the institution. The … Continue reading African American History at the National Archives
Today’s post comes from Elle Benak from the National Archives History Office. On December 28, 1955, the American Historical Association dedicated a plaque to J. Franklin Jameson, noting his “persistence and wise guidance” in establishing the National Archives. The plaque still hangs on the wall in the Pennsylvania Avenue entrance of the National Archives Building … Continue reading J. Franklin Jameson: the Father of the National Archives
December 15 is Bill of Rights Day which commemorates the ratification of the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution. As we celebrate the 225th anniversary of the Bill of Rights on December 15—Bill of Rights Day—let’s take a look back at the origins and history of that day. On December 15, 1791, the first 10 amendments … Continue reading Bill of Rights Day
December 10 is Human Rights Day, commemorating the date the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. The United Nations was formed in 1945 to prevent the atrocities that occurred during World War II from ever happening again. One of their primary goals was, "promoting and encouraging respect for … Continue reading Human Rights for all
The December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor not only plunged the United States into world war, but it also had far-reaching ramifications for every single government agency, including the National Archives. News article on the National Archives efforts in response to the Pearl Harbor attack, November 29, 1942. (Records of the National Archives) Immediately after … Continue reading The National Archives Response to Pearl Harbor
