On Tuesday, July 2, 2019, Lester Gorelic gave a talk in the William G. McGowan Theater in the National Archives Building in Washington, DC, on The Faulkner Murals: Revealing Their Stories. It is available for viewing on YouTube. In 2014 the National Archives' Prologue magazine published Lester Gorelic’s article, The Faulkner Murals: Depicting the Creation … Continue reading The Story of the Faulkner Murals
Today’s post is from Jim Worsham, editor of Prologue magazine, the quarterly of the National Archives. Was Dwight D. Eisenhower—the architect of the allied victory over the Nazis in World War II and our President during the peaceful 1950s—a secret New Dealer? Eisenhower, elected President as a Republican in 1952, brought in with him a Republican-controlled Congress. … Continue reading Was Ike a secret New Dealer?
October is American Archives Month! We're celebrating the work of archivists and the importance of archives with a series of blog posts about the Presidential libraries. The records created by Presidents while in office will become part of the National Archives, and eventually will be used by researchers. Here's how it happens! Today's post comes … Continue reading The Creation of the Nixon Library
(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 to abide by the agreement to make the historic announcement at the same time as … Continue reading Victory! Americans Everywhere Celebrated the End of World War II in 1945
In celebration of National Dog Day, today’s post comes from Meagan Frenzer, graduate research intern for the National Archives History Office in Washington, DC. The Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum maintains documents of critical participants within the FDR administration. This list includes prominent figures such as Frances Perkins, Harry L. Hopkins, Henry Morgenthau, … Continue reading The First Dog, Fala Roosevelt
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 from a one-hour nap, and, thinking it was time for the nightly tea with her … Continue reading Hitler’s Final Words
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 principal rules for using original records is to keep the records in the same order … Continue reading An airing of grievances: A pension clerk’s appeal
Today's post commemorates National Dog Day, which celebrates dogs everywhere on August 26. Bow-wow! Calling all dog lovers—arguably history’s best known Presidential pet was Franklin Roosevelt’s Scottish terrier, Murray the Outlaw of Falahill (Fala for short), who was named after FDR’s famous Scottish ancestor, John Murray. He was given to Roosevelt in 1940 as a Christmas … Continue reading Fala and Barkers for Britain, 1941
A new movie due for release next month tells the story of a special unit of Allied soldiers in Europe at the end of World War II. They were charged with finding and savings works of art and other cultural artifacts that the Nazis had seized. Officially, this unit was called the Monuments, Fine Art, … Continue reading Monuments Men Coming to the National Archives
This self portrait, with carefully groomed mustache in the center, is a glamorous photo of a hardworking, groundbreaking photographer. James Stephen "Steve" Wright was from a working-class family in Washington, DC. By the 1940s he was head of photographic operations for the Federal Works Agency. But like many young black men at the time, he … Continue reading Facial Hair Friday: Portrait of the Artist with a Mustache
