As the recently-opened movie Monuments Men plays around the country, there's one macabre story you won't see on the silver screen. It's about the remains of German leaders, including Frederick the Great and Frederick William I. The Germans had hidden the caskets containing the bodies of the Fredericks and former Weimar President Paul von Hindenburg … Continue reading You won’t see this in the Monuments Men movie
Today’s post comes from Alan Walker, archivist at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland. Now, maybe it's happened to you: that "needle in a haystack," "home run," unbelievable find that blew you away, and brought joy to a researcher. We archival folks live for that moment. Let me share with you one such moment … Continue reading “I was a gunner and a gun captain on a 90MM-AAA gun during World War II…”
Today’s guest post comes from Susan K. Donius, Director of the Office of Presidential Libraries at the National Archives. President Obama is an avid football fan, an interest shared by many of his predecessors in the White House. As young men, several future Presidents played football in high school and college. Other Presidents have enthusiastically assumed the … Continue reading 10 Football Facts Featuring U.S. Presidents
In 1836, President Jackson accepted 1,400-pound wheel of cheese from Col. Thomas Meacham, a dairy farmer near Sandy Creek, NY. The cheese was mammoth, and it sat, ripening, in the White House for over a year. Eventually, Jackson invited everyone in Washington, DC, to stop by and help consume the massive wheel. He threw the … Continue reading A big cheese for the Big Cheese in 1837
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
Today's post comes from Keith Donohue, Communications Director for the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) at the National Archives. This post was also published on the White House blog. “The noblest question in the world is What Good may I do in it?” – Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1737 Today we celebrate the 308th birthday of Benjamin … Continue reading Celebrating Benjamin Franklin’s Birthday with Founders Online
A recently discovered album donated to the National Archives by Monuments Men Foundation President Robert M. Edsel is on display until February 20, 2014. The album is open to a photograph of an important painting by master French painter Jean-Honoré Fragonard. Girl Holding a Dove was repatriated by the Monuments Men in 1946. It sold … Continue reading On display: Finding stolen art using this album
Today's post comes from Cody White, archivist at the National Archives at Denver. Today marks the 178th anniversary of Charles Ingalls's birth! A simple farmer born in Cuba, New York, Ingalls would have likely languished in obscurity had not his second-born daughter Laura taken her childhood recollections and parried them into a timeless and award-winning … Continue reading A receipt for that little house on the prairie
You can't snuggle with the Constitution, but you can sleep next to it! This sleepover in the Rotunda is open to children ages 8-12, accompanied by an adult. Registration fees are $125 per person (discounted to $100 per person for Foundation members). Participants get to meet author Brad Meltzer, who will set the way for an evening of historical … Continue reading Sleepover at the National Archives!
Wow--what a year! Our editorial panel tried to limit this list to ten, but eventually we gave up and picked 14 instead. (For more great National Archives moments, check on out the Top 10 Innovative Moments of 2013.) We also want to send a big thank you to the staff members of the National Archives across … Continue reading Top 14 Moments at the National Archives in 2013
