Today’s post comes from Callie Belback from the National Archives History Office. On July 7, 1898, President William McKinley signed the joint resolution annexing the islands of Hawaii which eventually became the 50th U.S. state in 1959. Joint Resolution to provide for the annexing of the Hawaiian Islands to the United States, July 7, 1898. … Continue reading Protesting Statehood: Hawaiian Women’s Petition Against Annexation
May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Check out our website for more information about our events and resources. After the passage of the Federal Records Act of 1950, San Francisco was one of first three locations across the country to get a Federal Records Center (FRC). FRCs were essentially large warehouses for … Continue reading The National Archives in Hawaii
Today’s blog post comes from Lily Tyndall in the National Archives History Office. Hawaii’s journey to statehood was long and difficult. For centuries the islands of Hawaii were ruled by warring factions. In 1810, King Kamehameha unified all of the Hawaiian Islands into one royal kingdom. During the 19th Century, Western influence grew and by … Continue reading Hawaii’s long road to statehood
The National Archives holds many records that tell the story of the attack on Pearl Harbor. To commemorate the 70th anniversary of that day, we've gathered links from across our blogs and on Tumblr to show you some of these moving documents that we hold in safekeeping. Memo to the President This memorandum was one of the … Continue reading Records from the Day of Infamy
In the early afternoon of December 7, 1941, Franklin D. Roosevelt was just finishing lunch in his oval study on the second floor of the White House, preparing to work on his stamp album. The phone rang, and he was informed that the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, shortly before 1 p.m. Washington time, … Continue reading Crafting a Call to Arms: FDR’s Day of Infamy Speech
Last week's image may have sparked some of our best captions yet! Apparently a giant roll of paper makes our readers think of their experiences in the National Archives research room, Twitter, and toilet paper at the State Department. But it reminded us of another enormous rolled document featured on Pieces of History: a 1954 … Continue reading Thursday Photo Caption
The work the National Archives Preservation staff does every day is hardly "everyday." A recent post about Hawaii's petition for statehood on the Preservation Program's Facebook page demonstrated this fact. This preservation project stemmed from a request from our Center for Legislative Archives. Each archival unit creates annual and long-term preservation plans, and the Center's … Continue reading Aloha treatment for a 1954 Hawaii petition
