April 1, 2016, marks the 31st anniversary of the National Archives independence. Today’s post come from Kaitlin Errickson of the National Archives History Office. The National Archives has a turbulent history. First, the historical community had to fight for years and years to establish a National Archives. Then Congress passed legislation authorizing an independent National … Continue reading An Independent National Archives
The National Archives History Office continues to celebrate Women's History Month. Today's post comes from Kirsten Dillon. Claudine Weiher, former Deputy Archivist, was born Claudine Jackson on November 24, 1941, in Kansas City, MO. Dr. James B. Rhoads presents an award to Claudine Weiher, Planning and Analysis Branch, Office of the Executive Director. She was … Continue reading Claudine Weiher: The Fight for Independence
Every year, Independence Day at the National Archives is an exciting and celebratory day. In addition to signing a facsimile of the Declaration of Independence, hearing "America the Beautiful" performed by an international champion whistler, and mingling with Thomas Jefferson and Abigail Adams, you can join us this year in tweeting, Instagram-ing, and sharing on … Continue reading Join the Fourth of July Conversation on Social Media
The Federal Penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas, has housed some famous and infamous inmates, such as “Birdman of Alcatraz” Robert Stroud and Machine Gun Kelly. In the early 20th century, the prison took in some less likely felons—violators of the Oleomargarine Act of 1886. How did trafficking in this popular butter substitute become a Federal offense? … Continue reading What’s Cooking Wednesdays: Crimes against butter
Congratulations, Teresa Martin Klaiber, for bringing a smile to the face of Gwen Granados, our guest judge from the National Archives at Riverside. She shared this photograph with us, and we all agreed it was eminently caption-worthy. (Teresa, if you send an e-mail to prologue@nara.gov, I can send you your 15% discount code to use at … Continue reading Thursday caption contest
Someone who read my post on Squirrel Appreciation Day alerted me to World Sparrow Day, which was Sunday, March 20. This inspired me to dive back into Online Public Access (OPA) on the National Archives web site. I typed in "sparrow," and amid many references to the U.S. Marines, missiles, and Sparrows Point shipyard were a couple of photographs of the … Continue reading Roosting in the records
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
Following upon the spate of movies in recent years about British female royalty (the Elizabeths and Victoria), we now have one about British male royalty, The King’s Speech, starring Colin Firth as George VI. It focuses on George VI (the current monarch's father) and his struggle to overcome stuttering and stammering, especially when he spoke … Continue reading A hot dog for the King
Today's post comes from National Archives Office of Strategy and Communications staff writer Rob Crotty. We here at the National Archives noticed that many politicians these days use Twitter to deliver messages. Often this involves using numbers instead of letters, and symbols to convey a complex point in just a few words. So we asked … Continue reading If our Founding Fathers had Twitter (Final!)
Today's post comes from National Archives Office of Strategy and Communications staff writer Rob Crotty. You may have noticed that things look a little different on our website today. That's because the National Archives just received a digital makeover, streamlining our look and feel and moving some items around on the back end too. While … Continue reading ‘Open’ for business
