Today's post comes from National Archives Office of Strategy and Communications staff writer Rob Crotty. In honor of our Bill of Rights Twitter Contest, we thought it was high time to review all the tweeting that goes on in the National Archives family. While our tweets may be short, they are many, and so to … Continue reading NARA on Twitter
Today's post comes from National Archives Office of Strategy and Communications staff writer Rob Crotty. Readers, we now live in a brave new world of abbreviation. What was once Kentucky Fried Chicken is now KFC. What was once the Science Fiction Channel is now SyFy. For many people, this sentence makes sense: "IMHO this is NSFW" (for … Continue reading Join our Bill of Rights Twitter Contest
Today's post comes from National Archives Office of Strategy and Communications staff writer Rob Crotty. The issue of slavery divided the country under Abraham Lincoln's Presidency. The national argument was simple: either keep slavery or abolish it. But Abraham Lincoln, known as the Great Emancipator, may have also been known as the Great Colonizer when … Continue reading Lincoln to Slaves: Go Somewhere Else
Today's post comes from National Archives Office of Strategy and Communications staff writer Rob Crotty. According to Army Regulation 670-1, a soldier can now receive 31 military decorations "as a distinctively designed mark of honor denoting heroism, or meritorious or outstanding service or achievement." During the Civil War, there was only one: the Medal of … Continue reading The Medal of Honor
Today's post comes from National Archives Office of Strategy and Communications staff writer Rob Crotty. Here, in short, are the documents that made Thanksgiving. On October 3, 1789, President George Washington issued a proclamation naming Thursday, November 26, 1789, as an official holiday of "sincere and humble thanks." The nation then celebrated its first Thanksgiving … Continue reading Thanksgiving, as American as apple pie
Today's post comes from National Archives Office of Strategy and Communications staff writer Rob Crotty. In 1952, the chief of the Still Photo section at the National Archives, Josephine Cobb, discovered a glass plate negative taken by Mathew Brady of the speaker's stand at Gettysburg on the day of its dedication as a National Cemetery. … Continue reading Rare photo of Lincoln at Gettysburg
Today's post comes from National Archives Office of Strategy and Communications staff writer Rob Crotty. Today Part Two of "Discovering the Civil War" opens at the National Archives in Washington, DC. The exhibit is divided into a few sections, the last of which is entitled "Endings and Beginnings," a reference to the end of the … Continue reading The peculiar story of Wilmer McLean
Today's post comes from National Archives Office of Strategy and Communications staff writer Rob Crotty. Lincoln's funeral procession passing the Roosevelt Mansion in New York City (Courtesy New York Public Library) History is full of strange coincidences, and the Civil War is no exception. In the 1950s, Stefan Lorant was researching a book on Abraham … Continue reading Teddy Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln in the same photo
Today's post comes from National Archives Office of Strategy and Communications staff writer Rob Crotty. On the creation of new states, the Constitution is pretty clear. Article IV, Section 3, reads that "no new States shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State ... without the Consent of the Legislatures of … Continue reading Is West Virginia Constitutional?
Today's post comes from National Archives Office of Strategy and Communications staff writer Rob Crotty. In the history of Presidential elections, there has never been a battle of the beards. Beards have challenged mustaches. Mustaches have challenged clean-shaven candidates. Clean-shaven candidates have challenged beards. But never in the history of our republic, have two bearded … Continue reading FHF: The Beard Gap
