Records of the Foreign Affairs Agencies in the National Archives Bearing on the History of United States Relations with Africa-III: Records of Agencies Other Than the Department of State

Today’s post is written by David Langbart, an Archivist in the Textual Records Division at the National Archives at College Park. At the 1969 National Archives Conference on the National Archives and Foreign Relations Research, the proceedings of which were published in 1974,[1] Morris Rieger, a longtime National Archives staff member, contributed a paper entitled … Continue reading Records of the Foreign Affairs Agencies in the National Archives Bearing on the History of United States Relations with Africa-III: Records of Agencies Other Than the Department of State

Know Your Records: USAID, RG 286, Part II

By Alfie Paul So, what is in the RG 286 Records (Record Group 286: Records of the Agency for International Development, 1948 - 2003), and how should researchers approach diving in to the world of USAID? Most important is for researchers to have as much specific information as possible depending on how specific your research … Continue reading Know Your Records: USAID, RG 286, Part II

Know Your Records: USAID, RG 286, Part I

By Alfie Paul The National Archives has a program of presentations called Know Your Records through which archivists, volunteers, and others share their knowledge of our records with you, the public.  It is a great way for interested individuals to learn what we have and how to use what we have to their advantage. The … Continue reading Know Your Records: USAID, RG 286, Part I

Political Sensitivity at the Peak of the Cold War

By Jason Clingerman In February 1963, the United Nations (UN) held the UN Conference on the Application of Science and Technology for the Benefit of the Less Developed Areas (UNCAST) in Geneva, Switzerland. This conference, held at the peak of the Cold War, brought together about 1,600 delegates from 96 countries, including delegations from both … Continue reading Political Sensitivity at the Peak of the Cold War

Development Alternatives, Inc. (DAI)

By Jason Clingerman Given the recent appearance of the development company Development Alternatives, Inc. (DAI) in the news regarding the case of Alan Gross, the development worker who was jailed in Cuba in 2009 accused of working for U.S. intelligence services, I thought it would be worthwhile to mention that records relating to development projects … Continue reading Development Alternatives, Inc. (DAI)

Our Mission: The Missions of AID, Part II

Today's post is written by Alan Walker, a processing archivist in Research Services. Earlier I described to you the Overseas Mission records of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and our project to transform them from the unfortunate and inaccessible state in which they arrived at Archives II. These records have proven a time-consuming challenge for … Continue reading Our Mission: The Missions of AID, Part II

Our Mission: The Missions of AID, Part I

Today’s post is written by Alan Walker, a processing archivist in Research Services. Since 2010, the Record Group 286 Processing Team has been steadily transforming the 11,700 cubic feet of paper records of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) housed here at Archives II. A lot of preparation goes into such a massive project … Continue reading Our Mission: The Missions of AID, Part I

If I Was in Charge…

By Denise Henderson We want to hear from our researchers!  Here’s your chance to tell us what record groups you would like to see us working on…if you were in charge! In the last few years, the archivists working in the Textual Archives Services Division at Archives II  have been involved in several large-scale processing projects.  … Continue reading If I Was in Charge…