Today’s post was written by Addie Portela, an intern at the National Archives at Chicago. On Sunday October 8th, 1871, fire raged across the city of Chicago. Not quelled until Tuesday morning, fires devastated Chicago’s central business district. The Crosby Opera House, a theater with an art gallery attachment, was not spared from the damage. … Continue reading Pulled From the Flames: Paintings Rescued from the Great Chicago Fire
Security overlooks ducks swimming in the White House Swimming Pool (National Archives Identifier 276564131) In the month of July, when the temperature is hot, people will find relief in swimming pools all over the country. Did you know there are a number of pools that are on the National Register of Historic Places, including the … Continue reading Cannonball! Swimming Pools in the National Register of Historic Places
Today's post is written by John C. Harris, Archives Technician at National Archives at Philadelphia with a special thanks to Michael Demofonte, Archives Technician, Archives II, Research Services, Digitization Division for his editorial feedback and helping me make sense of the data. Introduction: Data. It is a daunting word for those of us who entered … Continue reading The Values of an Index: A Statistical Analysis of the Index of Case Files from Record Group 228: Records of the Committee on Fair Employment preserved by the National Archives at Philadelphia
CCC Camp (National Archives Identifier 281450) When the United States was mired in the Great Depression, President Franklin Roosevelt established the Civilian Conservation Corps, to help improve America’s public lands, forests, and parks. There are just under one thousand properties in the National Register of Historic Places associated with the CCC, including the Stowe CCC … Continue reading Records about the Civilian Conservation Corps in the National Register of Historic Places
Today's post is by Rose Buchanan, Archivist and Subject Matter Expert for Native American Related Records On July 20, 1964, Ida Ellen Stansbury Robinson of Merced, California, wrote to the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) headquarters in Washington, DC, to request information about her family history. “For a number of years I have been aware … Continue reading “I Trust You Will Be Able to Assist Me”: Genealogy Researchers Contact the Bureau of Indian Affairs
Photograph of Supreme Court Building (National Archives Identifier 594954) There are more than thirty five thousand records with the search term “courthouse” in the National Register of Historic Places records, including both the United States Supreme Court Building (National Archives Identifier 117691883), and the Oklahoma Cherokee Supreme Court Building (National Archives Identifier 86510854). “The Supreme … Continue reading Order in the Court! – Records of Courthouses in the National Register of Historic Places
The wrong way to make a mark on history
Hydroelectric Power is one of the largest sources of renewable energy and is a popular means of providing power, as long as there was a water source and there was the means to construct a plant to harness the water. There are more that four hundred properties in the records of the National Register (National … Continue reading Water, Water, Everywhere – Hydroelectric Power Plants in the National Register
Fuselage mockup for Round the World Flight
"Mine America's Coal" (National Archives Identifier 515013) Tomorrow, Friday March 16, the exhibit “Power & Light: Russel Lee’s Coal Survey” opens at the National Archives Building in Washington DC. It features “photographs of coal communities by American documentary photographer Russell Lee. These images tell the story of laborers who helped build the nation, of a … Continue reading You Load Sixteen Tons and What Do You Get? – Coal Records in the National Register
