Today's blogger is Meghan Milam, a summer 2013 intern in the Archives I Reference Section who worked with court records. Rights guaranteed by the First Amendment are by no means clearly defined. Contentious, news-worthy cases like those involving Pfc. Manning or Edward Snowden bring the debate into the broader public. The phrase “clear and present danger” is used … Continue reading A Glimpse into the Sedition Case of 1944
Today's guest blogger is Nick Baric, an archivist in the Archives I Processing Section. On August 23, 2011, the Washington, DC, area was rocked by the one of the largest east coast earthquakes in recorded U.S. history. Few of us who were around on that day will ever forget where they were when it struck, … Continue reading “A Rumbling Fearful Noise”: Charleston Earthquake of 1886
Today's post is written by Michael Rhodes, an archives technician in the Archives' National Declassification Center. Fifty years after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, we are still piecing together the actions of his administration. From the Records of the Office of the Secretary of Defense (Record Group 330), a report – probably one … Continue reading Cuban Missile Crisis, Revisited
Today's post is written by archivist Shane Bell of the National Archives at Atlanta. The so-called golden age of piracy ended in the early 18th century, decades before the first shot of the American Revolution. During what is often referred to as the Second War for Independence, however, the last significant era of this practice, legally … Continue reading The War of 1812: Privateers, Plunder, & Profiteering
Today's post is written by Dr. Greg Bradsher. Elizabeth Hamer, the chief of the National Archives Exhibits and Publications staff, maintained a very detailed daily diary of everything she and her staff did between 1946 and 1951. While conducting research for an article on the 1946 accessioning and exhibiting of Adolf Hitler’s Last Will and … Continue reading 13 Rue Madeleine and the National Archives
Today's post is written by Chelsey MacBride-Gill, a College Park volunteer. While processing the records of the American Expeditionary Forces (10th Division HQ), I came across an unusual letter from a concerned citizen Thomas Hartman, dated October 12, 1918. Most of the papers in the folder simply stated that a soldier was absent without leave (AWOL) … Continue reading Service Flag Adorns an AWOL Letter
Today’s post is written by Stephanie Stegman, the special media projects volunteer at the National Archives at Fort Worth. What exactly is a “defendant jacket”? What does the charge “RLD” stand for? How do you find the records of a defendant if he or she had an alias or was charged with multiple co-defendants? These … Continue reading Defendant Jackets, Legal Abbreviations, and Aliases, Oh My!
Today's post is written by College Park archivist Kylene Tucker. As part of my ADP (Archivist Development Program) rotation with the FOIA staff, I reviewed the FBI case file of Hunter S. Thompson from the Denver Field Office. The file covers 1965-1971 when Thompson lived in Colorado briefly, moved to California, and then returned to Woody … Continue reading Fear and loathing at the National Archives
Today's post is written by Dr. Greg Bradsher and is a continuation of yesterday's post. On October 31, 1984, Leonard retired from the National Archives and the next day began turning over to Jim Hutson copies of all the documents he had collected. For the next fifteen months, in his 1952 DeSoto, Leonard traveled the same ground he … Continue reading Remembering Leonard A. Rapport {1913-2008} (continued)
Have you ever considered a career in archival work? This week, we're publishing a two-part post by Dr. Greg Bradsher remembering one of NARA's archivists. The National Archives and Records Administration has been very fortunate to have among its ranks many “giants” of the archival profession. It has also had its share of interesting characters. Leonard … Continue reading Remembering Leonard A. Rapport (1913-2008)
