Today’s post is written by Dr. Greg Bradsher, Archivist at the National Archives in College Park The Civil War was swiftly coming to an end on April 3, 1865, when the President of the Confederate States of America, Jefferson Davis, his wife Varina, and their children abandoned Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederacy. On … Continue reading The National Archives and Jefferson Davis’ Cloak, Shawl, and Spurs
Today's post is written by Dr. Greg Bradsher and Dr. Sylvia Naylor, archivists at the National Archives in College Park, MD. Midway through World War II it became apparent that the United States Government had increasing need for comprehensive financial information on American property interests in foreign countries, particularly enemy and enemy-dominated nations. This need … Continue reading A President Complies with Federal Regulations: Franklin D. Roosevelt and Form TFR-500
By David Langbart Dr. Frances Oldham Kelsey, a long-time medical officer at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), died recently. Her obituaries describe a long and distinguished career at the FDA but highlight her role in preventing the approval of the drug Thalidomide for use in the United States. When used by pregnant women, that … Continue reading The Department of State and the Battle Against Thalidomide
By David Langbart The late 1950s and early 1960s saw the establishment of numerous newly independent nations in Africa and Asia. This led to an influx of foreign diplomats from countries not previously represented in Washington. At that time, the Nation’s Capital was still very much a Southern city and the non-Caucasian diplomats assigned there, … Continue reading Foreign Diplomats and Domestic Discrimination
Today’s post is written by Dr. Greg Bradsher, Archivist at the National Archives in College Park The Monuments Men (the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives (MFA&A) Specialist Officers) were busy during June 1945 locating and overseeing some 600 emergency repositories containing cultural property and providing for the evacuation of some of that property to more … Continue reading The Monuments Men in June 1945: The Evacuation of Siegen Completed
By David Langbart By Executive Order 9981 (NAID 300009), dated July 26, 1948, President Harry S Truman ordered the integration of the armed forces of the United States. Given the stationing of large numbers of American forces overseas after World War II, that move potentially had ramifications for U.S. relations with host countries. With that … Continue reading Foreign Policy Aspects of Integration of the U.S. Armed Forces
Today’s post is written by Dr. Greg Bradsher, Archivist at the National Archives in College Park Schloss Neuschwanstein, two miles east of Fussen, a picturesque little town, some 80 miles south of Munich, in southern Schwabe, Bavaria, had been a central Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR) repository for looted cultural property. A considerable bulk of this … Continue reading The Monuments Men in May 1945: Buxheim and Neuschwanstein
Today’s post is written by Dr. Greg Bradsher, Archivist at the National Archives in College Park On March 31, 1945, the 12th Army Group reported that probably the most important repository in the area immediately ahead of the forces under its command was at or near Siegen, some fifty miles east of Cologne. It noted … Continue reading The Monuments Men in April 1945: Siegen, Finally
Today's post was written by Cody White, Archivist at the National Archives in Denver. This is the last part in a three part series. Read parts one and two. For a president who was only in office a few short years before his untimely death, President John F. Kennedy certainly got around - we hold in … Continue reading On the Road Again: Presidential Visits to the West, Part III
Today's post was written by Cody White, Archivist at the National Archives at Denver. This is part two in a three part series. Read Part I. In 1930 Secretary of Interior Ray Lyman Wilber visited southern Nevada to inaugurate the construction of a long planned dam on the Colorado River. Known until then as Boulder … Continue reading On the Road Again: Presidential Visits to the West, Part II
