Today's post is written by Dr. Greg Bradsher. In reviewing some text that we plan on adding to the International Research Portal for Records Related to Nazi-Era Cultural Property in conjunction with albums containing photographs depicting looted art work, Robin Waldman had a comment after she looked at the following: [Colonel Robert Storey, an American prosecutor at … Continue reading “The Numbers Don’t Add Up” — Lessons to be Learned by Archivists and Researchers
Today's guest blogger is Mark C. Mollan, a reference archivist specializing in records of the U.S. Navy and Maritime agencies at Archives I. When Herman Haupt reluctantly left the war on September 14, 1863 (150 years ago this week), he was not technically in the Army. Although addressed as General, Haupt rarely wore the full … Continue reading General Haupt’s Economic Legacy
By David Langbart The National Archives holds records relating to many firsts: First President. First airplane. First computer. First atomic bomb. First man on the moon. Here is another first. This is Lucile Atcherson. [Source: Lucile Atcherson; Official Personnel Folders-Department of State; Record Group 146: Records of the U.S. Civil Service Commission; National Archives, St. … Continue reading An Archives Filled with Firsts
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 post is written by David Langbart. To a large degree, working with the records at the National Archives is a never-ending series of fascinating encounters with the original documentation of U.S. history. The following document, a memorandum of conversation (memcon) drafted by Secretary of State John Foster Dulles in January 1954, gives an idea why … Continue reading Why working at the National Archives is so interesting
Today's blogger is Emily Hauser, a summer 2013 intern in the Archives I Reference Section who worked with Army records. While writing descriptions of records of the Adjutant General’s Office (Record Group 94), I came across some very interesting documents created by the War Department concerning various budgets from 1920 in Washington, D.C. One of the charts … Continue reading The Price of the Past
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
