President’s/Presidents’/Presidents Day?

By Alfie Paul Presidents Day is celebrated in honor of the birthday of our first president, George Washington, who was born February 22nd.  But what if he was not actually the first President of the nation? What if we celebrated this holiday in April instead?  When all of the states ratified the Articles of Confederation … Continue reading President’s/Presidents’/Presidents Day?

Boston Tea Party Etiquette

Today's post is written by Monique Politowski, and is part of her ongoing series on the Federalists. Today is the 238th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party.  On December 16, 1773, men dressed as Native Americans and wearing disguises, destroyed British owned tea by throwing it into the water of Griffin’s Wharf in Boston.  Archives II has … Continue reading Boston Tea Party Etiquette

Publius says “Trick or Treat!”

Today's post is written by Monique Politowski, and is part of her ongoing series on the Federalists. It must have been weird for the readers of the New York Independent Journal to see an essay supposedly written by a long since dead Roman.  Hamilton, Jay, and Madison all used the pseudonym “Publius,” intentionally becoming the … Continue reading Publius says “Trick or Treat!”

John Jay and the F-Word

Today’s post was written by Monique Politowski, an archives technician who works on the NARA/Ancestry digitization partnership project in Silver Spring, Maryland. Alexander Hamilton and James Madison were infamous for their use of the f-word, federalism. While John Jay’s infamy grew from his role in the Treaty of Paris (1783) (National Archives Identifier 299805), we should … Continue reading John Jay and the F-Word

After 200 years, a glimpse into The Art of Secret Writing

Today's post is written by James Rush, a supervisory archivist in the textual processing unit at Archives II. On June 8, 2011, the National Security Agency announced that it had declassified and released to the National Archives and Records Administration over 50,000 pages of historic records relating to cryptology and the history of intelligence gathering. … Continue reading After 200 years, a glimpse into The Art of Secret Writing