Records of the Foreign Affairs Agencies in the National Archives Bearing on the History of United States Relations with Africa-III: Records of Agencies Other Than the Department of State

Today’s post is written by David Langbart, an Archivist in the Textual Records Division at the National Archives at College Park. At the 1969 National Archives Conference on the National Archives and Foreign Relations Research, the proceedings of which were published in 1974,[1] Morris Rieger, a longtime National Archives staff member, contributed a paper entitled … Continue reading Records of the Foreign Affairs Agencies in the National Archives Bearing on the History of United States Relations with Africa-III: Records of Agencies Other Than the Department of State

Know Your Records: USAID, RG 286, Part I

By Alfie Paul The National Archives has a program of presentations called Know Your Records through which archivists, volunteers, and others share their knowledge of our records with you, the public.  It is a great way for interested individuals to learn what we have and how to use what we have to their advantage. The … Continue reading Know Your Records: USAID, RG 286, Part I

Irish American Heroes

By Alfie Paul Tomorrow we are all Irish.  So, to celebrate St. Patirck's Day I had a look around our holdings to see how The Text Message could celebrate Eire.  As always I used our Online Public Access (OPA) system and found some expected things: Consular records in RG 84 (Records of the Foreign Service Posts … Continue reading Irish American Heroes

Our Mission: The Missions of AID, Part II

Today's post is written by Alan Walker, a processing archivist in Research Services. Earlier I described to you the Overseas Mission records of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and our project to transform them from the unfortunate and inaccessible state in which they arrived at Archives II. These records have proven a time-consuming challenge for … Continue reading Our Mission: The Missions of AID, Part II

Fun with OPA

By Alfie Paul Screen Shot of OPA search results A couple of weeks ago I overheard a converstation between some colleagues discussing OPA.  “Try finding it in OPA,” one said.  They went on to discuss OPA functionality and benefits and use.  I assumed OPA was one of those things above my pay-grade about which I … Continue reading Fun with OPA

If I Was in Charge…

By Denise Henderson We want to hear from our researchers!  Here’s your chance to tell us what record groups you would like to see us working on…if you were in charge! In the last few years, the archivists working in the Textual Archives Services Division at Archives II  have been involved in several large-scale processing projects.  … Continue reading If I Was in Charge…

NAMES AND KEYWORDS in Record Group 469: Records of U.S. Foreign Assistance Agencies, part II

Today’s post is written by Robert Fahs, a processing archivist who works with civilian textual records. This is the second post in an occasional series. For the first post, go here. W. Averell Harriman, Jr.  (1891-1986) played a leading role in President Truman’s Point Four agencies, first as the United States Special Representative (1948-1950) responsible … Continue reading NAMES AND KEYWORDS in Record Group 469: Records of U.S. Foreign Assistance Agencies, part II

NAMES AND KEYWORDS in Record Group 469: Records of U.S. Foreign Assistance Agencies, part I

Today’s post and other posts in this series are written by Robert Fahs, a processing archivist who works with civilian textual records. This blog entry begins an occasional series of descriptions intended to introduce names and keywords useful for searching ARC entries from Record Group 469: Records of U.S. Foreign Assistance Agencies, 1942 - 1961. … Continue reading NAMES AND KEYWORDS in Record Group 469: Records of U.S. Foreign Assistance Agencies, part I

I hope my crown doesn’t clash with my dress

By Denise Henderson Our pals over at Prologue:  Pieces of History have “Facial Hair Friday;”  here at The Text Message, we give you “Beauty Queen Monday.”  The document featured in today's post is from the January – February 1960 issue of The Shield, an employee newsletter published by the International Cooperation Administration (ICA).  You can … Continue reading I hope my crown doesn’t clash with my dress