November's Double Feature
James "Burt" Rhoads and John Taylor
We have a double feature this month — memories from 5th Archivist of the United States Burt Rhoads, and memories about legendary reference archivist John Taylor.
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75 Years of Discovering Archival Treasures
With political commentator Cokie Roberts and others
In 1934 with a flourish of his signature on an Act of Congress, President Franklin Roosevelt established the National Archives. At that time the National Archives Building was only partially completed and the newly formed staff worked with federal government agencies to locate records to be transferred to this agency in order to preserve them for future generations. Over the past seventy five years billions of maps, still pictures, textual documents, artifacts, and electronic records have been accessioned and many of these used by researchers.
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Liz Safly
Safly seasoned by 47 years of service
The Harry S. Truman Library in Independence, Missouri, contains many treasures: 28,000 objects in its museum collection, about 15,000,000 pages of manuscript materials, approximately 6,500,000 White House files, 112,000 still pictures, 1,000 hours of audio disc and tape recordings, 400 motion pictures and 75 hours of video tape recordings, a collection of more than 30,000 books, 10,000 serials and 1,400 microfilm copies of printed materials. Oh, and Liz Safly.
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Touching History
A treasure vault tour for members of the United States Coast Guard
Here, at the National Archives, we were given the special opportunity to thank a select group of the United States Coast Guard members for their service with a special tour of the Archives I Textual Records Services Division vault to show how the fulfillment of NARA's mission keeps history alive.
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75 Years from a Community Perspective
A panel met to discuss the National Archives from a community perspective in Washington DC, across the country, and on the web
On Wednesday, June 17, 2009, six well-respected scholars sat in the William G. McGowan Theater and shared their stories. Take a look at what they had to say.
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Travels of the Charters of Freedom
The Declaration of Independence and Constitution of the United States join the Bill of Rights in the Rotunda of the National Archives Building
When people think of the National Archives, the Charters of Freedom come to mind. But how did they get here? Where were they before? And what sort of journey did they have before they found a permanent home at the National Archives Building in Washington, DC?
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Amateur Teenage “Dinosaur Hunter’s” Find Ends up in the National Archives
Discovery proves dinosaurs once roamed New Jersey! Archives records show teenager lobbied President Nixon
In 1968, when the discovery of dinosaur tracks in an abandoned quarry in Roseland, New Jersey, made the local news, two teenage boys in a nearby town jumped on their bicycles and went to investigate. Working on their own, they uncovered thousands of fossilized dinosaur tracks, which an expert later described as “something of a milestone in the history of these animals because of the large number of tracks.”
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L.J. Weil
Rejected marine mascot becomes lifelong army man
Last month, Miriam Kleiman wrote about a letter written in Braille to President Dwight D. Eisenhower from a young boy in the fall of 1956. This month, she writes about another favorite letter from the “Dear Uncle Sam” section of children’s letters in the National Archives Public Vaults permanent exhibition.
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John Beaulieu
He liked Ike
The “Dear Uncle Sam” section of the “Public Vaults” consists of children’s letters to government officials, often offering tips or guidance. One unusual letter in the stack is a letter written in Braille to President Dwight D. Eisenhower from a young boy in the fall of 1956. Thirteen-year-old John Beaulieu offered the President the following campaign stump speech: “Vote for me. I will help you out. I will lower the prices and also your tax bill. I also will help the negroes, so that they may go to school.”
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Junior high sweethearts get engaged at the National Archives
Site of proposal marks anniversary of first kiss during 8th grade visit to the Rotunda
The most romantic Archives moment in recent memory began with an email sent to the general National Archives Visitor Services mailbox. While most requests are routine, a July 10, 2008, request from Matt Whitmer of Atlanta was different: “I am writing to request a visit to the National Archives. This will be a very special trip for me as I am going to propose to my girlfriend at this time.” That alone would have been momentous, but there was more.
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Her Happy Discovery, The Find of His Career
Archivist confirmed that U-boat captain learned of daughter's birth just before his death
Archivist Timothy P. Mulligan was back in the stacks that day, running down a long shot. A National Archives expert on German submarines, Mulligan already had found for a Virginia woman detailed records of her father's service as a U-boat skipper during World War II. But the woman said she still wondered if her father was aware she had been born just before his boat was sunk near Iceland in 1943.
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