Turning Points
Ideas from the National Archives for National History Day
Facilities of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) across the country contain a wealth of primary source documents related to Turning Points in History. This page provides links to descriptions of resources available from some our Regional Facilities and Presidential Libraries. These ideas are provided to encourage research in archival documents. For more information about these records, contact the Presidential Library or Regional Facility directly.
Resources from:
- The Herbert Hoover Library in West Branch, IA
- The Franklin D. Roosevelt Library in Hyde Park, NY
- The Harry S. Truman Library in Independence, MO
- The John F. Kennedy Library in Boston, MA
- The Gerald R. Ford Library in Ann Arbor, MI
- NARA's Central Plains Region (Kansas City)
- NARA's Northeast Region (New York City)
- NARA's Pacific Region (Riverside)
- NARA's Pacific Region (San Francisco)
- NARA's Southeast Region (Atlanta)
Resources Related to:
Air and Space
- Early Developments in Aviation: Wright Brothers' Test Flights
- Father of the Modern Airline -- William P. Mac Cracken
- Records of the Dryden Flight Research Center, 1946-1959
- Flight and Aeronautical Research in Outer Space: Records of the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center, 1954-1991
- Americans in Space
Atomic Energy
- Regulation of the Nuclear Power Industry: Harold Price and Philip Sporn
- Creation of the Manhattan Project
- Atomic Energy Programs: Records of the Atomic Energy Commission, Oak Ridge Operations Office
- The Atomic Bomb
- The Atomic Bomb and the Cold War
Business and Industry
- Inventions
- Predicting the Crash: Herbert Hoover's Effort to Stop Stock Speculation
- The Rise of Big Business
- Computers -- IBM Antitrust Case in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
Civil Rights
- Antebellum Period: Slave Cases
- Woman Suffrage Movement: U.S. v. Susan B. Anthony. U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York, 1873
- Gonzalo Mendez, et al. vs. Westminster School District of Orange County, et al.
- Brown v. Topeka Board of Education
- Standing Bear, ex relative v. General George Crook
- Desegregation of the Armed Forces
- Civil Rights Litigation--Significant Court Cases
- Leaders in the Struggle for Civil Rights
Early U.S. History
- The Colonial Period: Records of the Vice Admiralty Court
- Creating a New Nation: The Early National Period
- The Admiralty Court During the Civil War
Environment and Land
- Records Relating to Private Land Claims in Arizona and California
- Harnessing the Colorado: Ideas That Made it Possible
- Conservation and Preservation
- The Birth of Federal "Environmental Injunctions"- North Bloomfield Mining Company Court Cases
- The Birth of Modern 20th Century Environmental Activism: Records of Citizen Involvement in the 1969 Santa Barbara Oil Spill
- The End of "the Giant Civil Engineering Era"-Papers of John Reber
Foreign Affairs
- Herbert Hoover Invents the International Relief Organization
- One Man Can Make A Difference: Maurice Pate and the Commission for Relief in Belgium (CRB)
- Eyewitness to Revolution: James P. Goodrich in Russia in the 1920s
- Truman and Katherine Smith: American Spies in Berlin, 1935-38
- Berlin Airlift
- Marshall Plan
- Recognition of Israel
- Truman Doctrine
- The Cuban Missile Crisis
- The Fall of Saigon
Immigration
- Records Relating to the Chinese Exclusion Act
- Immigration: Naturalization Records and Chinese Exclusion Records
- Are You a Citizen if You're Born Here? Yes, Thanks to The Wong Kim Ark Case
- Who (Which Branch of Government) Decides Who is A Citizen? The Jung Ah Lung and Ju Toy Cases
The Kennedy Assassination
New Deal Programs
Politics and Presidential Elections
- Whistle Stop Campaign - The 1948 Election
- Richard M. Nixon Pre-Presidential Papers
- The 1960 Debates
- The Presidential Campaign of 1976
Society and Social Reform
- Better Housing for Everyone: Herbert Hoover's Dream for America
- Better Health Care for Children: The American Child Health Association
- Medical Experiments on Human Subjects--The Tuskegee Syphilis Study
- Lou Henry Hoover and the Girl Scout Success Story
- Sharing the Lessons of the Past: The Little House Books of Laura Ingalls Wilder
- Westbrook Pegler: Journalism's Superstar Reporter
World Wars I and II