Today’s post is by Lee Preston, a National Archives volunteer. During the Cold War, I was drafted into the U.S. Army and in 1955-56 stationed in Verdun, France. Verdun is the principal city of the Meuse River valley, a historic corridor of aggressive contact between French and German interests. The Verdun area had been fortified [...]

Today’s post is written by Erin Townsend, an archivist based out of Archives II who helps coordinate our digitization projects.   This year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Peace Corps.  Numerous events and activities have already taken place to commemorate this milestone, including programs at the Smithsonian Folk Life Festival, 50th [...]

Recent events in London, of riots being reported in various parts of the metropolitan area, reminded me of a series in the Archives I holdings documenting a similar event in the American capital in 1968. Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, upon hearing of the civil rights leader’s death, rioting broke [...]

This post was written by Katie Beaver, a student intern working with civilian records.  It is a follow-up to A few good lawmen and is based on documentation found in  ”Appointment Files for Judicial Districts, 1853-1905.” The American South was a particularly tumultuous area after the Civil War and during the occupation of the U.S. Army. Slaves became [...]

This post was written by Katy Berube, a student intern working in civilian processing.  It is a follow-up to the post A few good lawmen.  Documentation for this post can be found in the series “Appointment Files for Judicial Districts, 1853-1905.” As guns unloaded into British subject and cattle investor, John H. Tunstall, in the [...]

In a previous blog (Music at the National Archives, June 2011) I wrote about those rare instances when archivists and researchers come across a document that stands out because it is so different from what is usually found within our holdings.  On one occasion I located two such records within the Secretary of War records at Archives [...]

Today’s post is written by Denise Henderson. A few months ago, I was asked to locate a record about Pat Garrett, the famous sheriff who killed Billy the Kid in 1881 when cowboys and cattle thieves made the West wild and dangerous and a place in serious need of law enforcement.  Understanding the index to, [...]