Prologue: Pieces of History

With Independence Day around the corner, we caught up with a few of this year’s speakers to get their thoughts on the Declaration of Independence, their connection to history, and celebrating at the National Archives. Four descendants from the original signers will read the Declaration of Independence this year. Three are members of the Society of the Descendants [...]

We waded into your captions like a man driving a car into a lake! How to choose between splashy captions that referenced Secret Service men wearing floaties, the Aflac duck, James Bond, or water taxis? Waterlogged with indecision, we turned to Liza Talbot, who in turn turned to the crew of the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library. [...]

This is part of a series, written by Jim Zeender, devoted to letters written by the Founding Fathers in their own words and often in their own hand. Jim is a senior registrar in Exhibits. The leadership of John Adams in the independence movement and the publication of his “Thoughts on Government” in the same [...]

Nothing is sweeter than a girl and her dog . . . competing for treats? We enjoyed your captions suggesting the competition between a girl and her same-size canine companion, but like this little girl, the winner seemed just out of our grasp. So we turned to guest judge Sarah Malcolm, who writes for the [...]

This is part of a series, written by Jim Zeender, devoted to letters written by the Founding Fathers in their own words and often in their own hand. Jim is a senior registrar in National Archives Exhibits. John Adams of Massachusetts and Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania crossed paths during “critical moments” in the earliest days [...]