Prologue: Pieces of History

Today’s guest post comes from Miriam Kleiman of the National Archives Public Affairs Office. The National Archives and Hollywood again converge, this time in a lengthy Foreign Service cable, declassified in 2006. Dated October 15, 1975, and sent from the U.S. Ambassador Elliot Richardson (of Watergate fame) in London to the U.S. Secretary of State [...]

In the wake of the 150th anniversary of the Homestead Act, the Exhibits Division’s senior registrar, Jim Zeender, and archivist Greg Bradsher flew out to America’s heartland to share a document that made it all possible. Last month, they visited the Homestead National Monument of America, four miles west of Beatrice, NE, to install the [...]

Trying to choose a winner from last winner’s caption contest got us all tangled up! How could we choose between balloon references, Air Force One, and the horrors of flying coach? Eventually we had to hand over our judging duties over to Natalie Rocchio, archives specialist in the Center for Legislative Archives. Natalie knows how to [...]

Last year, I tried to get a discount on my entrance fee to the Metropolitan Museum of Art by explaining that I worked at the National Archives. The woman at the counter frowned at me. “The National Archives,” she said. “What’s there?” The Constitution, a copy of the Magna Carta, I told her. It’s open [...]

For the next month or so, more than 900 goats will be calling the Ronald Reagan Library and Museum home. “Last year, the Ventura County Fire Department broached the idea with us,” said Reagan Library Director and Herder-in-Chief Duke Blackwood. “We’ve partnered with them for more than 10 years with brush clearance. We’d bring in teams of [...]