Prologue: Pieces of History

Today’s featured facial hair is especially appropriate for the approaching Halloween weekend. It’s the plaster cast of a beard, taken of the deceased Walter Q. Gresham, who was Secretary of State at the time of his death in May of 1895. This  death mask—complete with a few beard hairs stuck in it—may seem like an oddity [...]

We enjoyed the many old fashioned names that our captioners suggested: Ellie Mae, Mildred, Ethel, and Frances! I wonder what the subject of our photo would say in response to the captions that suggest she is in the clutches of an OCD attack or is cooking up something  explosive? This week’s judge knows something about cooking up [...]

If you really want to be scared by food, don’t miss “Food Frights” on Thursday night at 7 p.m. at the National Archives Building! David Gregory of NPR will moderate this discussion about how America’s government became involved in food safety and how food safety will look in the future. One of our panelists is Chef José Andrés [...]

Only 43 men in the history of the United States have held the title of President. That’s a fairly small group , smaller than your average NFL team. But smaller still is the group of professionals who have held the title as the President’s chief photographer. To date, only nine men have served as the official White [...]

In the ”What’s Cooking, Uncle Sam?” exhibit, curator Alice Kamps notes that American citizens have demanded that food be safe, cheap, and abundant. From the records in the exhibit, you can see how the Federal Government has responded to these needs over the past decades. But food isn’t just a historic record. We continue to talk about food [...]