Prologue: Pieces of History

“As soon as I left the session, I knew that this would be a ground-breaking project for us,” said Bettina Cousineau, Exhibits Specialist at the Gerald Ford Library and Museum. Cousineau was at this summer’s Association of Midwest Museums Conference in Indianapolis, IN, and attended the session “Wikimedia: Commons and GLAM” presented by Lori Phillips, [...]

This is what President Harry Truman had for Thanksgiving in 1947. (Click to enlarge.) What dishes are going on your table this year? My favorite holiday is Thankgiving. No dispute. After all, it’s a holiday that basically crafted entirely around the consumption of turkey. I’m not entirely sure that this is what Lincoln had in [...]

Today’s guest post comes from Susan Donius, Director of the Office of Presidential Libraries at the National Archives. This post originally appeared on the White House blog. Did you know that before the 1940s, Thanksgiving was not on a fixed date but was whenever the President proclaimed it to be? George Washington issued the first [...]

Today’s post is by Duke Blackwood, Director of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Follow them on their Facebook page. One normally doesn’t associate turkeys with flying.  However, in 1966 they became synonymous with flight during Ronald Reagan’s first race for political office—Governor of California. Covering such a large state was advance man Curtis Patrick’s nightmare, [...]

Today’s post comes from Sam Anthony, special assistant to the Archivist of the United States. When President Obama visited Thailand on Sunday, he brought a piece of the National Archives as a diplomatic gift. In preparation for the President’s trip to Asia, the Protocol Office of the State Department asked for facsimiles of photographs of [...]