The National Mall is just days away from an influx of thousands of Girl Scouts for Girl Scouts Rock the Mall:  100th Anniversary Sing-Along.  I hope they shipped in enough Thin Mints for the party! The National Archives has some great events planned coinciding with the Girl Scouts’ centennial celebration – including exhibits, a film, [...]

As a little girl, I was fascinated by the tragic side of history – assassinations, kidnappings, earthquakes, floods, and other disasters.  I was a very cheerful child. One of the tragedies that still holds my interest today is that of the Titanic.  100 years later, people are still fascinated by stories about the Titanic and [...]

You’ve probably heard that “Red Tails,” a movie spotlighting the first African American military aviators,  is now showing at a theater near you.   Widely known as the Tuskegee Airmen, the pilots were part of the U.S. Army Air Corps’ 332nd Fighter and 477th Bombardment Groups.   But you don’t have to go to the movies [...]

Recently, the National Archives introduced the Citizen Archivist Dashboard where citizen archivists can crowd-source the records of the National Archives.  The Dashboard contains several “tagging missions” that feature records and images from our holdings including over 2800 images of  World War II posters, 483 photographs taken by photographer Lewis Hine, and the petition against the annexation of Hawaii which contains 21, [...]

Throughout this holiday season, we encourage you to participate in the exciting activities featured on the Citizen Archivist Dashboard, which is available starting today. Check it out and try tagging, transcription, editing articles, uploading digital scans, and participating in contests all related to the records of the National Archives. We hope that you’ll share any suggestions [...]

Tag It Tuesday’s all shook up!  Our pals over at the Our Presidents tumbler are celebrating “Elvis in the Archives” week and we thought we’d join the fun.  Sure, the King is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame but you can also find him in the National Archives.   Included in the Archives’ holdings [...]

Today’s Tag It Tuesday is going Hollywood!  Did you know that every once in a while there’s a star sighting in the records of the National Archives?   You just might find a poor little rich girl, a future Godfather, or a Top Gun making a guest appearance in our holdings. Tammy Kelly, a colleague from the Truman Library, [...]

Tomorrow marks the 70th anniversary of what President Franklin Roosevelt proclaimed  “a date which will live in infamy,” the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese Navy.  Thousands of American naval personnel were killed or wounded and U.S. ships and aircraft were sunk or damaged.  As a result of the attack, the U.S. declared war on Japan and entered World War [...]

All this month, the National Archives joined with the Library of Congress, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Gallery of Art, the National Park Service, the Smithsonian Institution and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum to pay tribute to the traditions of Native Americans during Native American Heritage Month.  The National Archives has hundreds [...]

Thanksgiving rolls around once a year but at the National Archives you can tag our Thanksgiving related records every day.  Our sample set is a little heavy on the turkey,  so pass up dessert and tag a few records instead!  Here are some of my favorite images: Look at her perfect form.  To achieve the [...]