NARA, Past to Present: Celebrating Anniversaries

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NARA, Past to Present: Celebrating Anniversaries

"To bring together the records of the past and to house them in a building where they will be preserved for the use of men and women in the future, a Nation must believe in three things. It must believe in the past. It must believe in the future. It must, above all, believe in the capacity of its own people so to learn from the past that they can gain judgment in creating their own future."
~ Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1941

Read the 1984 act that established NARA as an independent agency. (3.13 MB)

In 2009, We Celebrated Our 75th Anniversary

NARA 20th: 1985-2005
As part of our 75th anniversary celebration, we gathered National Archives stories from visitors about discovery, personal reward, and fun.

In 2005, We Celebrated Twenty Years of Independence (1985-2005)

NARA 20th: 1985-2005 On April 1, 1985, the effective date of the National Archives and Records Act of 1984, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) became an independent agency. In 2005, NARA observed its 20th anniversary of independence with programs on NARA’s past, present, and future.

20 years in pictures: 1985-2005
Read a first-hand account of the campaign for independence in the 1980s;
In 2005, NARA named its Washington, DC, Research Center for former Archivist of the United States Robert M. Warner.
View the May 20, 2005 webcast of 20th anniversary panel discussion at the National Archives Building in Washington, DC:
Video Stream