Today’s post was written by Monique Politowski, an archives technician who works on the NARA/Ancestry digitization partnership project in Silver Spring, Maryland. Alexander Hamilton and James Madison were infamous for their use of the f-word, federalism. While John Jay’s infamy grew from his role in the Treaty of Paris (1783) (National Archives Identifier 299805), we should [...]

Some months ago I attended a book signing at Archives I by author and History Channel star, Brad Meltzer.  It was on the occasion of his new book The Inner Circle, which has at its core an archivist and the National Archives.  Brad is a big fan of NARA, archivists, and the records we keep.  [...]

Our guest blogger today is Dennis Edelin, Chief, Forms Section at Archives I. On September 26, 2011, the National Archives began a preservation re-boxing project.  The purpose of the project is to re-box the nearly 900,000 Solider Certificate (“SC”) Civil War and Later pension application files in our custody.  Please note, these records are not leaving [...]

As a Florida native, growing up,  we would track the path of the various hurricanes and tropical storms that were predicted to hit, cross or barely touch the state. In the late 20th and current 21st centuries we have satellite which warn us and show us serious weather patterns as they move across the globe. [...]

Recent events in London, of riots being reported in various parts of the metropolitan area, reminded me of a series in the Archives I holdings documenting a similar event in the American capital in 1968. Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, upon hearing of the civil rights leader’s death, rioting broke [...]

In a previous blog (Music at the National Archives, June 2011) I wrote about those rare instances when archivists and researchers come across a document that stands out because it is so different from what is usually found within our holdings.  On one occasion I located two such records within the Secretary of War records at Archives [...]

Our guest blogger today is Allison Walsh, an Archives Technician at Archives I who works with Navy / Maritime records.  She is proud to display the Stars and Stripes every Flag Day, which also happens to be her birthday. The Star Spangled Banner as we know it today, with fifty stars shining on a field of [...]

A common research topic concerns information on military installations, i.e., forts, camps, depots, barracks, etc.  Generally, the bulk of the records we have relate to permanent installations, but we do have a few records pertaining to some temporary posts. Records relating to military installations can be found in a number of different record groups in [...]

Today’s guest blogger is Trevor Plante, a supervisory archivist at Archives I.   Following up on two recent blog posts from our office by Juliette Arai and Mark Mollan I thought it would be a great opportunity to blog about one of my favorite Marine Corps documents that I often show Marines when we have them here for [...]

Today’s guest blogger is Mark Mollan, a reference archivist specializing in records of the U.S. Navy and Maritime agencies. Not long ago, an Archives I reference staff member came across a Muster Roll for the USCG unit “Tars and Spars”–a touring entertainment troupe created to bolster the morale and support of World War II USCG [...]