As 2012 marks the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812, the Reference staff at Archives 1 want to provide a glimpse of some of the series that we have in our custody relating to this conflict.  The following list may assist researchers who want to locate records pertaining to the War of 1812.  Please note that this list [...]

Today’s post is written by Alan Walker, a processing archivist in Research Services. Earlier I described to you the Overseas Mission records of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and our project to transform them from the unfortunate and inaccessible state in which they arrived at Archives II. These records have proven a time-consuming challenge for [...]

Today’s post is written by Alan Walker, a processing archivist in Research Services.   Since 2010, the Record Group 286 Processing Team has been steadily transforming the 11,700 cubic feet of paper records of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) housed here at Archives II.  A lot of preparation goes into such a massive [...]

With the annual Army-Navy game less than two weeks away, I thought I would share an interesting letter I found among the records of the Adjutant General’s Office (Record Group 94). 2nd Lieutenant Robert C. Foy, 8th U.S. Infantry, sent a letter to Major John A. Johnson, Assistant Adjutant General, on November 14, 1899, in [...]

Today’s post is written by David Langbart, a senior processing archivist in College Park. Sometimes records long thought to be lost find their way home. One such occurrence took place recently. The U.S. embassy in Germany received from the German government some files from the U.S. consulate in Dresden. The records had been found among [...]

One of the most frequent kinds of research requests we receive concerns gaining access to military veterans’ service records. To do our part to commemorate Veterans Day tomorrow, we’ve asked Theresa Fitzgerald of the Archives’ National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis to write a post on everything you ever wanted to know about accessing [...]

On August 6, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law. While this was a major milestone in ensuring that no one could “deny or abridge the rights of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race and color,” violations of individual voting rights still occurred. Acts [...]

 As we are in the midst of the college and professional football seasons, I thought it might be interesting to have a blog about this sport during its early years, one which shows a few of the football-related records we have here at Archives I.   At the turn of the last century, football was [...]

I see great things in baseball. It’s our game — the American game. –Walt Whitman Although Benjamin Franklin Shibe died in 1922, his accomplishments had a direct effect on your evening plans for tonight. Never heard of him? You should thank Shibe, if you’re among the millions of Americans who are looking forward to tonight’s [...]

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.  [...]