Open to Change

Since my swearing in as the 10th Archivist of the United States less than a year ago, we've taken important steps to become a more open, transparent, participatory, and collaborative agency. I'm proud of our accomplishments: The development of our Open Government Plan A 300 percent increase in the use of social media tools to … Continue reading Open to Change

Hometown Rivalries Debate the Birthplace of the U.S. Navy

Last Wednesday, I celebrated the 235th birthday of the U.S. Navy at the USS Constitution Museum at the Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston. It was a fun event full of hometown pride and spirited debate. I brought with me Senior Archivist Trevor Plante and original records from the National Archives to discuss the Revolutionary origins … Continue reading Hometown Rivalries Debate the Birthplace of the U.S. Navy

Croutons, Pepper, and the Hole

While visiting the National Archives at San Francisco this summer, the Director, Daniel Nealand, introduced me to a rare and fascinating audio recording of an Alcatraz prisoner. The recording was recovered from a 1947 SoundScriber disc within Record Group 129, Records of the Bureau of Prisons at the National Archives. The recording is twelve and … Continue reading Croutons, Pepper, and the Hole