Prologue: Pieces of History

Resolution passed by the Confederation Congress authorizing the Constitutional Convention, February 21, 1787.

Today’s post was written by National Archives volunteer Paul Richter. It is the first in a series tracing the development of the Constitution in honor of the 225th anniversary of this document.

Eleven years after the Declaration of Independence announced the birth of the United States, the survival of the young country seemed in doubt. The War for Independence had been won, but economic depression, social unrest, interstate rivalries, and foreign intrigue appeared to be unraveling the fragile confederation.

On February 21, 1787, the Continental Congress resolved that “it is expedient that on the second Monday in May next a Convention of delegates who shall have been appointed by the several States be held at Philadelphia for the sole and express purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation.”

The original states, with the exception of Rhode Island, collectively appointed 70 individuals to the Constitutional Convention, but a number did not accept or could not attend.

On May 14, 1787, the Federal Convention convened in the State House—now known as Independence Hall—in Philadelphia.

Almost no one showed up.

Only delegates from two states, Pennsylvania and Virginia, were present on that first day. This meant that the members met and adjourned each day until May 25, when the convention obtained a quorum of seven states.

In a letter to Thomas Jefferson, James Madison blamed bad weather for delaying the arrival of delegates to the convention. It was a slow, soggy start to four months of discussion and sometimes heated debate among the young nation’s best minds. Throughout that long summer in Philadelphia, the now-familiar concepts included in the final product were anything but certain.

In honor of the 225th anniversary of the Constitution, we’ll trace the proceedings of the Constitutional Convention over the next four months. You are invited to watch the evolution of the Constitution unfold at the National Archives Tumblr blog.

"The Reagans catch members of Congress BEFORE they put on their suits and makeup."

The clothes must make the man! Last week’s photo caption contest winner featured Spring Fashion Week and canvas jumpsuits; this week’s winner pokes gentle fun at what our congressmen might look like before they are suited up for work.

Duke Blackwood, the Director of the Ronald Reagan Library and Museum, took on his guest judging duties with a good humor that may make even the stoniest-faced terra-cotta warrior crack a smile.

Congratulations to Logan! Check your email for a code for a 15% discount in the National Archives eStore.

The original caption of the photo reads: “Photograph of the Reagans standing with the Terra Cotta figures in Xi’an, China” (April 29, 1984. ARC 198547). President Reagan’s 1984 trip to China marked only the second time a U.S. President visited since President Richard Nixon’s historic trip in 1972. Reagan met with Chinese President Li Xiannian in an attempt to resolve diplomatic differences between the U.S. and China. He also toured historical and cultural sites in Beijing with First Lady Nancy Reagan, including the Terra-cotta Army of Qin Shi Huangdi, the first emperor of China. The terra-cotta soldiers were found in a massive burial site, intended to protect the emperor in the afterlife.

Our last photograph featured orderly soldiers below the ground, so this week we thought we’d take to the unpredictable skies. Put your wittiest captions in the comments below!

"Your caption here!"

Today’s blog post was written by Tammy Kelly, an archivist at the Harry S. Truman Library.

When future President Harry S. Truman was born on May 8, 1884, his parents decided to name him Harry, after his mother’s brother Harrison Young. But what about a middle name? Harry’s parents could not come to a decision—should Harry’s middle name be Shipp, in honor of his paternal grandfather, Anderson Shipp Truman? Or should it be Solomon, in honor of his maternal grandfather, Solomon Young?

In the end, they entered his middle name as simply S, which led to a never-ending controversy and questions about Harry S. Truman’s middle name.

When Harry S. Truman wrote to Eleanor Roosevelt in 1945, Truman's signature includes the period (ARC 4708753).

Many people tried to give Truman a middle name. When Truman took the oath of office upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt on April 12, 1945, Chief Justice Harlan F. Stone delivered the oath as “I, Harry Shipp Truman.” When Truman repeated it back, he made the subtle correction, “I, Harry S. Truman.”

In this press release, Truman runs his signature together and the "S" can barely be seen (ARC 200612).

Truman often received mail addressed to “Harry Solomon Truman,” “Harry Simpson Truman” and “Harry Shippe Truman.” In 1955, on a visit to Eugene, Oregon, to raise money for the construction of the Truman Library, the Swinomish Indian tribe gave Truman the ceremonial middle name of Swinomish.

In this letter from Harry S. Truman to James F. Byrnes in 1946, Truman did not use the period in his signature (ARC 201509)

But if Truman’s middle name is just S, and does not stand for anything else, why does the Truman Library use a period after the S? The reason is simple: Harry Truman did.

The Truman Library is filled with numerous examples, from Truman’s boyhood through his old age, where the period after the S is very clear. Other times, especially while he served as President, Truman ran his signature into a single stroke of the pen and the period can be difficult to decipher. Other times it is quite emphatic.

Another  reason the Truman Library also uses “S.” is that the library follows the guidance of the U.S. Government Printing Office Style Manual, which states that the period should be used as part of Truman’s middle name, partly for the sake of consistency.

This leads to another question that Truman asked his friend and former Secretary of State Dean Acheson: what does one call Truman’s middle name? In a letter to  Acheson in 1957, Truman writes “…do you know the word meaning an initial standing in a name but signifying no name itself, as the ‘S’ in Harry S. Truman?”

This leads to an entertaining response from Acheson, who contacts several librarians and reports back on his search:

The essence of the matter is that we are blind men, searching in a dark room for a black hat which isn’t there. The “S” in Harry S Truman (no period after the “S”) does not “stand for anything.” Therefore, it cannot have a descriptive noun—“vacuum,” “nothing,” etc., are already pre-empted. But, more positively, it is something—not representatively, but absolutely. You are “S” (without a period) because it is your name.

 One of the librarians stated in her report that she understood Truman’s parents gave him S as a middle name. “Parents can name their child anything they please, and if they choose to name him X, then X is his name,” she wrote. “On the other hand it seems a pity to offer nothing to an ex-President. Why not make up a word? I suggest sic, meaning ‘so in christening.’”

President Harry S. Truman receives a birthday cake at his desk in the Oval Office from White House receptionist William Simmons, in honor of his sixty-seventh birthday. 05/08/1951 (ARC 200315)

(Courtesy of NARA Staff)

Pennsylvania Avenue is synonymous with iconic destinations and extraordinary events. From the White House to the United States Capitol, the notable institutions that line the street have hosted many of America’s most momentous occasions. Last month, the National Archives Building at 700 Pennsylvania Avenue continued this tradition by holding its Eighth Annual Genealogy Fair.

The fair, which was free to the public, took place April 18-19 on Pennsylvania Plaza in front of the Archives. Throughout the two-day event, the National Archives showcased Federal records that can be used as resources for family history research. In addition, staff members and exhibitors provided information for both experienced genealogists and novices.

This year’s fair featured the addition of three large classroom tents for informational lectures. These sessions included workshops on records relating to immigration, land, naturalization, military, online resources, and more.

When visitors were not viewing exhibits and attending sessions, they were primarily discussing the recent release of the 1940 census in digital form. Many visitors revealed that they are now using social media and web tools to locate their relatives.

If you are interested in helping to index the 1940 census, join the online indexing project and start creating a name index for the 1940 census today. To start, find census maps and descriptions to locate an enumeration district. Then browse census images to locate a person in the 1940 census. Once you locate a census image, you can easily save, share, or download the image.

In all, a record number of 5,401 people attended the Eighth Annual Genealogy Fair, compared to about 5,000 last year. The fair was funded by the Foundation for the National Archives with support from lead sponsor Ancestry.com

If you missed the Eighth Annual Genealogy Fair, the National Archives is hosting several regional genealogy programs in May. Check out “Blogging for Genealogists” in Fort Worth on May 4, “Passenger Arrival and Naturalization Records” in San Francisco on May 11, or “Navigating the US Census, 1790 – 1940″ in Boston on May 17.

Today’s guest post was written by William B. Roka, a longtime volunteer at the National Archives in New York City. You can follow “Titantic Tuesdays” on Facebook as they post records and images in remembrance of the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic.

The beginning of Captain Turner's testimony about the conditions of the ice near the Titanic, one day before the fateful sailing of the Lusitania. “In the Matter of the Petition of the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company, Limited, for Limitation of its Liability as owner of the steamship TITANIC”; Admiralty Case Files Records of District Courts of the United States, Record Group 21; National Archives at New York City.

On the morning of May 1, 1915, Pier 54 on the Hudson River was awash with people, luggage, and cargo. A great transatlantic liner was readying to sail back to England. There was somewhat ominous tone to the activities: small notices about war zones had appeared in various newspapers.

The captain of this great vessel had spent the day before at the New York City offices of Hunt, Hill & Betts. He had been asked to testify by lawyers involved in the limitation of liability case related to the Titanic disaster, which was dragging into its third year.

He was asked a series of questions about the size and design of ships on the Cunard Line, the difficulty of sighting icebergs, and his reaction to iceberg warnings. These questions were important because the ship he was commanding in April 1912 was sailing only a few days behind the Titanic. 

Q. Did you get reports of icebergs before you heard of the “Titanic” sinking?

A. Yes, on Sunday and Monday.

Q. Did you go south of the position where they were indicated?

A. I went 65 miles south of the position where the “Titanic” struck ice.

Q. Under the above circumstances, would it be reasonably safe for such a vessel to proceed at a speed of 20 knots an hour or upwards?

A. Certainly not; 20 knots through ice! My conscience!

 The lawyers asked many of the same questions over and over in different forms, but no answer was groundbreaking to the case. However, there is one question and answer that sticks out.

 Q. Have you learned nothing by that accident?

A. Not the slightest; it will happen again.

This answer sent a chill down my spine when I first read it because the captain being interviewed about the Titanic disaster was William T. Turner, captain of the RMS Lusitania.

On May 7, just one week after Turner gave this testimony in New York City, the Lusitania was torpedoed by a German U-boat, becoming the most infamous maritime disaster of the First World War.  Nearly 1,200 people, including 128 Americans, were lost. There were only 761 survivors.

The Cunard Line, just like the White Star after the Titanic disaster, filed a petition with the court of the Southern District of New York to limit its liability against claims filed by survivors and the families of victims.  This case, also part of the records of the National Archives at New York City, was the first project I worked on when I started volunteering. Captain Turner’s deposition and its relation to the Titanic disaster offers a surprising connection between these two infamous events. After the recent Titanic centennial, and after having examined both cases, I would like offer some thoughts on these two tragedies.

The Titanic has always overshadowed the story of the Lusitania. Nonetheless, the repercussions of the Lusitania had a more significant impact on world events. While not directly leading to American entry into World War I, the sinking of the ship damaged relations between the United States and Germany in 1915, and was influential in the United States declaring war in 1917.  Yet, the Titanic is much more a part of our collective memory.

Captain Turner avoided the iceberg believed to have sunk the Titanic; but he was unable to avoid the German U-boats. "A Photograph of an Iceberg Floating Near the Site of the TITANIC Sinking., 12/14/1912 " ARC Identifier 278334

The allure of the Titanic seems to stem from the romanticism that surrounds it. Like an ancient Greek tragedy, it was a disaster brought on by folly, arrogance, and possibly even fate itself. The two-and-a-half hours it took to sink turned the ship into a drowning stage that allowed a series of human dramas to play out. I imagine that the great bulk of the ship rising out of the water with its sparkling lights set against the night sky, as recreated in so many paintings and films, was both terrifying and mesmerizing.

The Lusitania story is bleaker and more difficult to comprehend. Its sinking was swift, violent, and ugly. After a torpedo struck its starboard side, the Lusitania sank in a mere 18 minutes.

While there were enough lifeboats for all passengers (a lesson learned from the Titanic), only 6 were successfully launched. Calls for “women and children first” mostly fell on deaf ears as primeval instincts of survival took over. Proportionally many more women and children died than on the Titanic. The fact that a civilian passenger ship was torpedoed without warning and that she was carrying different types of war materials (including 4 million rifle cartridges for the British Army) are still major points of controversy.    

As for Captain Turner, he would survive the Lusitania. A British inquiry laid a great deal of the blame personally on his actions as if to avoid questions about the cargo on the Lusitania. Ultimately, in both the American and British inquiries, Germany was held solely responsible. As in the Titanic liability case, the Lusitania claimants received next to nothing.

In spite of romantic notions or controversy the most poignant parts in both cases are the individual the human stories, preserved in the various claims and testimonies. The material available at the National Archives allows one to delve deeper into an event and come out with a more profound understanding of it. Having had the privilege to examine both the Titanic and Lusitania cases, I learned so much about the era from which these people came from and the events that they were caught up in; and in the process the strange coincidences of history that made the Titanic and Lusitania sisters in fate.

"Spring Fashion Week featured a variety of on trend canvas jumpsuits, accessorized with over the shoulder ammo in this seasons must have metals"!

We’re not always fashion forward here in the National Archives (archivists wear blue coats over the street clothes to protect themselves from the dust and dirt that come from working in the stacks), but we were inspired by the jaunty hats and shiny shoes worn by these two women. And so were many of you, apparently! We had a hard time choosing among captions that referenced Project Runway, crayons, and song lyrics.

We turned to archives technician Diane Petro, who shouldered her judging duties like a bandolier of bullets. Diane has been down in the trenches for the last several months working on the 1940 census, but now that it has been released, she has returned to her civilian life in the Research Room.

Congratulations to Michelle! Your caption was chosen by Diane as the winner! Check your e-mail for a code for a 15% discount in the National Archives eStore.

And congratulations to Florence Johnson and  Rosamund Small! These two women in the photograph (ARC 520612; 80-G-45240) were the first WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) to qualify as instructors on electrically operated 50-caliber machine gun turrets. Here they are walking to the target range at the Naval Air Gunners School in Hollywood, Florida (April 11, 1944).

Our last photograph featured statuesque women, but this week’s photo features statues. Put your wittiest caption in the comments below!

"Your caption here!"

George Washington, the Virginia Colonel: 1772. ARC Identifier 532861

Today’s History Crush post is from archives technician Timothy Duskin, who confesses that his admiration for our first President has only increased since researching the records related to George Washington at the National Archives.

I have always considered George Washington to be the greatest Founding Father, the greatest President, and the greatest American. Two years ago, I gave a “Know Your Records” lecture on records related to George Washington at the National Archives. My sentiments were reinforced in the course of my research for that lecture and they have remained the same ever since.

As a major in the Virginia militia, Washington delivered the demand of Virginia Governor Dinwiddie to vacate the Ohio Valley to the French in 1753. He was responsible for starting the French and Indian War in 1754, when he became commander of the Virginia Regiment and eventually became the war’s foremost hero.

Washington’s political career began when he was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1761, where he took up the cause of the North American colonies. He was then elected to the Continental Congress in 1774, which appointed him General and Commander in Chief of the Continental Army at the beginning of the Revolutionary War in 1775.

After the Boston Tea Party, counties in all of the colonies passed resolves to address their grievances with England. Washington and George Mason authored the Fairfax County Resolves at Mount Vernon, Washington’s home, in 1774. It was the most articulate of all the resolves passed in all of the colonies. Mason based the Virginia Declaration of Rights, which he authored in 1776, on the Fairfax County Resolves. In turn, Thomas Jefferson based the Declaration of Independence on the Virginia Declaration of Rights.      

Washington at the Battle of Trenton, December 1776. (ARC Identifier 532916)

And of course, Washington is known for his military leadership during the Revolutionary War. In December 1776, it looked as though the Continental Army was finished and some in Congress were even considering rescinding independence and suing for peace with Great Britain. General Washington crossed the Delaware River with his army and defeated and captured an entire Hessian force with all of its food and stores, which Washington’s army desperately needed. 

Washington then followed this victory by defeating a British force at Princeton. These two victories brought hope back to the cause of the United States as well as new recruits to the Continental Army. Washington refused to give up fighting, though he faced tremendous odds, until he finally defeated the British at Yorktown in 1781.

When some of his officers wanted to overthrow Congress and establish Washington as a king, he refused, saying, “The army must serve the country, but not rule it.  Express your utmost horror and detestation of the man who wishes to overturn the liberties of our country.” 

At the war’s end in 1783, Washington resigned his commission, giving up all his power.  He said, “When we assumed the soldier we did not lay aside the citizen.” 

His former opponent, King George III, said that Washington’s resignation “placed him in a light the most distinguished of any man living.” He also called Washington “the greatest character of the age.”

Washington felt that the Federal Government was too weak under the Articles of Confederation, and began an effort for a new Constitution. This led to the Constitutional Convention in 1787.  Washington was President of the Constitutional Convention, and his support for the new Constitution was instrumental in its ratification.             

Washington's annotated copy of a draft of the Constitution, page one (ARC 150155)

Washington was elected as the first President by a unanimous electoral vote for both his terms, making him the only President to ever be elected this way. He made appointments to his administration from both major parties and got them to work together—possibly the only administration in American history to achieve this.       

However, the United States was weak when Washington took office, with frequent attacks by Indians under provocation from both the British and the Spanish. Washington established a regular army, a decision that won the Northwest Indian War, and negotiated treaties with Great Britain and Spain. He also established a navy.

Despite these successes, Washington refused to run for a third term, giving up power again for the second time and setting the two-term precedent. After retiring from the Presidency, Washington’s last public service was as Commander in Chief of the armies raised by the United States during the Quasi-War with France in 1798. He was also one of only two generals to be appointed Lieutenant General before the Civil War.

Washington came to support a plan of gradual emancipation for slaves and he was the only Founding Father to free all of his own slaves, which he did in his will upon the death of his wife.

Upon Washington’s death, Major General Henry Lee, who served under him in the Revolution, said that he was “first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.” And even now, Senator Bill Bradley has said that he is still first in the hearts of his countrymen.

President Calvin Coolidge said it best: “Washington was the directing spirit, without which there would have been no independence, no Union, no Constitution, and no republic….We still cannot yet estimate him.”

For more George Washington records held at the National Archives:

George Washington’s five pages of an Annotated Copy of a Draft of the U.S. Constitution

George Washington’s First Inaugural Address, 4/30/1789

Message of President John Adams nominating George Washington to be Lieutenant General and Commander in Chief of the Armies raised or to be raised in the United States, 7/2/1789

This week, NARA will be premiering a film halfway across the globe in Beijing, China, for the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF). Our film preservation lab will be represented by Supervisory Motion Picture Preservation Specialist Criss Kovac.

The National Archives will be represented this year at the International Federation of Film Archives conference in Beijing. We will be showing a 1949 film called The Sailor and the Seagull. This is the first time NARA has contributed a film to the conference.

“We rejoined FIAF last spring, and it’s required for us to send a member to the conference each spring,” Kovac said. NARA and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) are the only American members in the approximately 200-delegate conference. NARA and UCLA are tied for the largest film archives.

For the first time, NARA will be contributing a film for screening at the week-long conference. The theme this year is animation.

“We’ve digitally restored a title called The Sailor and the Seagull, a Navy recruitment film from 1949,” Kovac said. “We chose the film because it was done, at the time, by an emerging film studio called the United Productions of America.” The United Productions of America (UPA) was an animation studio that produced industrial films, World War II training films, and theatrical shorts for Columbia Pictures, including the Mr. Magoo series.

The film preservation team began digitizing The Sailor and the Seagull in January 2012, a project mainly helmed by Motion Picture Preservation Specialist Bryce Lowe. To give an idea of how long restoration takes, Lowe spent more than 80 hours restoring and cleaning up the 12-minute film.

“Film takes, on average, four times longer to restore in the digital workflow than the traditional photo chemical-based workflow,” Kovac explained. “It’s so labor-intensive. This film is a special case because most of the tools we’d normally use on restoration, we couldn’t use on this film because animation has much softer lines.”

The digital restoration was completed in full high-definition to get the film to look as good as possible. “It’s an important step for the Archives to be making because most theaters now only show in digital,” Kovac said. “It might not be a good tool long-term for preservation, but it’s good for access. And it gives recognition for and highlights the work that we do.”

Asked if she was excited to be representing NARA in Beijing, Kovac just laughed.

“To be honest, I haven’t really thought about it!” she admitted. “I’m excited for us to be reinstated in FIAF. And it’s the first time we’ve contributed. At the conference, I’ll be joining the technical committee. I’m looking forward to good collaboration on lots of issues that archives face.”

An Act of April 16, 1862 (For the Release of Certain Persons Held to Service or Labor in the District of Columbia), 04/16/1862 (ARC ID #299814)

While Union and Confederate forces clashed on southern battlefields in 1862, a historic piece of legislation ended “the national shame” of slavery in the nation’s capital. The District of Columbia Emancipation Act was signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln on April 16, 1862.

The legislation provided for immediate emancipation and monetary compensation to former slave owners. It also stipulated that owners claiming compensation file schedules listing and describing each slave. The Supplemental Act of July 12, 1862 expanded on the first act by permitting the submission of schedules by slaves whose owners did not reside in the District of Columbia.

As a result of the first act, the Board of Commissioners for the Emancipation of Slaves approved 930 petitions from former owners for the freedom of 2,989 former slaves. The supplemental act resulted in another 161 petitions from individuals, including many former slaves who were allowed to file because their owners had failed to comply with the first act’s deadline.

In celebration of the 150th anniversary of the DC Emancipation Act, the National Archives has released this short documentary video. The four-minute video is part of the ongoing “Inside the Vaults” series on our YouTube channel.

For more information about DC Emancipation and slave petitions,  read “Slavery and Emancipation in the Nation’s Capital” from Prologue magazine. Also, the National Archives Building in Washington, D.C. will host a panel discussion on “DC Emancipation: The Struggle for Freedom, Liberty, Justice, and Equality” on April 18 at 7 PM. The event is free and open to the public.

"Signs of the Energy Crisis," May 1973, photographed by Frank Aleksandrowicz (ARC 550088)

If you’ve ever been stuck in traffic on the Beltway, you know Americans love their cars, trucks, and motorcycles. So when fuel shortages occur, like in the 1970s, energy policy becomes a hotly debated issue.

Federal energy policy first became a major political priority during the energy crisis of the 1970s. In response to gasoline shortages and a series of petroleum embargos, Presidents Nixon, Ford, and Carter each took steps to readdress America’s energy policy. Through legislative action and an array of executive orders, the Federal Government established the Energy Research and Development Administration, Federal Energy Administration, and Office of Energy Programs.

This rapid expansion of Federal energy functions eventually compelled Congress to pass the Department of Energy Organization Act. The act, which was signed into law by President Carter on August 4, 1977, consolidated the various Federal energy agencies into a singule cabinet-level department. The new Department of Energy’s primary tasks were to promote a safe and dependable energy system, manage the nation’s nuclear facilities, and facilitate scientific research.

Since the 1970s, the Energy Department has continued to address energy, environmental, and nuclear challenges through research, development, and demonstration. In 2001, the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy was created to assist in the development of alternative energy sources, such as biomass and biofuels, solar power, wind power, and hydrogen fuel cells. These initiatives are aimed to lessen the threat of energy crises, like the one in the 1970s.

The energy crisis in the states of Oregon and Washington resulted in attempts at humor by businesses with darkened signs such as this one in Vancouver, WA, 11/1973, photographed by David Falconer. (ARC 555422)

If you want to view more pictures of the 1970s energy crisis from the DOCUMERICA, see our DOCUMERICA Gallery or visit the DOCUMERICA collection on the U.S. National Archives’ Flickr photo stream. DOCUMERICA was a program sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency to photographically document subjects of environmental concern in America during the 1970s. The images were made by approximately 70 well-known photographers contracted by the EPA, including Danny Lyon, Gene Daniels, Marc St. Gill, and Bill Strode.