Prologue: Pieces of History

  Today’s post was written by National Archives volunteer Paul Richter. It is part of a series tracing the development of the Constitution in honor of the 225th anniversary of this document on September 17, 2012. The President of the United States is one of the most famous positions in the world. But the first [...]

Today’s guest post comes from Tammy Kelly, archivist and hat aficionado at the Truman Presidential Library. I admit it—I love hats. I have several vintage hats in my closet, but I find them challenging to wear because sometimes, I just don’t know how to wear them. People no longer wear hats on a regular basis, [...]

People often refer to the National Archives as a “treasure trove” of history. Usually they’re referring to the wealth of knowledge documented in our billions of pieces of paper. But occasionally you come across something that would not be out of place in a real treasure chest. At the end of the 19th century, thousands [...]

In the last post, we brought the Adams-Vergennes story up to their abrupt break in late July 1780. Adams departed for the Netherlands, where he hoped to raise additional funds for the United States war effort and make the United States less dependent on France. Meanwhile, Vergennes appealed to Franklin and through Franklin to Congress, [...]

Today’s guest post is by Dana Roark, archives technician at the Lee’s Summit Federal Records Center. One of the most vivid memories I have of my first day at Lee’s Summit, a National Archives facility, was the drive in to my new workplace. As I rounded the corner of the driveway, I came face-to-face with the yawning black mouth [...]