Prologue: Pieces of History

Juneteenth is actually June 19, the day on which word finally made it to Galveston, Texas, that the Civil War was over and that Abraham Lincoln had freed the slaves. As the story goes, these 250,000 slaves were the last to hear the good news. It was Union Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger who read General [...]

With his goatee and mustache, photographer Mathew Brady himself is an excellent addition to Facial Hair Fridays. In fact, he is the reason we have so many follicle follies to celebrate. There are 6,066 photographs by Brady and his associates in the National Archives collections. Many of the images we’ve looked at and been inspired [...]

We here at Prologue’s Pieces of History understand that history can be a very solemn study. Understanding past conflicts and pouring over the details of a battle, while exhilarating, can also be a trying, somber process. But for all the wars and historic events that are cataloged in the National Archives, one thing is true: [...]

Few individuals had a more, ah, peculiar relationship with their mother than Norman Bates in the movie Psycho, which premiered 50 years ago today in New York City. The movie was a one-of-a-kind in terms of suspense and shock, but it was just another in an illustrious career of one man: Alfred Hitchcock. The Englishman [...]

Boy reading a magazine at the Manzanar Relocation Center (538076) Four times a year in Prologue magazine, we feature an interview with an author who has written a book that draws on the holdings of the National Archives. So, far I have learned about the naval aspect of the Civil War and the unexpected connection [...]