Prologue: Pieces of History

Today’s guest post comes from Susan Donius, Director of the Office of Presidential Libraries at the National Archives. This post originally appeared on the White House blog. Did you know that before the 1940s, Thanksgiving was not on a fixed date but was whenever the President proclaimed it to be? George Washington issued the first [...]

Nothing is sweeter than a girl and her dog . . . competing for treats? We enjoyed your captions suggesting the competition between a girl and her same-size canine companion, but like this little girl, the winner seemed just out of our grasp. So we turned to guest judge Sarah Malcolm, who writes for the [...]

The National Archives holds many records that tell the story of the attack on Pearl Harbor. To commemorate the 70th anniversary of that day, we’ve gathered links from across our blogs and on Tumblr to show you some of these moving documents that we hold in safekeeping. Memo to the President This memorandum was one of the [...]

In the early afternoon of December 7, 1941, Franklin D. Roosevelt was just finishing lunch in his oval study on the second floor of the White House, preparing to work on his stamp album. The phone rang, and he was informed that the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, shortly before 1 p.m. Washington time, [...]

Did you know that the 13 Presidential libraries are part of the National Archives? The National Archives is a nonpartisan agency, and we care for all the paper and digital records—as well as Presidential gifts and other items—that are part of the President’s legacy. These documents are preserved and made accessible at the 13 Presidential [...]