Franklin D. Roosevelt, W. Wilson, Josephus Daniels, and William Jennings Bryan in Washington, DC, 06/14/1913
Then-Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin Roosevelt shares the stage 100 years ago with President Woodrow Wilson, Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan, and Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels.
Washington suffered through many typhoid outbreaks between 1905 and 1909. Sanitation and water systems were frequently overwhelmed. As the “DC inspector” in the cartoon prepares to cite one unlucky citizen for his trash, he assures them that the decrepit municipally-owned property in the background is “immune.”
Untitled, 05/29/1907. From the Clifford Berryman Political Cartoon Collection
The National Archives is part of Blue Star Museums 2013!
First launched in the summer of 2010, Blue Star Museums offers free admission to all active duty military personnel and their families from Memorial Day, May 27, through Labor Day, September 2, 2013.
At the National Archives in DC, military personnel with ID and their families can always enter through the Special Events entrance on Constitution Avenue and 7th St. (Admission is always free!)
And some of our Presidential Libraries will be participating in the Blue Star free admission program, so check before you visit!
This is available to any bearer of a Geneva Convention common access card (CAC), a DD Form 1173 ID card, or a DD Form 1173-1 ID card, which includes active duty U.S. military (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, as well as members of the National Guard and Reserve, U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, NOAA Commissioned Corps) and up to five family members.
We’re participating with Blue Star Museums 2013 in collaboration with the National Endowment for the Arts, Blue Star Families, and the Department of Defense.
Happy May!
May Day in 1929 was Child Health Day. Here’s First Lady Lou Hoover receiving a basket of flowers at the annual May Day festivities held at the White House.
-from the Hoover Library
Happy DC Emancipation Day!
DC Emancipation Act (by usnationalarchives)
Predating the Emancipation Proclamation, President Abraham Lincoln signed into law the District of Columbia Emancipation Act on April 16, 1862, freeing enslaved persons in Washington, DC and ending “the national shame” of slavery in the nation’s capital. Unlike the later terms of the Emancipation Proclamation, slave owners in DC were compensated by the U.S. Treasury Department.
In this Inside the Vaults video short, Documentary Archivist Damani Davis discusses the petitions filed by owners and slaves under the Act and the details they reveal about the enslaved African-American community at the time. Archivist Robert Ellis explains how the process worked.
Learn more about the DC Emancipation Act and the journey to Emancipation in the new free eBook from the National Archives: The Meaning and Making of Emancipation, in ePub, iBook and Scribd formats.
The Jefferson Memorial, as it appeared 40 years ago. The memorial to the third President was dedicated 70 years ago today, on April 13, 1943.
JEFFERSON MEMORIAL (FOREGROUND) TO CAPITOL, LOOKING EAST, 05/1973
From the DOCUMERICA series, a program sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency to photographically document subjects of environmental concern in America during the 1970s.
Find more images from DOCUMERICA at “Searching for the Seventies: The DOCUMERICA Photography Project,” now open at the National Archives in Washington, DC.
Seventy years ago today on April 13, 1943, the Jefferson Memorial was dedicated in Washington, DC, on the 200th anniversary of Thomas Jefferson’s birth (4/13/1743).
Photograph of Sam Maddox, Western Union No. 227, one of the young boys pretty close to the age limit. He was born Oct. 3, 1898, which makes him 13 years old. He has a permit to work from Juvenile Court. He has been troublesome in school., 04/10/1912
Lewis Hine, photographer
President Franklin D. Roosevelt threw out the first pitch at a game between the Washington Senators and the Boston Red Sox at Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C., on April 24, 1934.
Discover more baseball stories in our new, free eBook, Baseball: The National Pastime in the National Archives. Download it for free on our eBooks page or on iTunes.
You can also learn more about the history of Presidents and baseball on the Prologue blog and at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.
Easter Egg Roll, 04/11/1977
Bill Fitzpatrick, photographer. From the Series: Carter White House Photographs
Happy Easter!
Even though the first day of spring was last week, many of us are still feeling the effects of Old Man Winter! Clifford Berryman penned this cartoon for The Washington Evening Star as Washington, DC shivered through a cold spell during the end of March 1915.
Untitled by Clifford Berryman, 3/27/1915, U.S. Senate Collection (ARC 6011103)
February 16, 1967. Lady Bird Johnson and Mary Lasker accept on behalf of their beautification program a surprise donation of flower seeds to be used in Washington, DC school grounds, in a presentation at the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden of the White House.
LBJ Presidential Library photo #C4560-20a, public domain.
That’s one classy wheelbarrow!
DRIVER’S VIEW OF PASSENGERS ON MORNING SHIRLEY HIGHWAY (VA) EXPRESS BUS TO WASHINGTON, DC, 03/1973
From the Records of the Environmental Protection Agency. (12/02/1970 - )
Happy Monday! Check out this groovy view of a group of Washington DC commuters.
Source: http://go.usa.gov/2XcJ
Tracks to the Union Station, 03/14/1908
Washington DC’s Union Station opened in 1907 and was officially complete in 1908. However it would not be connected to the local streetcar system until later that year. Until then, the only “tracks” were those made by harried travelers through the mud and snow.
Starting on Friday, March 15, the National Archives will reduce public hours at two locations in the Washington, DC, area as part of actions it is taking due to sequestration.
These reductions will affect exhibit spaces and research rooms at the National Archives Building in Washington, DC, and research rooms at the National Archives at College Park, Maryland.
In the past, the National Archives offered extended hours from March 15 through Labor Day, when the building stayed open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. seven days a week.
We will no longer offer these extended hours. Exhibit spaces at the National Archives Building in Washington DC will remain open to the public from 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., seven days a week, year round. Please note that the last admission will be at 5:00 p.m.
Previously, research rooms at the National Archives Building in Washington, DC, and at College Park, Maryland, were normally open to researchers six days a week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with extended hours from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. three days a week (Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday).
We will no longer offer these extended hours. The research rooms will remain open to researchers from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday, year round.
In announcing the reduced hours, the Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero said “We don’t take these reductions lightly. We are working hard to achieve our mission and minimize disruptions to the services we provide to the public.”
(via usnatarchives)
