“At about 2:30 or maybe a little bit before, apparently Chou En-Lai appeared at the guest house unannounced, got a hold of Henry [Kissinger] and said that Chairman Mao would like to see the President, if he would come over.”

-H.R. Halderman, Assistant to President Nixon. 2/21/72

The archival team at the Nixon Library created this video of behind-the-scenes film clips and stories from Nixon’s visit to China.  Some really interesting glimpses into history here.

Source: youtu.be

“The independent girl is a person before whose wrath only the most rash dare stand, and, they, it must be confessed, with much fear and trembling.”

Does this line call out to your eternally 14-year old heart?  It’s from a handwritten essay by future-First Lady Lou Henry Hoover, written shortly before her 15th birthday.  “The Independent Girl,” penned on January 31, 1890, reveals Lou’s own vivacious and independent spirit. 

In the conclusion, Lou seems to channel the future that awaits her as the partner of 31st President Herbert Hoover.  She proclaims that the independent girl will sooner or later “meet a spirit equally as independent as her own…and with combined strength go forth to meet the world.”

Go forth, girls.

-More independent Lou

Source: research.archives.gov

Know-Nothing Party This campaign medallion from the 1856 presidential election is a predecessor to the candidate bumper sticker. The small hole punched at the top would have allowed a person to sew the medallion to a jacket or coat, or string it on a chain. Pictured in the center of the medallion is former President Millard Fillmore. Fillmore was nominated by the American Party, also known as the “Know-Nothing” Party, as their Presidential candidate. The Know-Nothing party was staunchly anti-immigrant and Protestant, and feared the large number of German and Irish Catholics who were coming into the United States at the time. This medallion is one of many campaign-related objects from the Truman Library.  When it first opened in 1957, President Truman wanted the Library to become a general center for the study of the presidency, not just focused on him. As a result, the Library actively sought out presidential-related objects to collect.  The Library will be featuring more campaign history throughout this 2012 election year.  -More at the Truman Library
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Know-Nothing Party

This campaign medallion from the 1856 presidential election is a predecessor to the candidate bumper sticker. The small hole punched at the top would have allowed a person to sew the medallion to a jacket or coat, or string it on a chain. Pictured in the center of the medallion is former President Millard Fillmore.

Fillmore was nominated by the American Party, also known as the “Know-Nothing” Party, as their Presidential candidate. The Know-Nothing party was staunchly anti-immigrant and Protestant, and feared the large number of German and Irish Catholics who were coming into the United States at the time.

This medallion is one of many campaign-related objects from the Truman Library.  When it first opened in 1957, President Truman wanted the Library to become a general center for the study of the presidency, not just focused on him. As a result, the Library actively sought out presidential-related objects to collect.  The Library will be featuring more campaign history throughout this 2012 election year. 

-More at the Truman Library

Source: trumanlibrary.org

Office Parties This photo from the Truman Library is of a Christmas party at the Department of the Interior.  Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Michael Straus hand out glasses of punch to staff. December 23, 1947. from the Truman Library Do you partake of punch at holiday office parties?
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Office Parties

This photo from the Truman Library is of a Christmas party at the Department of the Interior.  Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Michael Straus hand out glasses of punch to staff. December 23, 1947.

from the Truman Library

Do you partake of punch at holiday office parties?

Source: trumanlibrary.org

preservearchives: Preserving Pearl Harbor Documents Service jacket and salvaged service record, with Navy envelope, of William Wells. Wells enlisted at Kansas City, Mo. on Jan. 1, 1940, and died Dec. 7, 1941, at Pearl Harbor after achieving the rank of Signalman 3rd class. Also lost that day was his brother, Raymond Virgil Wells. They were one of 23 sets of brothers on the Arizona who died that day. One of the most important decisions a conservator can make is not how to complete a treatment, but when NOT to treat. An important example of this can be found in the records salvaged from the U.S.S. Arizona after it was bombed on Dec. 7, 1941. These service records, which were held one level below the main deck, were not submerged in water but were subjected to heat, fire, and high humidity. Salvaged by the Navy and sealed in envelopes which contained the damaged documents, the records came to NARA in the 1950s and are now housed at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis. Note: This is the first in a series of posts on conservation of Pearl Harbor documents.
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preservearchives:

Preserving Pearl Harbor Documents

Service jacket and salvaged service record, with Navy envelope, of William Wells. Wells enlisted at Kansas City, Mo. on Jan. 1, 1940, and died Dec. 7, 1941, at Pearl Harbor after achieving the rank of Signalman 3rd class. Also lost that day was his brother, Raymond Virgil Wells. They were one of 23 sets of brothers on the Arizona who died that day.

One of the most important decisions a conservator can make is not how to complete a treatment, but when NOT to treat. An important example of this can be found in the records salvaged from the U.S.S. Arizona after it was bombed on Dec. 7, 1941. These service records, which were held one level below the main deck, were not submerged in water but were subjected to heat, fire, and high humidity. Salvaged by the Navy and sealed in envelopes which contained the damaged documents, the records came to NARA in the 1950s and are now housed at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis.

Note: This is the first in a series of posts on conservation of Pearl Harbor documents.

Source: preservearchives

We work with amazing people here at the National Archives.  Among them are the folks on the preservation team who provide tender loving care to the records of the American people.  We’re so excited to welcome the brand new Tumblr from Preservation at the National Archives.  Take a look! preservearchives: Preservation at the National Archives is on Tumblr Welcome to the Preservation at the National Archives Tumblr blog! We are excited to show off the many ways that the National Archives and Records Administration works to preserve the holdings under our care. Let us know if something piques your interest, or if you have any great ideas for posts. We look forward to hearing from you! preservation@nara.gov
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We work with amazing people here at the National Archives.  Among them are the folks on the preservation team who provide tender loving care to the records of the American people.  We’re so excited to welcome the brand new Tumblr from Preservation at the National Archives.  Take a look!

preservearchives:

Preservation at the National Archives is on Tumblr

Welcome to the Preservation at the National Archives Tumblr blog! We are excited to show off the many ways that the National Archives and Records Administration works to preserve the holdings under our care. Let us know if something piques your interest, or if you have any great ideas for posts. We look forward to hearing from you!

preservation@nara.gov

Source: preservearchives

Dear Bess, …I’ve never had but one golden-haired, blue-eyed sweetheart and she’s still the same blue-eyed, but now maybe silver-haired, sweetheart and just as perfect and as beautiful as I dreamed of when I was ten and twelve and sixteen… -from a letter written by Harry to Bess Truman.  June 28, 1935, Washington D.C. There are almost 50-years worth of handwritten letters between Harry and Bess Truman. You can view many of them in the Truman Library’s archives. On October 18, 1982, former first lady Bess Truman died at her home in Independence, Missouri.  She was 97 years old.
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Dear Bess,

…I’ve never had but one golden-haired, blue-eyed sweetheart and she’s still the same blue-eyed, but now maybe silver-haired, sweetheart and just as perfect and as beautiful as I dreamed of when I was ten and twelve and sixteen…

-from a letter written by Harry to Bess Truman.  June 28, 1935, Washington D.C.

There are almost 50-years worth of handwritten letters between Harry and Bess Truman. You can view many of them in the Truman Library’s archives.

On October 18, 1982, former first lady Bess Truman died at her home in Independence, Missouri.  She was 97 years old.

George Washington’s nomination of Alexander Hamilton, from Congress in the Archives.  We love what’s happening from the latest Tumblr from the National Archives.

congressarchives:

On September 11, 1789 George Washington nominated Alexander Hamilton to be the first Secretary of the Treasury. The Senate approved the nomination that same day. Hamilton resigned as Secretary of the Treasury in 1795.

Nomination message, 9/11/1789, SEN 1B-A1, U.S. Senate

Source: congressarchives

President George W. Bush holds the badge of a police officer killed in the September attacks.  “It is the police shield of a man named George Howard, who died at the World Trade Center trying to save others. It was given to me by his mom, Arlene, as a proud memorial to her son.”  -President George W. Bush in his address to Congress Remembering 9/11: Working with materials related to September 11Courtesy of the George W. Bush Presidential Library
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President George W. Bush holds the badge of a police officer killed in the September attacks. 

“It is the police shield of a man named George Howard, who died at the World Trade Center trying to save others. It was given to me by his mom, Arlene, as a proud memorial to her son.” 

-President George W. Bush in his address to Congress


Remembering 9/11: Working with materials related to September 11

Courtesy of the George W. Bush Presidential Library