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Lesson 2: History and Mission of the National Archives

Answer these questions:

1) How many facilities are there in the National Archives system?

2) Who was the President who signed the order to establish the National Archives?

3) Where were documents often kept before the National Archives was established?

4) How does the NARA mission statement impact you?

5) Tell us briefly about your experience with National Archives documents before you joined this class.

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  • I hope you got my responses via email on this question last week.

    Renee

  • Currently there are 34 facilities in the National Archive system.  Before President Hoover signed the order establishing the National Archives (construction was completed under President Roosevelt), individual government agencies were responsible for archiving and storing there own records. The quality of archiving methods used by the various agencies ranged widely. 

     

    The NARA Mission Statement parallels much of what I see as my role as a Social Studies teacher.  It is an institution that is dedicated to allowing people to make their own historical discoveries through direct access to historical materials.  As a teacher I always want my students to get as close as possible to the people who actually experienced the historical events that we study.  Additionally, I want them to feel the rush of excitement that comes from a genuinely unique discovery that completely changes how they see a particular event or historical figure. Access to primary source documents is essential in this process.

     

    Before this class I have only used the archives sporadically, particularly for image searches.  I am looking forward to finding lots of new materials for my class!   

  • 1) 37

    2)FDR

    3) All over. It sounds like a sloppy mess. Each group was responsible for their own. Judging from personal dispositions and the recored some agencies must have done a much better job than others. I don't like clutter, I would have thrown away some important documents.

    4) It makes me happy. When a regime change in a country happens, the history gets altered. I appreciate the openness our country has and the dedication of the national archives to share information with others. Knowing there is a resource, an open book waiting to be read is neat. Makes me a feel a little ignorant for not having checked out more of it. 

    5) Prior to this class, I did nothing with NARA. 

  • 1. There are 37 facilities in the National Archive system, but if you count Presidential libraries and facilities housing national park materials there are more.

    2. President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the formal National Archives in 1934. The building began construction under President Herbert Hoover.

    3. Documents were initially held by individual government agencies, some of those agencies took great care of their documents, while others mishandled them. It was not uncommon for documents to be damaged or ruined by heat, weather, fire, insects etc.

    4. The NARA mission statement has a positive impact on me because I know that I have access to public records if and when i want to utilize them. I feel assured that having the ability to view government documents supports the true idea of democracy, and by having access to this information is a true sign that our nation is based for the people, by the people. Promoting civic education, is my core objective as a social studies teacher and by introducing students to the wealth of knowledge housed in the National Archives, I can enhance their knowledge of their rights as citizens but also their duties. As technology continues to astound us, it also allows me, as a teacher to bring the archives to my classroom, and introduce primary documents to engage our students in our nation's past, which correlates to the mission statements objective to "facilitate historical understanding of our national experience." I believe that my job is in Sync with the mission statement of the National Archives.

    5. I have utilized the National Archives on several different occasions. My first experience was in high school when my 11th grade AP US history teacher took us on a field trip to the FDR Presidential Library and we did research there for a school project. I have also used some of the National Archives photo analysis and primary source documents analysis worksheets in my classrooms to help my students dissect and understand the pieces for class discussion.

  • Lesson 2

    1) How many facilities are there in the National Archives system?

    After a variety of reports from the photographs (17 regional facilities) and colleagues, I searched NARA and found a “Locations Nationwide” page on NARA’s website (http://www.archives.gov/locations/index.html). Here’s what I found:

    There are 28 regional facilities, 15 president libraries and museums, and 10 affiliate facilities.

    2) Who was the President who signed the order to establish the National Archives?

    While President Hoover arranged to have his name on the cornerstone of the first building two weeks before he left office, in 1934, Congress & President Roosevelt established the National Archives. In 1949, the General Service Administration absorbed the National Archive, and not until 1984 did Congress and Pres. Reagan reestablish NARA as an independent agency.

    3) Where were documents often kept before the National Archives was established?

    Documents were kept in a variety of places and containers, including shelves disheveled in a White House garage (Yikes!).

    4) How does the NARA mission statement impact you?

    “Preserving the past to protect the future” is why we study history. We do our best to learn from the past least we are destined to repeat its mistakes. We must never forget…NARA makes the past available to the historical researcher as well as the “history-minded public” in order to better understand today and tomorrow.

    5) Tell us briefly about your experience with National Archives documents before you joined this class.

    Our school district sent out the website for research at the beginning of the school year. Though I have relied on professors and specific websites, and online databases for research in the past, many times NARA was on the reference page. I am excited to learn more as this class continues, as it is the very reason why I took the class.

  • 1) How many facilities are there in the National Archives system?

    There are 49 facilities in the National Archives system.

     

    2) Who was the President who signed the order to establish the National Archives?

    The National Archives began under President Herbert Hoover, but Franklin Roosevelt signed the establishment of the National Archives system.  Ronald Reagan’s signature in 1984 is on a similar Act of Congress.

     

    3) Where were documents often kept before the National Archives was established?

    Before the establishment of the National Archives, federal and state agencies were responsible for keeping and maintaining their own documents. Unfortunately there are a lot of missing and damaged records due to this.

     

    4) How does the NARA mission statement impact you?

    As the world turns to discovering their roots and searching for documents on websites such as Ancestory.com to tell them who they are and where their families come from, I love the fact that we can also turn to our government to see where our culture comes from and who made it what it is today. I love the fact that I can go out and view these documents.

     

    5) Tell us briefly about your experience with National Archives documents before you joined this class.

                Before this class the only time I have used the National Archives was due to homework (mine and my children’s). Looking at the various sites and the Teacher Resources I will be visiting more often.

  • 1) How many facilities are there in the National Archives system?

    From my reading of the Archives’ website I counted 49 facilities:  

    15 Presidential Libraries,

    24 Regional Facilities

    10 Affiliated Facilities (University of North Texas Libraries, Denton, TX; U.S. Military Academy Archives, West Point, NY; William W. Jeffries Mem. Archives, U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD; HABS/HAER Division, National Park Service, Washington, DC ; Oklahoma Historical Society, Oklahoma City, OK; Pennsylvania State Archives, Bureau of Archives and History, Harrisburg, PA; Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress, Washington, DC; State Records Center and Archives, Santa Fe, NM; U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC; Yellowstone National Park Archives, WY)

    2) Who was the President who signed the order to establish the National Archives?

    While the information on the Archives’ website shows that Franklin Roosevelt signed the establishment of the National Archives system (http://www.archives.gov/about/history/milestones.html) , the .pdf document in that citatation (http://www.archives.gov/about/history/anniversary/nara-act.pdf) shows Ronald Reagan’s signature in 1984 on a similar  Act of Congress (presumably a reauthorization? )  Check it out.

    3) Where were documents often kept before the National Archives was established?

    Prior to the establishment of the National Archives, various federal and state agencies were responsible for keeping and maintaining their own documents, often to devastating effect, with fire appearing to be a major danger to paper records.

    4) How does the NARA mission statement impact you?

    To me, the National Archives mission statements strikes at the very essence of the meaning of a democracy. Thomas Jefferson wrote that  "...wherever the people are well informed they can be trusted with their own government...".  It is through the perpetual preservation of the original record  that people have the opportunity to keep well informed.  The National Archives statement embodies that idea and if we as citizens will only use  the invaluable services of agencies such as the Archives we will be able to fight off the forces of disinformation, revisionism, an tyranny of the mind as well as the body. 

    5) Tell us briefly about your experience with National Archives documents before you joined this class.

    While attending StreetLaw’s Supreme Court Summer Institute for Teachers a few years ago, we teachers were treated to a day “behind the scenes” at the National Archive.  We were shown how to conduct research onsite with the help of in-house staff.  It would have been a historian’s dream to take up residence in DC for a time and get “hands-on” help. 

    To date however, my online use of the Archives has been limited to blundering about on my own, given the time constraints and daily demands the job.  This is why I am interested to see where this class leads.

  • 1)  37 facilities nation wide

    2) completed under F.D. Roosevelt

    3)  The responsibility of collecting and storing documents belonged to the the individual governmental organizations.  Many of those organizations did not take steps to preserve or organize the documents.

    4) "We ensure continuing access to the essential documentation of the rights of American citizens and the actions of their government. " There is something about this sentence that connects American citizens of today with those of the past.  Many, today, forget that this country and the government belongs to the people.  The documents, by default, should as well.  It somehow makes me feel important, that I, as a US citizen, have rights to the documents of my country - the documents that American citizens of the past helped to create.  

    5)  Before I joined this class I used the Document and Image Analysis worksheets.  My National History Day class used NARA as one of their search locations for primary documents for their projects.  Now that I know there is an Archives in Anchorage, I'm excited at the possibility at including that with my NHD class as well.    

  • 1) There are 37 facilities in the National Archives system.
    2) Construction of the National Archives building began under President Herbert Hoover, but was completed during the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt.
    3) Before the National Archives was established, it was up to individual government agencies to take care of their own records - many did not and some records were even kept in a White House garage.
    4) The NARA mission statement impacts me by supporting the philosophy I hold as a social studies teacher.  I strongly believe that a key part of my job as a teacher is to prepare my students to be productive and contributing members of society, both now as they are high school students, and in the future as they enter the “real world.”  In its concluding sentence, the NARA mission statement states that they “promote civic education,” which is exactly what I believe is necessary to help mold strong members of society.  Using NARA resources to teach students about the great members of American society that have come before them is integral to me being a successful teacher.
    5) My experience with the National Archives prior to this class is extensively using the document analysis worksheets in all of my history classes (sometimes modified, sometimes not), and just an overall use of many of the lesson plans provided by the archives.gov “Teacher’s Resources.”  And, of course, several viewings of National Treasure.

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