History, Natural History & the Arts
At the National Archives there are nearly 3,000 reports containing information on escape and evasion activities and training of U.S. soldiers serving in the European theater during the Second World War.
These records contain dramatic and gripping firsthand accounts of survival, including these three: [Read more…] about World War II Escape and Evasion Firsthand Accounts
Houghton Library, Harvard University’s largest rare books and manuscripts repository, is home to hundreds of thousands of materials relating to history across the world. Houghton’s collections related to Black history range from the 18th century through today, but have been difficult to find among all the other material.
During the 2020‒21 academic year however, library staff paused their other digital projects to focus on building the collection related to Black American history. The effort has made more primary sources by and about African Americans available digitally, along with a considerable amount of context. [Read more…] about Harvard Library Focuses On Improving Access To Black History Collections
During the U.S. Civil War, the Confederate Army required enslavers to loan the people they held enslaved to the military. Throughout the Confederacy from Florida to Virginia, these enslaved people served as cooks and laundresses, labored in deadly conditions to mine potassium nitrate to create gunpowder, worked in ordnance factories, and dug the extensive defensive trench networks that defended cities such as Petersburg, Virginia.
To track this extensive network of thousands of enslaved people and the pay their enslavers received for their lease, the Confederate Quartermaster Department created the record series now called the “Confederate Slave Payrolls.” [Read more…] about The Civil War Confederate Army’s Forced Labor Slave Records
In the centuries before the self-inking notary public’s stamp, U.S. government clerks and secretaries used brightly-colored silk ribbons, wax seals, and embossed paper seals attached with wafers to verify the security of important documents. [Read more…] about Historical Fasteners Letter & Document Fasteners: A Primer
Wednesday, October 13th is #AskAnArchivist Day, an annual event during which archivists take to Twitter to answer all kinds of questions — from the silly to the practical — and raise awareness of the importance of archives.
Archivists will answer inquiries via Twitter. You can submit questions by posting them on Twitter on October 13th using the hashtag #AskAnArchivist.
The National Archives safeguards billions of documents and materials created in the course of business conducted by the United States government.
In addition to these federal records, the National Archives holds collections of donated historical materials, many of which pertain to and illustrate historical activities of the United States, or document a significant program or activity of the U.S. government. [Read more…] about National Archives Adds Donated Collection Explorer
The Underground Railroad Consortium of New York State has announced the formation of a new committee, focusing on archives and oral histories with the goal of identifying archival materials related to the Underground Railroad in New York State. [Read more…] about Underground Railroad Survey Seeks To Identify Local Collections
Oneida County History Center (OCHC) Trustee and Volunteer Barbara Granato recently acquired 19 boxes of records from county archives that the clerk’s office was removing from storage to be returned to their rightful homes in the town or village where they originated.
The records date from the 1840s, 1850s, and early 1900s and include birth, marriage, deaths, orders of filiation, indentures, and commitments to orphanages. Granato spent 10 months organizing, photographing, and transcribing each record. [Read more…] about 19th Century Oneida County Records Return Home
This week on The Historians Podcast, movie historian and SUNY Albany lecturer emeritus Audrey Kupferberg discusses film preservation. [Read more…] about Preserving Motion Picture History (Podcast)
The New York Archives Conference, which brings together archivists, manuscript curators, local historians and local government record keepers to discuss issues of mutual concern to professional holders of historical records, will be held virtually this year, and admission will be free. [Read more…] about New York Archives Conference Goes Virtual & Free