7575 Years Yearsof Primary of Primary DocumentsDocumentsat theat theNational ArchivesNational Archives

National Archives in National Archives in Washington D.C.Washington D.C.

The National Archives is The National Archives is best known for preserving best known for preserving

and exhibiting:and exhibiting:

DeclarationDeclaration

Bill of RightsBill of Rights

ConstitutionConstitution

of of IndependenceIndependence

NARA’s MissionNARA’s Mission

To preserve and provide access to the permanent records created by the Federal Government.

"Time and accident are committing daily havoc on the originals deposited in our public offices."

Thomas Thomas Jefferson, Jefferson, 17911791

ARC Identifier 532932

The condition of War Department records stored in the White House garage illustrates the need for a National

Archives.

Hoover lays cornerstone of National Archives Building on February 20, 1933.

FDR on the National FDR on the National ArchivesArchives

“To bring together the records of the past and to house them in a building where they will be preserved for the use of men and women in the future, a Nation must believe in three things. It must believe in the past. It must believe in the future. It must, above all, believe in the capacity of its own people so to learn from the past that they can gain judgment in creating their own future.”

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1941

FDR lays the cornerstone for his Presidential Library in Hyde Park, NY in November 1939. The success of the Roosevelt Library paved the way for the enactment of

the Presidential Libraries Act of 1955.

NARA’s Holdings Capture NARA’s Holdings Capture the Sweep of the Pastthe Sweep of the Past

• Records date from 1775;

• slave ship manifests and the Emancipation Proclamation;

• captured German records and the Japanese surrender documents from World War II;

• Indian treaties making transitory promises; and a richly bound document bearing the bold signature "Bonaparte"—the Louisiana Purchase Treaty that doubled the territory of the young republic.

In this letter to the Continental Congress, General George Washington passed along information he received from a sailor. It was believed that British General William Howe was sending people out from Boston who had been deliberately infected with smallpox, so that they might pass on the disease to Americans in the surrounding area. Washington believed this to be a form of bioterrorism.

1775…1775…

ARC ID 824626

Manifest of Slaves for the

Schooner Charles,

July 4,

1842.

Slave Slave Manifests…Manifests…

The The Emancipation Emancipation ProclamationProclamationJanuary 1, 1863January 1, 1863

ARC ID 299998

General Dwight D, Eisenhower, Supreme Allied Commander, accompanied by Gen. Omar N. Bradley, and Lt. Gen. George S. Patton, Jr., inspects art treasures stolen by Germans and hidden in a Salt Mine in Germany, April 12, 1945.

ARC ID 531272

Captured Captured German German Records…Records…

ARC ID 520694

General Douglas

MacArthur signs as

Supreme Allied Commander

during formal surrender

ceremonies on the USS

Missouri in Tokyo Bay,

September 2, 1945.

Japanese Surrender Japanese Surrender Documents…Documents…

Indian Indian treaties treaties making making transitory transitory promises…promises…

Land granted to Choctaw Indian, Ha-cubbe by President James K. Polk per the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, December 6, 1845.

The Louisiana The Louisiana PurchasePurchase

The Louisiana Purchase consists of three separate agreements between the United States and France: a treaty of cession and two agreements providing for the exchange of monies in the transaction. This item is the French exchange copy of the agreement providing for the payment of 60 million francs by the United States to France. It was signed by the future Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte and his Foreign Minister, Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord.

ARC ID 299807

NARA’s HoldingsNARA’s Holdings

• NARA keeps only those Federal records that are judged to have continuing value—about 2 to 5 percent of those generated in any given year.

• All of these materials are preserved because they are important to the workings of Government, have long-term research worth, or provide information of value to citizens.

NARA’s NARA’s Holdings Holdings Include:Include:● 2.9 million cubic feet of

paper records (more than 10 billion pieces of paper!)

● Almost 35 million still pictures and posters

● 18 million aerial photographs

● 5 million maps

● 93,000 motion pictures

● More than 207,000 sound and video recordings

Laid side to side our original records would

circle the Earth 57 times!!

The Southwest Region alone holds 107,000 cubic feet of records.

• In 1969, the Archivist of the United In 1969, the Archivist of the United States established a regional States established a regional archives system to make regionally archives system to make regionally created historically valuable federal created historically valuable federal records accessible to the public records accessible to the public locally.locally.

• Regional archives holdings document Regional archives holdings document national, regional, state, and local national, regional, state, and local activities and interests and offer activities and interests and offer national resources in a local setting.national resources in a local setting.

National Archives Nationwide National Archives Nationwide NetworkNetwork

National Archives Nationwide National Archives Nationwide NetworkNetwork

Where are the Regional Where are the Regional Archives?Archives?

• AnchorageAnchorage• AtlantaAtlanta• BostonBoston• ChicagoChicago• DenverDenver• Fort WorthFort Worth• Kansas CityKansas City

●● Laguna Niguel, Laguna Niguel, CA CA

●● New YorkNew York

●● PhiladelphiaPhiladelphia

●● Pittsfield, MA Pittsfield, MA

●● San FranciscoSan Francisco

●● St. LouisSt. Louis

●● SeattleSeattle

National Archives at Fort National Archives at Fort WorthWorth

Southwest Region’s Record Southwest Region’s Record HoldingsHoldings

The Southwest Region holds

records that were created by

federal agencies in the states of:

Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas and Louisiana.

The Federal Population The Federal Population Censuses 1790-1930Censuses 1790-1930

• Released 72 years after the census date, 1940 and later censuses are currently protected by privacy restrictions and are available only through the Census Bureau

• The 1940 Census will be available in 2012

Booker T. Washington, 1900 Census

Passenger Arrival RecordsPassenger Arrival Records

DeclaratioDeclaration of n of

IntentionIntention

Andras Bucsanji● Butcher

● 27 years old

● Hungary

Petitions for Petitions for NaturalizationNaturalization

John P. KeeganNative of Ireland

Bureau of Indian Affairs Bureau of Indian Affairs Record Group 75Record Group 75

Dawes Enrollment Card for Dawes Enrollment Card for William P. RogersWilliam P. Rogers

Information Information located in the located in the

Enrollment Jacket Enrollment Jacket for for

William P. RogersWilliam P. Rogers

Cherokee Cherokee Land Land

Allotment Allotment Jacket for Jacket for William P. William P.

RogersRogers

Federal Federal CourtsCourts

Record Record Group 21Group 21

Equity CasesEquity Cases

Bankruptcy Bankruptcy CasesCases

Slave Auction in a Bankruptcy File, 1847

Criminal CasesCriminal Cases

Fort Smith CasesFort Smith Cases

Bass Reeves,

First African American

U.S. Marshal

Wyatt EarpWyatt Earp

Exhibits: Assault v. Exhibits: Assault v. MurderMurder

Chinese Exclusion ActChinese Exclusion Act

U.S. Attorneys—Record U.S. Attorneys—Record Group 118Group 118

Texas City Disaster, 1947

Coast Guard—Record Group Coast Guard—Record Group 2626

Life Life Saving Saving Station Station RecordsRecordsGalvestoGalvesto

n,n,19001900

U.S. Customs ServiceU.S. Customs ServiceRecord Group 36

Selective Service SystemSelective Service SystemRecord Group 163/147

Army Air Forces—Record Army Air Forces—Record Group 18Group 18

Kelly Field, San Antonio, 1938

Disappearance of Flight 19,

Bermuda Triangle,

1945

Naval Districts and Shore Naval Districts and Shore EstablishmentsEstablishments

Record Group 181

War Diary War Diary of the of the

U.S.S. St. U.S.S. St. Louis for Louis for

December December 7, 19417, 1941

NASA-NASA-RecordRecord Group 255Group 255

Jenny McMillen Sweeney,

Education Specialist

National Archives at Fort Worth

817.831.5917

jenny.mcmillen@nara.gov

www.archives.gov/southwest