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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: National Archives

National Archives stories: 18 news summaries

 WWII GI Returns 
 Looted 16th Century 
 German Books 

Vet took 400-year-old legal volumes home as souvenirs

Oct 8, 09 3:19 AM CDT
(Newser) - Retired optometrist Robert Thomas handed a pair of books he filched as an 18-year-old GI 64 years ago to the German ambassador in a ceremony at the National Archives this week. Thomas, 83, found the 400-year-old legal volumes stashed among millions of others in a salt mine while inspecting recently... More »

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veterans • Germany • World War II • book • National Archives

Plan Could Divine Missing Watergate Minutes, CSI-Style

Archivist pushes plan to uncover lost pages' imprints

Jul 28, 09 4:08 PM CDT
(Newser) - A Watergate hobbyist has a plan to discover what was discussed during the 18½ minutes erased from a taped conversation between President Nixon and his chief of staff after the break-in. Phil Mellinger doesn’t want to examine the tape itself; that's been done without success. He says the answer... More »

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Watergate • Richard Nixon • National Security Agency • mystery • tape • National Archives • paper • documents • Phil Mellinger

Decades of US Immigration History Comes to Light

National Archives receives documents of 21 million

Jun 4, 09 12:55 PM CDT
(Newser) - The US is sending the files on some 21 million immigrants to the National Archives, revealing volumes of early 20th-century history, USA Today reports. The documents tell the stories of celebrities like Salvador Dali as well as the successes and tribulations of ordinary people, from refugees to “enemy aliens.... More »

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immigration • history • immigrant • National Archives • American history • Salvador Dali

Lost-and-Found Letter Shows Lincoln's Terse Side

Embattled prez had more to deal with than Civil War

May 29, 09 10:59 AM CDT
(Newser) - A handwritten note dated just a few days before Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address has finally made its way back to the National Archives, the Washington Post reports. The terse communication from the president to Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase addressed corruption charges against a Lincoln appointee. "Even though this... More »

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Abraham Lincoln • Civil War • National Archives • letter • American history • Salmon P. Chase

 Judge: 
 Cheney Won't 
 Dump Records 

Accepts aide's word that docs will go safely to Archives

Jan 20, 09 8:00 AM CST
(Newser) - A federal judge yesterday rejected historians’ and nonprofits’ complaint that Vice President Dick Cheney planned to illegally dump some of his papers, the Washington Post reports. The judge instead took the word of a White House aide that the documents would go to the National Archives as required. The ruling... More »

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Bush administration • Dick Cheney • records • presidential papers • federal judges • National Archives

White House Ordered to Find Missing Emails

Judge issues last-minute bid to archive Iraq letters

Jan 14, 09 2:29 PM CST
(Newser) - As current White House employees pack their bags, a federal judge today ordered the president's executive office to find and properly archive missing e-mails written by senior Bush appointees. At issue are communications that date to the period between 2003 and 2005, specifically documents that relate to the invasion of... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Bush administration • Cabinet • archive • National Archives • missing e-mails • George W. Bush • court order

Lawsuits, Tech Glitches Keep Bush Emails Under Wraps

Millions still due to be released in a month

Dec 21, 08 9:56 AM CST
(Newser) - Technical snags and lawsuits are holding up the release of hundreds of millions of Bush White House emails to the National Archives, the Washington Post reports. Historians and nonprofits are in a legal battle with the White House, as administration officials sift through backup tapes to recover lost documents. "... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Dick Cheney • email • White House • records • National Archives • George W. Bush • missing White House emails

Obama Job Applications Headed for National Archives

Privacy rules will keep much secret, but applying to government does have perils

Dec 8, 08 9:41 AM CST
(Newser) - You know how they say your Facebook page will come back to haunt you? Now imagine if it weren’t just on the Internet, but in the National Archives. That’s the likely destination of personal information submitted by applicants to Barack Obama’s administration, reports Politico. Not to fear,... More »

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National Archives • Obama administration • transition team • President Obama

'That Is the
End of This Broadcast'

UK declassifies
BBC's Cold War script for nuclear attack

Oct 3, 08 7:55 AM CDT
(Newser) - A radio script that the British government planned to broadcast to survivors of a nuclear attack has been made public for the first time, the BBC reports. The script, written in the 1970s and released by the National Archives, warns listeners to stay in hiding for 14 days and to... More »

MORE ABOUT:
BBC • nuclear weapons • Cold War • survivors • Britain • National Archives • nuclear attack

 Cheney Sued 
 to Expose 
 Secrets 

Citizens group asks judge to order his records preserved for public access

Sep 8, 08 4:52 AM CDT
(Newser) - A federal judge is being asked to prevent Dick Cheney from destroying or hiding what some believe are the administration's best kept secrets, reports the Washington Post. The advocacy group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics is calling for a court order to force the powerful vice president to preserve... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Iraq • Afghanistan • Dick Cheney • National Archives • Presidential Records Act • public records • Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics • U.S. District Court • University of Wisconsin Law School • Walter F. Mondale • Office of the Vice President • St. Louis University School of Law

Julia Child Dished Up Secrets in WWII

Chef one of several famous Americans revealed as spies

Aug 14, 08 3:03 AM CDT
(Newser) - Legendary chef Julia Child, Hollywood star Sterling Hayden, White Sox catcher Moe Berg and historian Arthur Schlesinger were all spies for the US, according to newly declassified documents. Untold stories and clandestine heroics of World War II will come to light today as authorities release 750,000 pages of files... More »

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CIA • World War II • Franklin D. Roosevelt • Arthur Schlesinger Jr. • National Archives • Harry Truman • Julia Child • Moe Berg • Sterling Hayden • John Hemingway • Kermit Roosevelt • Quentin Roosevelt • OSS • Office of Strategic Services • William Casey

Beloved Brit Painting Once Owned by Hitler

Venus image now in National Gallery also hung in his apartment

Mar 28, 08 11:17 AM CDT
(Newser) - A nude painting of Venus on display in London's National Gallery for 45 years—one of the gallery's most popular works—turns out to have been once owned by Adolf Hitler. The whimsical Cupid Complaining to Venus, by German master Lucas Cranach, was given to Hitler by a prominent... More »

MORE ABOUT:
London • art • Adolf Hitler • National Archives • Lucas Cranach • looted art • Cupid Complaining to Venus • National Gallery • Patricia Lochridge Hartwell • Dr Birgit Schwartz

ANALYSIS

 First Lady Skeds Were Sanitized

Very little remains in Clinton's calendars for historians, or foes

Mar 20, 08 2:12 PM CDT
(Newser) - Schedules from Hillary Clinton’s time as first lady don’t reveal much, Newsweek reports. The mound of documents consists only of her public engagements, rather than her private calendar, meaning many potentially revealing details are left out. The thousands of pages don’t, for example, mention her four-hour Whitewater... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Hillary Clinton • Bill Clinton • Whitewater • Clinton Presidential Library • Monica Lewinsky • National Archives • first lady • Election 2008 • Clinton schedules • public schedules

 Clinton to Release
 First Lady Schedules 

All 11,046 pages of them

Mar 19, 08 8:33 AM CDT
(Newser) - The public can finally get a look at Hillary Clinton’s record as first lady—all 11,046 pages of it. The National Archives will release all of Clinton's daily schedules, it announced yesterday, responding to a Freedom of Information Act request made almost a year ago. The documents detail... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Hillary Clinton • Bill Clinton • Freedom of Information Act • Clinton administration • Clinton Presidential Library • National Archives • first lady • Clinton records

Magna Carta Back in US Archives

Carlyle Group founder returns it after buying for $21.3M

Mar 4, 08 5:35 PM CST
(Newser) - The Magna Carta returned to the National Archives yesterday after facing an uncertain fate on the auction block last year, the Washington Post reports. The 13th-century English document, a precursor to the US Bill of Rights 500 years later, is now on permanent loan from a US businessman who bought... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Bill of Rights • democracy • Carlyle Group • David Rubenstein • Magna Carta • National Archives • history of democracy • Declaration of Independence

White House Still Lacks
Email Archive

Millions of messages missing despite court orders to fix system

Jan 22, 08 1:39 PM CST
(Newser) - The ongoing controversy over the potential disappearance of millions of White House emails stems from an inadequate archiving system that has not been brought up to snuff despite court orders to do so, the Washington Post reports. In fact, the White House scrapped a system put in place by the... More »

MORE ABOUT:
email • White House • Clinton administration • National Archives • Iraq war • George W. Bush

Group Sues to Get Hillary's White House Records

Public interest group after documents on Clinton's health care task force

Nov 6, 07 4:15 AM CST
(Newser) - Fed up with waiting, a conservative public interest group is suing the National Archives to obtain White House records on Hillary Clinton when she led a health-care task force as first lady. Clinton is catching flak from her Democratic rivals for holding up release of the documents, ABC News reports. More »

MORE ABOUT:
Hillary Clinton • Bill Clinton • Judicial Watch • National Archives • Clinton records

Prying Eyes Won't Get to Hillary’s Papers

Rivals refused access
to first lady's records
in Clinton Library

Aug 14, 07 2:03 PM CDT
(Newser) - Nearly 2 million pages of documents from Hillary Clinton’s years as first lady are sealed at the Clinton Presidential Library, and an eager opposition is chomping at the bit to get to them. Archivists say the documents—including appointment logs and memos—won’t be released before next year’... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Hillary Clinton • Freedom of Information Act • Clinton Presidential Library • National Archives • first lady • Hillary Care • presidential library • Clinton records

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