Exhibit Highlights

• Eyewitness—American Originals from the National Archives
  Gripping eyewitness accounts chronicle dramatic moments in U.S. history.
  
• Permanent Exhibits
  The Charters of Freedom; A New World Is at Hand; The Public Vaults; Magna Carta
• Special Exhibit in College Park, MD
  The Long View

Communications, Technology, and Government

Join us this month as we explore the theme “Communications, Technology, and Government.” Celebrate the Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary with a program tracing the relationship between technology and democracy from Franklin’s time to the present. Don’t miss the second annual William G. McGowan Forum, which examines the impact of new technologies on both journalism and law.

Benjamin Franklin

Thursday, November 2, at 7 p.m.
William G. McGowan Theater
Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary: Inventing America with Walter Isaacson
America’s founders were optimistic not only about politics but also about the contributions they expected science and technology to make to the success of the fledgling democracy. Join historian Walter Isaacson, author of Benjamin Franklin: An American Life, and Archivist of the United States Allen Weinstein as they discuss how Americans have wrestled with the interplay of technology and democracy from Franklin’s time until today. Isaacson will draw on both his knowledge of Franklin and his own experiences in journalism to explore how communications technologies have shaped the practice of democracy. Presented by the Center for the National Archives Experience in partnership with the Smithsonian’s Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation as part of a continuing celebration of the 300th anniversary of Franklin’s birth.

Robert MacNeil

Friday, November 3, at 7 p.m.
William G. McGowan Theater
The Second Annual William G. McGowan Forum on Communications, Technology, and Government
A Partnership Program with the Newseum
Easy to get and easy to use, new technologies can turn ordinary citizens into extraordinary witnesses as everyday people capture moments, mishaps, and miseries with ever-more-advanced cell phones, digital cameras, and camcorders. This year, the William G. McGowan Forum explores how “citizen witnesses” are affecting the gathering and reporting of news and creating constitutional and legal quandaries. In a panel discussion moderated by Robert MacNeil, former co-anchor of PBS’s The MacNeil-Lehrer NewsHour, experts in the news media and constitutional law share insights into these technological times and what’s ahead in both the newsrooms and the courts. Panelists include Barbara Cochran, president of the Radio/Television News Directors Association; Thomas Burke, attorney with Davis Wright Tremaine in San Francisco and vice chairman of the American Bar Association’s committee on First Amendment Rights in the Digital Age; Mike Wendland, technology reporter for the Detroit Free Press; and Ronald K. L. Collins, First Amendment scholar at the Freedom Forum. Presented by the Center for the National Archives Experience in partnership with the Newseum.

Recovering Cultural Treasures

Wednesday, November 8, at noon
William G. McGowan Theater
America and the Return of Nazi Contraband
Michael J. Kurtz, Assistant Archivist for Records Services at the National Archives, will discuss the topic “America and the Return of Nazi Contraband: The Recovery of Europe’s Cultural Treasures.” In the ruins of Hitler’s Third Reich, Allied occupiers found millions of paintings, books, manuscripts, and pieces of sculpture hidden in thousands of secret hideaways. Kurtz’s lecture will explore how the American Military Government in Germany, spearheaded by a few dozen dedicated Fine Arts, Monuments, and Archives officers and enlisted men, coped with restoring Europe’s cultural heritage. Caught up in often bitter diplomatic wrangling during and after the war, the Americans struggled to unearth and return what the Nazis had hidden.

Know Your Records Programs: Veterans Month

LECTURES AND VIDEOS

Friday, November 3, at 11 a.m.
Research Center, Room G-24
(Enter on Pennsylvania Avenue)
Lecture—Military Service in the War of 1812
John Deeben will offer a general primer on how to research both army and navy military records for the War of 1812.

Tuesday, November 7, at 11 a.m.
Research Center, Room G-24
(Enter on Pennsylvania Avenue)
Video—The Ramparts We Watch: A Saga of Modern America
The impact of World War I on a typical small town—New London, CT. (1940, 99 minutes) (This video will be repeated at the National Archives at College Park, in Lecture Room B, on Thursday, November 9, at 11 a.m.)

Wednesday, November 8, at 11 a.m.
Research Center, Room G-24
(Enter on Pennsylvania Avenue)
Video—Flashes of Action
Footage of World War I soldiers fighting in battle, aiding the wounded, and handling prisoners of war. (47 minutes)

CANCELLED
Thursday, November 9
Lecture—Gold Star Mothers’ Pilgrimage
From 1930 to 1933, the Federal Government paid the way for the mothers and widows of World War I soldiers to visit the graves of their sons and husbands in Europe. Archivist Constance Potter will describe the visit of one woman, Katherine Holley of Hedgesville, WV.

Monday, November 13, at 11 a.m.
Research Center, Room G-24
(Enter on Pennsylvania Avenue)
Video—The Negro Soldier
Produced to demonstrate to black troops their particular stake in the fight against the Axis powers. (1944, 42 minutes) (This program will be repeated at the National Archives at College Park, in Lecture Room B, on Friday, November 17, at 11 a.m.)

Tuesday, November 14, at 11 a.m.
Research Center, Room G-24
(Enter on Pennsylvania Avenue)
Three Short Videos
Homes for Veterans (1946, 28 minutes)—explores the housing shortage for returning veterans; Women on the Warpath (1943, 10 minutes)—includes color footage of women war workers; WASPS (1943, 20 minutes)—tells the story of the Women’s Air Force Service Pilots.

Thursday, November 16, at 11 a.m.
National Archives at College Park
(Meet in the lobby)
Lecture—Aerial Photography of World War II Campaigns
Archives specialist Jerry Luchansky will show original aerial film shot by the Americans and Allies during World War II as well as aerial prints from the German Luftwaffe. In the Cartographic Research Room, he will exhibit photographs and overlays and explain how to use aerial flight mission overlays for research.

Tuesday, November 21, at 11 a.m.
Research Center, Room G-24
(Enter on Pennsylvania Avenue)
Video—This Is Korea
The story of the 7th Fleet and the 1st Marine Division, including footage of Korean life and numerous aspects of the daily routine of soldiers, from frontline battles and M.A.S.H. hospitals to Christmas dinner. (1951, 50 minutes) (This program will be repeated at the National Archives at College Park, in Lecture Room B, on Friday, December 1, at 11 a.m.)

Tuesday, November 28, at 11 a.m.
Research Center, Room G-24
(Enter on Pennsylvania Avenue)
Two Short Videos
Vietnam Crucible (30 minutes)—shows soldiers training for fighting in the Vietnam War; A Day in Vietnam (28 minutes)—highlights daily activities of U.S. troops in Vietnam. (This program will be repeated at the National Archives at College Park, in Lecture Room B, on Thursday, November 30, at 11 a.m.)

GENEALOGY WORKSHOP

To kick off Veterans Month:
Tuesday, October 31, 10 a.m.–12:45 p.m.
Research Center, Room G-24
(Enter on Pennsylvania Avenue)
If Grandpa Wore Blue, If Grandpa Wore Grey
Marie Melchiori, CGRS, CGL, will look at common and uncommon compiled military service and pension records available at the National Archives for Union soldiers, both Regular Army and Volunteers. She will also cover the War Department Collection of Confederate Records. Reservations are required, and a fee of $20 is payable by cash or check at the door. Call 202-357-5333.

FROM THE RECORDS BOOK GROUP

Wednesday, November 15, at noon
Research Center, Room G-24
(Enter on Pennsylvania Avenue)
Presidents at War
This month, the From the Records Book Group discusses Presidents at War, by Gerald Astor and John Murtha. This free discussion is open to the public. Please check the Archives Shop (202-357-5271) for book availability and a special discount for book group participants. (NOTE: There will be no book group meeting in December. January’s book will be My Face Is Black Is True: Callie House and the Struggle for Ex-Slave Reparations, by Mary Frances Berry.)

Locations, Hours, and Contact Information

The National Archives Experience
Constitution Avenue between 7th and 9th Streets, NW, Washington, DC

Exhibit Hours:
Daily 10 a.m.–5:30 p.m. with last admission at 5 p.m.
Open every day except Thanksgiving and December 25.
Admission free.

All events listed in the calendar are free unless noted; reservations are not required unless noted. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. Use the Special Events entrance on Constitution Avenue.

For reservations or to be placed on the mailing list, call 202-357-5000 or e-mail public.program@nara.gov.

The National Archives Research Center
700 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC, and 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD

Research Hours have recently changed.
Check the Washington, DC, and College Park location information for details.

Call 202-357-5450 for a docent-led guided tour.

TDD: 301-837-0482. The National Archives is fully accessible. To request an accommodation (such as a sign language interpreter) for a public program, please call 202-357-5000 or e-mail public.program@nara.gov at least two weeks prior to the event.