United States House of Representatives: History, Art, & Archives
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History, Art & Archives of the U.S. House of Representatives

Before Bloody Sunday

by History on February 24, 2015

Congressional Delegation to Visit Alabama
A month before Selma became synonymous with the struggle for voting rights, a group of Congressmen traveled to the city and returned to Washington to sound the alarm. “We—as Members of Congress—must face the fact that existing legislation just is not working,” Joseph Resnick of New York said upon his return. “The situation in Selma must jar us from our complacency concerning voting rights.”

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Categories: Minorities in Congress, Exhibitions & Publications, Oral History

Edition for Educators—African-American Congressmen in the 19th Century

by History on February 18, 2015

Robert Smalls of South Carolina
Robert Smalls fought for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives despite violence from the opposition, and focused his congressional career on promoting African-American civil rights. Twenty-two African-Americans served in Congress from 1870 to 1901. Learn more about the life and accomplishments of Robert Smalls and other 19th-century African-American Members of Congress for Black History Month.

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Categories: Education, Minorities in Congress

Plating Possum

by Archives on February 9, 2015

Neal Burnham with the Cannon Building possum
When this possum snuck into the Old House Office Building in 1946, it had little idea that it would end up as a Capitol dinner.

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Categories: Photography, Art & Artifacts

Breaking the Code: Duncan Lee, HUAC, and the Venona Files

by Archives on February 2, 2015

Duncan Lee
Here’s the thing about being a spy: You can’t tell anybody. Especially if you’re a descendant of the Lee family of Virginia, educated at an elite prep school and university, a Rhodes Scholar, a lawyer at a prominent Manhattan law firm, and working in counterintelligence for the United States. Duncan Chaplin Lee was and did all of those things. He was a spy, and he got away with it.

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Categories: Art & Artifacts, Records & Research

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Office of the Historian: history@mail.house.gov
Office of Art & Archives, Office of the Clerk: art@mail.house.gov, archives@mail.house.gov