Presidential Signatures, The Dalai Lama, and.... a Blood Splattered Map?

Last week I had the opportunity with a few other interns to take a little field trip to the Archives II facility in College Park, MD. Archives II holds Army and Navy records after 1917, as well a bunch of other stuff. The facility is WAY larger than the facility in Washington, DC, and (my opinion) difficult to navigate. We met with three different archivists dealing with Army, Navy, and Civilian records. We had the opportunity to tour the stack areas dealing with each of the three records.

Comparing Archives I to Archives II is pretty easy to do, simply because of the sheer difference in size and architecture. Archives II is very open, bright, and full of windows and natural lighting. While Archives I… is not. One of the major differences between the two facilities are the large stack areas in AII and the electronic movable shelving that holds the records. The electronic shelving units save a lot of space in the facility as they are designed to close in to one another when not in use, and can be separated when needed. My big question of course, was “How do you not squish people between the shelves??”. Next thing you know we are standing in between two shelving units that are slowly closing in on us. It would not be an exaggeration to say that I felt like I was in some sort of adventure movie caught in a trap and about to be squished flat by a huge stone wall (minus the spikes). Just as my life flashed before my eyes, the wall stopped moving inward. Turns out, there is a sensor at the base of the compartments that is triggered when someone places their foot up against it. Crisis averted.

Apart from the scary shelving (not so scary once you get used to them) we saw some other pretty cool stuff. We saw a ton of presidential signatures, everything from Washington to Clinton. We even got the opportunity to take a look at the first document that FDR signed after he had been sworn into office, and the last document that he signed three days before his death. The difference in the signatures was astounding. On top of seeing presidential documents, we were also able to examine a document signed by the Dali Lama in 1960, and a map that general McNair was reading when he was shot (very CSI). Basically, the trip to AII was amazing, and I am still trying to digest all of the information.

In other news, I had the opportunity to meet with David Ferriero, the Archivist of the United States this morning. It was a very casual meeting, we sat in his office and talked about the Archives, digitization, and the future of the records at the National Archives. Additionally, we talked about careers and how he got to where he is today. It was was a good meeting, and it was a pleasure to have met him.

-Emily