Exploring Regional History at the National Archives
RSSJoyce Burner, Curriculum Connections—School Library Journal
If you only associate the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) with Washington, DC, you're in for a pleasant surprise. NARA also operates Regional Archives at 13 locations around the United States, maybe one right in your own backyard! Each Regional Archive preserves records produced and collected by federal agencies within a specific multi-state area, creating a treasure trove of regional history. The Regional Archives are open to the public and welcome on-site visitors. At each location professional archivists host workshops and events related to regional history. In addition, many of the sites offer online resources that will enhance the study of U.S. history for students all over the country. Teachers and students are encouraged to contact the Regional Archives by email, snail mail, or phone with research questions, and the archivists will retrieve and mail copies of documents requested for a nominal fee. In the Heartland Students in the Kansas City area will also enjoy Hands-On History Activities with regional staff (at the Archives or in the classroom), such as exploring colorful posters from World War II, learning to trace their own family history through census records, or encountering Buffalo Bill or Frank and Jesse James through primary documents. Students nationwide may pay a virtual visit to the National Archives at Kansas City via Interactive Distance Learning, while teachers can choose from five lesson plans that utilize records, photos, and artifacts. Topics covered include "Civil War in the Border States" and "The American West and Westward Expansion," among others. The Great Lakes Regional Archives in Chicago, IL maintains federal records from Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin, and information on its famous and infamous residents from Abraham Lincoln to Al Capone. A list of potential research topics considers the maritime history of the Great Lakes and inland waterways, organized crime, and the Prohibition era. In addition to finding service records of family members, students can browse the Persons of Exceptional Prominence list, a collection of about 150 celebrities and other famous individuals at The National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, MO. This center is a specialized Regional Archive of military personnel records from the 20th century (earlier military records are found in the National Archives in Washington, DC). In the East Federal records from New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands are found in the National Archives at New York City. Students learning about World War II will want to view the online exhibit of photographs taken at Camp Kilmer, NJ, the largest army personnel processing center. Teachers can broaden discussions of the Compromise of 1850 and the Fugitive Slave Act by sharing documents from an arrest and fugitive slave case that came before the New York courts. NARA's Mid-Atlantic Archives in Philadelphia serves Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia. History pertaining to the Underground Railroad is offered in the rich resources of "Slavery and Emancipation," which compiles reproducible federal documents from regional archives in Atlanta, Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. The legacy of Benjamin Franklin is considered in "Finding Franklin," an exhibit that examines the mark the statesman left on the federal government. Students seeking research subjects can also explore the list of potential topics covering issues stretching from the early days of the federal government to the Civil Rights Era of the 1960s. In the South and West The National Archives Southwest Regional Archive in Fort Worth, TX serves Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas. In partnership with the Sid Richardson Museum in Fort Worth, this regional archive developed the "Art and Archives" instructional resource of 10 lessons for grades 5, 8, and 11 that link primary documents with paintings depicting the Civil War, Reconstruction, and Westward Expansion. Like Kansas City, the National Archives at Fort Worth offers free Distance Learning via Video Conferencing to classrooms nationwide. Students in grades three through six can familiarize themselves with National Aeronautics and Space Administration records or the U.S. Constitution, while high school classes will appreciate the archivist presentations on Pearl Harbor, Presidential powers, and civil rights. Records from Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming are located at the Rocky Mountain Region Archives in Denver, CO. Primary source document lessons pertaining to the history of Montana, New Mexico and Utah are available for download, with lessons in the works for other states, correlated to the National History Standards as well as state standards. Topics include homesteading, mining, railroads, Indian affairs, dam constructions, national parks and forests, and Civilian Conservation Corps projects. In the Pacific and Northwest The Pacific Alaska Region is headquartered in Seattle, WA, holding records from Idaho, parts of Montana, Oregon, and Washington, with a second archive in Anchorage for records pertaining to Alaska. It's "Picturing the Century in the Pacific Northwest" online exhibit of 50 historic photographs features images that span the 20th century, depicting Native Americans, the Puget Sound Navy Yard, the Seattle World's Fair, logging activities, and much more. Three guides to selected holdings corresponding to historical eras are available for download from the website: "Revolution and the New Nation, 1754-1829," "Expansion and Reform, 1801-1861," and "Washington Territorial Period, 1853-1889." Invest a little time exploring the websites of NARA's Regional Archives and you will discover a wealth of free resources linking your students to primary historical documents depicting the story of your own region as well as others around the United States. Dig in! Read about our previous NARA excursions in "Documenting History with the National Archives" and "A Virtual Field Trip: Up Close and Personal at the Presidential Libraries"
The National Archives at Kansas City, MO holds federal records from Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, and North and South Dakota, including U.S. District Courts, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Army Corps of Engineers, and inmate files from the Federal Penitentiary at Leavenworth, KS. Lesson plans based on Selected Primary Source Documents for Classroom Use include Civil War, census, and Native American records.
Serving Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont, NARA's Northeast Regional Archive in Boston, MA houses federal records dating back to 1789. Check out the online exhibit of documents from the tall ship Mount Vernon, a Salem vessel from 1803, including its certificate of registry, a list of crew, and manifests of cargo. "America on the Homefront: Selected World War II Records of Federal Agencies in New England" contains PDF files of numerous documents including transcripts of radio broadcasts about rationing, official Navy war diaries, and a radar scope photograph of the D-Day invasion, while the "Nathaniel Prentice Banks" online exhibit examines the life of a man who was Governor of Massachusetts, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, and a Union general. The Boston website also provides links to partnering historical societies and state archives, including several offering ready-to-use lesson plans.
The National Archives at Atlanta collects federal records from agencies in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Its "Documented Rights" online exhibit traces the history of civil rights from the Emancipation Proclamation through Brown v. Board of Education, and incorporates documents from all NARA regions. The online "Inside the National Archives Southeast Region" display features a wide array of selected documents illustrating the breadth of its holdings, including records pertaining to the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary, the Tuskegee Institute, the Tennessee Valley Authority, World War I draft registrations for a number of celebrities, post-Civil War era, and Elvis Presley!
NARA's Pacific Region is served by facilities in San Francisco and Riverside, CA, that house material from Arizona, California, Guam, Hawaii, Nevada, Pacific Trust Territory and American Samoa. "Resources for Teaching History in California" provides lessons correlated to state standards for grades 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, and 12, employing primary documents to introduce the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, Chinese exclusion laws, labor strikes, the attack on Pearl Harbor, and other topics.
