A number of the United States’ most vital historic paperwork, together with the Declaration of Independence, the Structure, the Invoice of Rights and the Emancipation Proclamation, are housed within the U.S. Nationwide Archives. Past these high-profile gadgets, it additionally preserves lesser-known however no much less very important information, equivalent to nationwide park grasp plans, polar exploration paperwork and the information of all U.S. veterans. Collectively, these supplies stand as a testomony to the nation’s dedication to preserving its historical past.
Whereas these essential paperwork in U.S. historical past now have a house within the Nationwide Archives, the highway to establishing this establishment was paved with catastrophic losses and bureaucratic inertia.
Creating the Nationwide Archives required many years of advocacy by historians, politicians and authorities officers. The Nationwide Archives was not merely an administrative comfort – it was a necessity born from repeated disasters that underscored the fragility of presidency information. And with President Donald Trump’s firing of the pinnacle archivist in February 2025, in addition to the lack of a number of high-level archives workers members, the group faces a brand new period of uncertainty.
Documentary heritage – the recorded reminiscence of a nation that preserves its cultural, historic and authorized legacy – is crucial for a rustic because it safeguards its id, informs its governance and ensures that future generations can perceive and study from the previous.
I’m a college archivist with twenty years of expertise within the library and archives subject. I oversee the preservation and accessibility of historic information at Rochester Institute of Expertise, advocate for inclusivity, and interact in nationwide conversations on the evolving position of archives within the digital age.
Understanding the precarious nature of historic information, it’s clear to me that sustaining, staffing and funding the Nationwide Archives is a needed safeguard towards the destruction of the nation’s documentary heritage.
Folks line as much as view the unique Emancipation Proclamation on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Jan. 19, 2004, on the Nationwide Archives constructing in Washington, D.C.
Tim Sloan/AFP-Getty Photos
Destroyed by hearth
The concept of preserving the federal government’s information dates again to the nation’s founding. Charles Thomson, secretary of the Continental Congress throughout the American Revolution after which secretary of Congress beneath the Articles of Confederation, acknowledged the necessity for correct storage of the Congress’ information.
However the younger nation lacked the cash and infrastructure to behave. Most of the Continental Congress’ information had been stored by Thomson himself for years, and whereas some had been later transferred to the Division of State, others had been misplaced.
All through the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, fires repeatedly ravaged federal information. Fires had been quite common within the nineteenth century as a result of a mixture of extremely flammable constructing supplies, open frames used for lighting and heating, and the shortage of contemporary hearth security measures equivalent to sprinklers and fire-resistant building.
In 1800, a blaze destroyed the Conflict Division’s archives, a loss that severely hampered authorities operations. In 1810, Congress approved higher housing for presidency information, however the regulation was by no means totally executed. As a substitute, completely different elements of the federal government, from the Division of State to the Division of Treasury, continued sustaining their very own information.
The Treasury Division suffered fires in 1801 and once more in 1833, additional erasing essential monetary information. The Patent Workplace, house to invaluable documentation of American innovation, burned in 1877, having already been broken by an 1836 hearth.
Storage on the federal Workplace of Indian Affairs in 1935.
Nationwide Archives Basis
Probably the most devastating losses occurred in 1921 when a fireplace on the Division of Commerce destroyed almost all information from the 1890 federal census. This loss had far-reaching penalties, significantly for genealogical and demographic analysis.
Fires weren’t the one menace to the federal government’s information.
“It is a matter of common report that during the civil war, great quantities of documents stored in the Capitol were thrown away to make quarters for soldiers,” Historian and founding member of the American Historic Affiliation J. Franklin Jameson famous in a 1911 Washington Publish article.
“At a later date,” he added, “the archives of the House of Representatives were systematically looted for papers having a market value because of their autographs.”
Jameson spent many years lobbying Congress for a centralized repository. His persistence, coupled with the advocacy of key officers, laid the groundwork for future motion.
A certain copy of George Washington’s account of bills whereas commander in chief of the Continental Military.
Nationwide Archives and Information Administration
These repeated disasters illuminated a evident subject: The federal authorities lacked a centralized, protected repository to safeguard its information.
Discovering a house
Momentum for a devoted archives constructing gained traction within the late nineteenth century. In 1903, a bipartisan invoice handed Congress giving the OK to buy land in Washington, D.C., for a Corridor of Information.
However the laws didn’t result in any motion. Authorities information remained scattered, weak and uncared for. That very same yr, Congress approved that any information not wanted for each day enterprise be transferred to the Library of Congress.
In 1912, President William H. Taft issued government order 1499, aptly named Disposal of Ineffective Papers, requiring companies to seek the advice of the librarian of Congress earlier than disposing of paperwork.
This established a proper assessment course of for presidency doc disposal, however companies nonetheless discarded information, typically haphazardly, till stricter information administration legal guidelines had been enacted.
Progress and standardization
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who took workplace two weeks later, was himself a meticulous record-keeper. He understood the significance of historic preservation. Roosevelt stored all of his private and presidential information and books in a fire-safe area he constructed on his Hyde Park, New York, property, which he donated to the federal government after he died. This constructing and the supplies inside grew to become a part of the Nationwide Archives as the primary U.S. presidential library.
The Nationwide Archives, an unbiased company, was formally established beneath Roosevelt within the 1934 Nationwide Archives Act. The top archivist was to be appointed by the president. The primary archivist, Robert D.W. Connor, took workplace that yr with a mandate to arrange, protect and make accessible the nation’s information.
Initially, the Nationwide Archives was merely a constructing – a formidable neoclassical construction in Washington, D.C., that opened in 1935. The very first information deposited there got here from three World Conflict I-era regulatory companies – the U.S. Meals Administration, the Sugar Equalization Board and the U.S. Grain Company.
Initially, the Archives lacked a formalized information administration program. There have been no clear tips on what to maintain and what to discard, so companies made their very own selections. This led to inconsistent preservation.
The creation of the primary federal information administration program in 1941, along with the 1943 Information Disposal Act, codified issues. These insurance policies granted the Nationwide Archives authority to determine a structured method to figuring out which information held historic worth and ought to be preserved, whereas permitting for the accountable disposal of different paperwork.
A 1950 regulation gave the Nationwide Archives extra energy to resolve what ought to be stored and what might be discarded, making a extra organized and accountable system for preserving the nation’s historical past.
As the amount of information elevated and their codecs modified, the archives tailored. By 2014, amendments to the Federal Information Act explicitly included digital information, recognizing the shift towards digital documentation.
Stacks on the Nationwide Archives in Washington in 1950, the place uncommon pictures and nationwide information are ordered and saved.
Three Lions/Getty Photos
Making certain accountability
Past mere storage, the Nationwide Archives performs an important position in upholding democracy.
It ensures transparency by preserving authorities accountability, stopping manipulation or lack of information that would distort historic reality. The Nationwide Archives additionally supplies public entry to paperwork that form civic consciousness and historic data, from the Declaration of Independence to declassified authorities recordsdata.
In an period of digital misinformation and contested narratives, the Nationwide Archives stands as a guardian of main sources. Its existence reminds the nation that historical past just isn’t a matter of comfort, however a cornerstone of knowledgeable governance.
