Archives

The portal currently features 613,458 entries documenting the people, events and places involved in the transatlantic slave trade.

Who Were America's Enslaved? A New Database Humanizes the Names Behind the Numbers

The public website draws connections between existing datasets to piece together fragmentary narratives

Roosevelt exchanged lively correspondence with all kinds of people for much of his life.

Library of Congress Seeks Volunteers to Transcribe Letters to Theodore Roosevelt

The campaign is part of a broader crowdsourcing effort aimed at making archival materials more accessible to the public

The cold and isolation of the Svalbard archipelago helps preserve the Arctic World Archive's contents.

Norway Preserves 'The Scream' for Future Generations by Burying Digital Copy in Arctic Coal Mine

The Munch masterpiece joins digitized art and artifacts from more than 15 countries in the "futureproof" Arctic World Archive

Charles Darwin in 1857, photograph by Maull and Fox

Two Darwin Notebooks Quietly Went Missing 20 Years Ago. Were They Stolen?

Staff at Cambridge University Libraries previously assumed that the papers had simply been misplaced in the vast collections

Lorna Truck and Tim Benson. Photograph documenting burning of Robert Pincus-Witten's book Postminimalism (1977) at the request of artist Buster Cleveland as part of the 1979 Des Moines Festival of the Avant-Garde, circa 1979.

Meet the Pioneering Virtual Artist Fred Truck

By using electronic tools to facilitate communications between artists and computer-based artworks, Truck established himself as a pivotal figure

To keep Neil Armstrong’s spacesuit from degrading, conservators designed a custom mannequin that allows air to circulate inside.

Secretary Lonnie Bunch on the Invisible Work of the Smithsonian's Conservators

From deep cleaning to painstaking repairs, caring for Smithsonian’s 155 million objects requires serious TLC—and steady hands

Ratified Indian Treaty 37: Eel River, Wyandot,Piankashaw, Kaskaskia, and Kickapoo—Vincennes, Indiana Territory, August 7, 1803

Hundreds of Native American Treaties Digitized for the First Time

The National Archives has scanned more than 300 agreements between the United States and Indigenous tribes

With the support of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, a new archive is being established to collect the history of the Lumbee community (above from left are members of the intertribal Baltimore American Indian Center: Louis Campbell, Lumbee; Celest Swann, Powhatan; E. Keith Colston, Lumbee / Tuscarora).

A Native American Community in Baltimore Reclaims Its History

Thousands of Lumbee Indians, members of the largest tribe east of the Mississippi, once lived in the neighborhoods of Upper Fells Point and Washington Hill

Poultney Bigelow. Sketch by Poultney Bigelow for Edith Weir (detail), 1884 April 18. Weir family papers.

Important Hudson River School Archive Is Now Fully Digitized

Prominent artists like Edwin Austin Abbey, Augustus Saint-Gaudens and Eastman Johnson are featured in the Weir Family Papers

Emilio Sanchez with children in Puerto Rico, 1964. Emilio Sanchez papers, 1922-2012.

How the Desolate Architectural Paintings of Emilio Sanchez Were Crafted From the Artist's Travel Snapshots

In the Archives of American Art, a scholar pieces together the Cuban-born painter's complex artistic practice

Thousands of volunteers helped transcribe the Library of Congress' Lincoln letters.

Read Thousands of Abraham Lincoln's Newly Transcribed Letters Online

The missives, preserved by the Library of Congress, include notes to and from the beloved president

Walter Pach, Street in Mexico,

How a Once-Hidden Cache of Art and Archives Expands the Narratives of Mexican Modernism

The works and writings of American artist and art critic Walter Pach are newly available to scholars and the resource is rich with history

Written in ornate cursive by a general’s aide and signed by Maj. F.W. Emery on behalf of Granger, “General Orders No. 3” had long been hidden in a book of formal orders housed at the archives.

National Archives Locates Handwritten Juneteenth Order

On June 19, 1865, the decree informed the people of Texas that enslaved individuals were now free

Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero displays historical objects recovered from the Arlington National Cemetery time capsule.

Arlington National Cemetery Opens Its 105-Year-Old Time Capsule

The trove of artifacts, hidden in a cornerstone in 1915, is now available to explore online

New fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls with writing visible.

Text Found on Supposedly Blank Dead Sea Scroll Fragments

Invisible to the naked eye, researchers revealed lines of ancient script in new photographs

Though much has changed since 1918, the sentiments shared in writings from this earlier pandemic are likely to resonate with modern readers.

What We Can Learn From 1918 Influenza Diaries

These letters and journals offer insights on how to record one's thoughts amid a pandemic

A stained glass window designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany is one of many artworks available for your perusal.

68 Cultural, Historical and Scientific Collections You Can Explore Online

Tour world-class museums, read historic cookbooks, browse interactive maps and more

U.S. Army Pvt. John McGrath survived the bullet that scarred this letter he penned during the liberation of Italy.

The Unprecedented Effort to Preserve a Million Letters Written by U.S. Soldiers During Wartime

A tragedy at home led one intrepid historian to find and catalog precious correspondence for future generations to study

The Evidence Room represents thousands of pages of testimony that was assembled by Robert Jan van Pelt, an architectural historian and the main expert witness in a British lawsuit brought by a Holocaust denier.

Using Art to Talk About the Holocaust in ‘The Evidence Room’

Museum staff discuss the reception of a difficult work that showed the vivid and painful documentation of a Nazi death camp

The company's publications (including Black World, EbonyJet) reached a wide audience with photo-driven narratives and interviews.

Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch Weighs In on Legendary Photo Archive of African-American Life

In historic moment, foundations and museums came together to rescue black history. "This is an optimistic tale," says Bunch

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