Past Exhibits

Hayden Survey en route

Featured Document Display: The First National Park: Yellowstone and the Hayden Survey
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Scientist, physician, and explorer Ferdinand V. Hayden is credited with spurring Congress to make Yellowstone the first National Park. 

Photograph of people standing amid rubble in the Greenwood District, June 1, 1921

Featured Document Display: Black Wall Street: 100 Years Since the Tulsa Race Massacre
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The Tulsa Race Massacre was the first time the Red Cross mobilized to provide relief outside of a natural disaster.

Group portrait of 65th congress, 1917-1919 (detail)

Featured Document Display: First Congresswoman Jeannette Rankin
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Four years before ratification of the 19th Amendment secured American women’s constitutional right to vote, Jeannette Rankin became the first woman elected to Congress.

Swearing-in ceremony for first female Surgeon General Antonia Novello

Featured Document Display: 150 Years of the Surgeon General
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To many Americans, the Surgeon General of the United States is the “nation’s doctor,” but it was a very different job 150 years ago.

Detail of Washington's Inaugural Sesquicentennial 1789-1939

Featured Document Display: George Washington's First Inaugural Address
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George Washington set many precedents as the first President of the United States, beginning on the day he took office.

Beethoven Symphonien Frontispiece

Featured Document Display: 250 Years of Beethoven
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In honor of Beethoven's 250th birthday, we share this record from the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum.

Featured document display, National Archives Rotunda, 2017

Featured Document: Want to hunt for the Yeti?
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A State Department memo reminds us that there are policies for everything - even Yeti-hunting in the Himalayas.

"Surrender ceremony aboard USS MISSOURI in Tokyo Bay, Japan." September 2, 1945

Featured Document Display: Victory in Japan: 75th Anniversary of the End of WWII
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World War II Finally came to an end on September 2, 1945, when Japan formally surrendered on board the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.

Photograph of Hiroshima after Atomic Bomb, 1945

Featured Document Display: The Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
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World War II marked the first—and only—wartime use of atomic weapons. The U.S. bombing of Japan helped to bring an end to the deadliest war in history, but resulted in many more civilian deaths.

"We the Peoples of the United Nations”

Featured Document Display: 75th Anniversary of the United Nations Charter
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The United Nations was established after World War II in an attempt to maintain international peace and security and to achieve cooperation among nations on economic, social and humanitarian problems.