Two centuries after Abraham Lincoln's birth in 1809, he is one of the most revered figures in our nation's history. Lincoln's life, accomplishments, and legacy are the subject of a new traveling panel exhibition on display at the David Adamany Undergraduate Library from April 8 - May 1.
"Abraham Lincoln: A Man of His Time, a Man for All Times" explores how Lincoln transcended his age and left a constitutional legacy for all Americans.
Please join us for the opening ceremony for the exhibit at 1:00 pm on Wednesday, April 8, in the Atrium of the Undergraduate Library. Marc Kruman, professor and chair of the Wayne State history department will give opening remarks. Refreshments will be served and there will be plenty of exhibit-related giveaways for attendees!
On April 13, 11:00 am - 12:30 pm, Kruman will lecture on the life and times of Abraham Lincoln on the Purdy/Kresge Library Auditorium. All are welcome to attend.
For more information, visit:
http://www.lib.wayne.edu/blog/?p=1297
Monday, April 06, 2009
Friday, April 03, 2009
Document Transition
We heard all about the transition recently as Barack Obama took over the presidency from George W. Bush. At Prologue you can read about how NARA is involved with the White House transition as they take control of all the presidential documents:
While NARA is the agency tasked with moving the incumbent President's records and artifacts, other government agencies provide assistance and work on different parts of the transition. The move is done in close conjunction and cooperation with many White House and vice presidential staff and offices, and also with the Department of Defense (DoD). Because all records and artifacts that are moved before the end of the presidency are still in the President's or Vice President's control, NARA must receive White House approval to start moving records as early as possible.
The planning for a move is most sensitive when a President is defeated after one term. A President running for reelection is not interested in having his staff work with NARA to plan for a transition. After defeat, there are fewer than three months to complete the move. In the case of a two-term President who is leaving office, we can begin moving records as soon as the temporary library site is ready to receive the records, which is usually sometime in late fall before the election. It is crucial that NARA, with DoD assistance, begin these moves months in advance, because the volume and complexity of these moves cannot be handled in the last few days or weeks of a presidential administration.
NARA works with White House and vice presidential counsels, the White House Office of Records Management, the National Security Council, the White House Gifts Office, and other White House offices and the Office of the Vice President to receive approval to move early and to coordinate on what records and artifacts can move when. Additionally, throughout the presidential administration, these offices have worked to establish initial control and arrangement over the records and artifacts, provide preliminary descriptions at the folder, box, or artifact level, and to ready these materials for eventual transfer to NARA.
At the outset of a presidential administration, NARA begins preparing for the eventual move of records by offering the White House courtesy storage for the artifacts and records that do not need to be physically stored in the White House compound. Courtesy storage, offered to Presidents and Vice Presidents, means that the records are in the physical possession of NARA until legal custody transfers to the Archivist of the United States. The incumbent President and Vice President maintain legal custody over the records and artifacts during their terms.
While the records are in courtesy storage, NARA's Presidential Materials Staff provides reference service to the incumbent and returns the records to the White House, if requested, in a one-hour turnaround time, 24 hours a day. The records, gifts, and historical materials in courtesy storage are made available only to the White House as requested by designated Offices for reference. Boxes of textual records in courtesy storage remain sealed while in NARA's physical possession. NARA's Presidential Materials curatorial staff stores the artifacts, ensures that museum standards are met, and assists the White House on artifact loans. NARA's courtesy storage of records and artifacts significantly reduces the volume of material that needs to be transferred from the White House during the final months of an administration.
This article also covers the specific moves of the presidential papers since FDR (when NARA became ofificially involved):
A very unusual move occurred when President Nixon resigned in August of 1974. At the time he resigned, his presidential papers were estimated to consist of approximately 42 million pages. Shortly after the resignation, Congress passed the Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Act to seize his presidential materials, particularly the Watergate tapes, and place them in the National Archives. Nixon sued the government, claiming that these were his private property, as had been the case for every prior President since George Washington. The ongoing litigation over who owned and controlled the Nixon materials was finally resolved in the government's favor in 1977 by the Supreme Court.
The White House materials were moved to a storage area underneath a staircase of the Old Executive Office Building (OEOB) and stayed there for many months, with little being done. Few of the Ford White House staff even realized that the Nixon materials were actually being stored in the OEOB. Finally, in 1975, the materials were moved in a military caravan to Suitland, Maryland, and then moved again to the 18th level of the National Archives Building when it was considered secure enough to hold them.
Nixon's materials are now in both the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, California, which the National Archives accepted from a private foundation last year, and at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland, where all of Nixon's materials were held until NARA took over the Yorba Linda facility. Eventually, all the Nixon collection will be moved to the California library.
For us presidential historians, this is an interesting article on how all these documents get from the White House to their final resting place.
While NARA is the agency tasked with moving the incumbent President's records and artifacts, other government agencies provide assistance and work on different parts of the transition. The move is done in close conjunction and cooperation with many White House and vice presidential staff and offices, and also with the Department of Defense (DoD). Because all records and artifacts that are moved before the end of the presidency are still in the President's or Vice President's control, NARA must receive White House approval to start moving records as early as possible.
The planning for a move is most sensitive when a President is defeated after one term. A President running for reelection is not interested in having his staff work with NARA to plan for a transition. After defeat, there are fewer than three months to complete the move. In the case of a two-term President who is leaving office, we can begin moving records as soon as the temporary library site is ready to receive the records, which is usually sometime in late fall before the election. It is crucial that NARA, with DoD assistance, begin these moves months in advance, because the volume and complexity of these moves cannot be handled in the last few days or weeks of a presidential administration.
NARA works with White House and vice presidential counsels, the White House Office of Records Management, the National Security Council, the White House Gifts Office, and other White House offices and the Office of the Vice President to receive approval to move early and to coordinate on what records and artifacts can move when. Additionally, throughout the presidential administration, these offices have worked to establish initial control and arrangement over the records and artifacts, provide preliminary descriptions at the folder, box, or artifact level, and to ready these materials for eventual transfer to NARA.
At the outset of a presidential administration, NARA begins preparing for the eventual move of records by offering the White House courtesy storage for the artifacts and records that do not need to be physically stored in the White House compound. Courtesy storage, offered to Presidents and Vice Presidents, means that the records are in the physical possession of NARA until legal custody transfers to the Archivist of the United States. The incumbent President and Vice President maintain legal custody over the records and artifacts during their terms.
While the records are in courtesy storage, NARA's Presidential Materials Staff provides reference service to the incumbent and returns the records to the White House, if requested, in a one-hour turnaround time, 24 hours a day. The records, gifts, and historical materials in courtesy storage are made available only to the White House as requested by designated Offices for reference. Boxes of textual records in courtesy storage remain sealed while in NARA's physical possession. NARA's Presidential Materials curatorial staff stores the artifacts, ensures that museum standards are met, and assists the White House on artifact loans. NARA's courtesy storage of records and artifacts significantly reduces the volume of material that needs to be transferred from the White House during the final months of an administration.
This article also covers the specific moves of the presidential papers since FDR (when NARA became ofificially involved):
A very unusual move occurred when President Nixon resigned in August of 1974. At the time he resigned, his presidential papers were estimated to consist of approximately 42 million pages. Shortly after the resignation, Congress passed the Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Act to seize his presidential materials, particularly the Watergate tapes, and place them in the National Archives. Nixon sued the government, claiming that these were his private property, as had been the case for every prior President since George Washington. The ongoing litigation over who owned and controlled the Nixon materials was finally resolved in the government's favor in 1977 by the Supreme Court.
The White House materials were moved to a storage area underneath a staircase of the Old Executive Office Building (OEOB) and stayed there for many months, with little being done. Few of the Ford White House staff even realized that the Nixon materials were actually being stored in the OEOB. Finally, in 1975, the materials were moved in a military caravan to Suitland, Maryland, and then moved again to the 18th level of the National Archives Building when it was considered secure enough to hold them.
Nixon's materials are now in both the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, California, which the National Archives accepted from a private foundation last year, and at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland, where all of Nixon's materials were held until NARA took over the Yorba Linda facility. Eventually, all the Nixon collection will be moved to the California library.
For us presidential historians, this is an interesting article on how all these documents get from the White House to their final resting place.
Thursday, April 02, 2009
Jane Irwin Harrison
William Henry Harrison was president for such a short time that his wife never actually made it to Washington! Anna Harrison would have probably assumed the duties of First Ladies, but she was still in Ohio when news reached her of her husband’s death.
Instead, his daughter-in-law, Jane Irwin Harrison, served as his hostess during his short administration:
During the brief four weeks of the Harrison Administration, Jane Irwin Harrison (1804-1846) served as hostess. Her father Archibald Irwin inherited the homestead and mill that his own father and namesake had built in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania. He married for his first wife Mary Ramsey, daughter of Major James Ramsey, who also built and ran a mill, near Mercersburg. Archibald and Mary Ramsey Irwin had two daughters, Jane and Elizabeth, both of whom were born in the family's limestone mansion. Mary Ramsey Irwin's sister, Nancy married an Englishman John Sutherland, and moved with him to his home in North Bend, Ohio, near the home of William Henry and Anna Harrison. Jane and Elizabeth Irwin were visiting their aunt Nancy Sutherland when they met two of the Harrison sons, William Henry and John Scott. Jane Irwin married the future President's son and namesake, then twenty-two year old William Henry Harrison, Jr. on 18 February, 1824 in her hometown. He was a struggling lawyer at the time of their marriage and also suffered from alcoholism. He died on 6 February, 1838 in North Bend, Ohio.
In 1832, eight years after her sister Jane married William Henry Harrison, Jr., Elizabeth Irwin married his brother, John Scott Harrison. It was one of their sons, Benjamin Harrison, who would go on to be elected the 23rd President of the United States. Another Harrison brother, Carter Bassett Harrison, married Mary Anne Sutherland, the first cousin of Jane and Nancy Irwin.
A thirty-six year old widow of three years at the time she served as White House hostess, Jane Irwin Harrison brought her two young sons, James and William along with her to live in the mansion with their grandfather and other relatives. She also asked her father's elderly sister, Jane Irwin Findlay to accompany her. Although her aunt has often been mistakenly identified as the official hostess of the brief Harrison Administration, or confused with her namesake niece, it was the younger Mrs. Harrison who presided at the President's table, while the older Mrs. Findlay acted as her social guide and supported and occupied a seat of honor at the few recorded family gatherings. Jane Irwin Harrison died just four years later, in 1845, at age 41 years old.
Instead, his daughter-in-law, Jane Irwin Harrison, served as his hostess during his short administration:
During the brief four weeks of the Harrison Administration, Jane Irwin Harrison (1804-1846) served as hostess. Her father Archibald Irwin inherited the homestead and mill that his own father and namesake had built in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania. He married for his first wife Mary Ramsey, daughter of Major James Ramsey, who also built and ran a mill, near Mercersburg. Archibald and Mary Ramsey Irwin had two daughters, Jane and Elizabeth, both of whom were born in the family's limestone mansion. Mary Ramsey Irwin's sister, Nancy married an Englishman John Sutherland, and moved with him to his home in North Bend, Ohio, near the home of William Henry and Anna Harrison. Jane and Elizabeth Irwin were visiting their aunt Nancy Sutherland when they met two of the Harrison sons, William Henry and John Scott. Jane Irwin married the future President's son and namesake, then twenty-two year old William Henry Harrison, Jr. on 18 February, 1824 in her hometown. He was a struggling lawyer at the time of their marriage and also suffered from alcoholism. He died on 6 February, 1838 in North Bend, Ohio.
In 1832, eight years after her sister Jane married William Henry Harrison, Jr., Elizabeth Irwin married his brother, John Scott Harrison. It was one of their sons, Benjamin Harrison, who would go on to be elected the 23rd President of the United States. Another Harrison brother, Carter Bassett Harrison, married Mary Anne Sutherland, the first cousin of Jane and Nancy Irwin.
A thirty-six year old widow of three years at the time she served as White House hostess, Jane Irwin Harrison brought her two young sons, James and William along with her to live in the mansion with their grandfather and other relatives. She also asked her father's elderly sister, Jane Irwin Findlay to accompany her. Although her aunt has often been mistakenly identified as the official hostess of the brief Harrison Administration, or confused with her namesake niece, it was the younger Mrs. Harrison who presided at the President's table, while the older Mrs. Findlay acted as her social guide and supported and occupied a seat of honor at the few recorded family gatherings. Jane Irwin Harrison died just four years later, in 1845, at age 41 years old.
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
An iPod? What do you think?
So what does everything think of the Obama's gift to Queen Elizabeth? This picture also really highlights how tall Michelle Obama is! [I refuse to acknowledge that the Queen is short since I'm the same height!] As I started this with - the Obamas gave the Queen an iPod:
In the exchange of gifts, the Obamas gave the queen an engraved iPod loaded with the Broadway show tunes Elizabeth loves and a rare book of songs signed by legendary composer Richard Rodgers. The royals gave the Obamas the usual silver-framed photo of themselves.
Actually after reading about the specific gift, I found it a much more thoughtful gift than my first reaction was, although I admit - I can't see Queen Elizabeth using an iPod! You can take an opinion survey on this issue at the news article I linked if you are interested.
The Obamas seemed to meet with royal approval - at least according to the purse test!
Royal-watchers took careful note of the positioning of the queen's purse. It's always with her, and, when pointed at certain angles, it's said to signal to her attendants that she can't wait to escape from the frightful bores in her company.
But the Obamas apparently met with royal approval. The purse rested in the crook of the queen's left arm, which means that she's happy and relaxed with her guests
But the Obamas' driver was asked to move their car!
And this last picture is here just because I liked it! You always see pictures of the First Lady doing things like this - reading to children - but it is refreshing to see the First Couple doing it together!
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