The National Archives will eliminate evening and Saturday hours for their DC-area facilities under a proposed rule published in the Federal Register yesterday. Currently the public researcher reading rooms are open until 9 p.m. on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, and open from 8:45 until 4:45 on Saturday. Under the proposed schedule the facilities would be […]
Preserving Maryland’s COMSAT Building
When it opened in 1969, the COMSAT building located along I-270 in Clarksburg was at the cutting edge of modern architecture. Designed by renowned architect César Pelli, the futuristic lines of the building’s exterior was inspired by aircraft design and its distictive glass and aluminum facade remains striking today. The interior spaces of the building […]
Digitizing the National Archives
For the past eight months I’ve been spending lots of time at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) facilities in D.C. and College Park, Maryland conducting research for History Associates. While NARA has recently launched an ambitious program with Lockheed Martin to create a system to store electronic records, the entire operation is still […]
Street Naming Links
I found myself launching into one of my characteristic diatribes about the origins and nature of street names while relaxing with friends yesterday. Then today I notice this blog post about an LA Times profile of the man who’s job it is to approve new street names in Riverside County, California, the fastest-growing county in […]
PBS’s ‘History Detectives’ Not Half Bad
Last night I popped on the TV to stumble across the obscure PBS series History Detectives. The show features a team of scholars who tackle several historical mysteries in each episode, visiting experts and archives to find answers. Think “Antiques Road Show” on steroids. While I didn’t remember being very impressed when I caught an […]
Was Harry Hopkins a Soviet Spy?
Short answer: no. Did he pass a secret to the Russians? Perhaps. Lately I’ve become interested Harry L. Hopkins, a man who rose from humble beginnings to become Franklin D. Roosevelt’s closest advisor. Hopkins was a study in contrasts: he was not only an idealistic small-town midwesterner, but also a jaded New Yorker at home […]
The History of 7th Street’s ‘Warehouse’
I had no idea this Shaw business had such an interesting history! Warehouse is a great spot in the neighborhood that hosts all kinds of arts events and runs a coffee shop/bar/cafe. One of the most active [arts spaces in DC] is the family-run cluster on 7th street Northwest, comprising the Warehouse Theater, Warehouse Nextdoor […]