National Archives Education

National Archives Education
Name	National Archives Education
Formation	1934
Type	Federal agency educational program
Headquarters	Washington, D.C.
Parent organization	National Archives and Records Administration
Jurisdiction	United States

Contents

National Archives Education National Archives Education connects primary source holdings with classroom practice and public learning through digitized Declaration of Independence, United States Constitution, Bill of Rights, Emancipation Proclamation, and other foundational documents. Programs draw on records associated with figures like George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and events such as the American Revolution, the Civil War, the Great Depression, the New Deal, and the Civil Rights Movement. The initiative collaborates with institutions including the Smithsonian Institution, the Library of Congress, the National Park Service, and state archives networks to support teachers, students, families, veterans, and lifelong learners.

Overview

National Archives Education curates materials from collections that include presidential papers of John Adams, James Madison, John Quincy Adams, and Woodrow Wilson; records from agencies like the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of State; and military files tied to the World War I and World War II archives. The program emphasizes provenance, archival literacy, and primary-source analysis using artifacts related to the Louisiana Purchase, the Monroe Doctrine, the Treaty of Paris (1783), and the Homestead Act. It situates documents within contexts such as the Progressive Era, the Gilded Age, and the era of Reconstruction to support historical thinking skills.

Resources include digitized exhibits featuring items like Suffrage movement petitions, Susan B. Anthony correspondence, Frederick Douglass letters, and Harriet Tubman records; online lesson plans aligned with practice standards referencing the Common Core State Standards Initiative and the National Council for the Social Studies. Curriculum materials incorporate artifacts from the Nuremberg Trials, the Marshall Plan, the Cold War, and the Vietnam War. Toolkits provide analysis strategies using documents from the Supreme Court of the United States decisions such as Brown v. Board of Education and files connected to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Digital portals integrate catalog records from the National Archives Catalog, image sets related to Lewis and Clark Expedition, and audiovisual collections that include Apollo 11 mission transcripts and Manhattan Project records.

For K–12 learners, offerings use primary sources linked to curricular themes like the Missouri Compromise, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and the Trail of Tears. Higher education collaborations invite scholars studying archival sources tied to the Watergate scandal, Pentagon Papers, and Roe v. Wade. Family programs feature storytimes around artifacts associated with Ellis Island immigration records and Gold Rush diaries. Veteran-focused initiatives work with records from the Department of Veterans Affairs and unit histories from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial collections. Adult learners access seminars on topics from the Panama Canal records to the Civilian Conservation Corps.

Partnerships span the National Archives Foundation, the American Historical Association, the Organization of American Historians, and state historical societies such as the Massachusetts Historical Society and the New-York Historical Society. Outreach projects include collaborations with museums like the National Air and Space Museum and the National Museum of American History, plus international archives including the British National Archives and the Library and Archives Canada. Grant-supported programs coordinate with the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and local school districts to expand digitization efforts and community archives work tied to events like Hurricane Katrina recovery collections and September 11 attacks archives.

Professional development offerings provide workshops tied to primary sources used in lessons about Sacco and Vanzetti, Haymarket Affair, Lewis H. Latimer, Ida B. Wells, and Thurgood Marshall. Institutes for educators feature pedagogical methods informed by scholars from Harvard University, Columbia University, Stanford University, and University of California, Berkeley and include modules on source criticism applied to records such as Oral histories from the Civil Rights Movement and census schedules by decade. Micro-credential courses incorporate materials related to landmark statutes including the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and archival ethics from the Society of American Archivists.

Public exhibitions showcase documents like the Magna Carta facsimiles, Gettysburg Address manuscripts, and Japanese American internment records from Executive Order 9066. Traveling exhibits circulate items connected to Immigration Act of 1924, Homestead Strike, Space Race, and Transcontinental Railroad archives. Virtual exhibits and webinars bring forward collections tied to the Spanish–American War, the Obergefell v. Hodges era of case law, and environmental records such as Rachel Carson papers. Community-curated projects amplify local histories involving figures like Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Sojourner Truth, Marcus Garvey, and events including the Stonewall riots.

Category:United States archival organizations Category:Educational programs in the United States