Image description: The Magna Carta rests in its argon-filled encasement at the Archives Conservation lab. Engineers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology designed and built a state-of-the-art encasement and transport cart to protect the National Archive’s prized copy of the 1297 Magna Carta.
The first Magna Carta was signed in 1215 by King John of England. He was forced by an assembly of barons to put in writing, for the first time, the traditional rights and liberties of the country’s free persons. After another confrontation with barons, Edward I not only reissued the Magna Carta in 1297, but for the first time, it was entered into the official Statute Rolls of England and became the foundation of English law.
Learn more about the science behind the Magna Carta encasement.
Photo by Hill, National Archives
The American Civil War is one of the defining moments in United States’ history. In commemoration of the lives lost and the battles fought, the National Park Service (NPS) created a new website highlight various aspects of the war. You can now find a detailed timeline of events from 1861-1865.
As brothers fought brothers in this deadly war, many lives were lost and families divided. You can search a soldier and sailor database of over 6 million records to find information on your ancestors or famous soldiers on either side of the battle. The NPS also highlights many key issues and events that lead to the start of the war. You can also find, view and plan visits to Civil War battlefields across the United States.
For a more modern twist on the Civil War, follow the Civil War Reporter for interesting Civil War facts and information on Twitter at @CivilWarReportr.
Visit the Civil War website.
Image description: This hand colored glass lantern slide is of the rose gardens at “Newmar,” Senator George Almer Newhall house, Hillsborough, California in spring 1917.
A lantern slide is a small glass transparency, typically 3.25 x 4 inches, designed for use in a projector that casts an enlarged image on a wall or screen. This slide was created from a black-and-white photograph taken by noted American photographer Frances Benjamin Johnston (1864-1952). She was a dedicated advocate of the garden beautiful movement in the early 1900s and slides such as this were used to illustrate her popular lectures for garden club members, museum audiences, and horticultural societies from 1915 until the 1930s.
View more garden slides on Flickr.
Image from the Library of Congress.
This illustration from the Library of Congress shows the battle of Concord, where the British Army was met by more than 400 minutemen.
On the night of April 18, 1775, Paul Revere made his famous ride through Massachusetts, hanging two lanterns in the Old North Church, warning his fellow colonists that the British were coming from across the harbor. The British Redcoats marched onto Lexington, Massachusetts where they were greeted by 77 American colonial “minutemen” around dawn on April 19, 1775.
A first shot was fired - still debated among historians which side fired first - but soon eight colonists lay dead in Lexington. The British moved on to Concord, where they were met by 400 more colonists. The first shot in Lexington became known as “the shot heard around the world” marking the start of the American Revolutionary War.
Learn more about the start of American Revolutionary War.
Image description: A life vest used by a survivor of the RMS Titanic. Five days into its maiden voyage in 1912, the White Star ocean liner Titanic struck an iceberg at full speed in the North Atlantic, en route from England to the United States. At 2:20 a.m. on April 15, the gigantic ship sank in 12,500 feet of water 350 miles off the coast of Canada. Within about two hours, the ocean liner Carpathia arrived and rescued the Titanic’s 705 surviving crew and passengers. Around 1,500 people aboard were lost.
Chicago physician Dr. Frank Blackmarr, a Carpathia passenger, helped with the survivors suffering from hypothermia, exposure, and shock. He collected this Titanic life vest during the voyage as a souvenir, and later donated it to the Chicago Historical Society. In 1982, the CHS donated it to the Smithsonian’s National Watercraft Collection.
Image courtesy of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.
