All articles tagged with #national archives
Sen. Marco Rubio is no longer serving as the acting head of the National Archives after hitting the Federal Vacancies Reform Act limit; with no deputy archivist in place, James Byron had been performing the duties of archivist, and the agency is in a leadership transition amid ongoing questions about records management and Rubio's other roles.
The National Archives, with the National Archives Foundation and partners including Boeing, will launch the Freedom Plane National Tour in 2026, transporting eight original founding-era documents by a Boeing 737 to major museums in Kansas City, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Houston, Denver, Miami, Dearborn, and Seattle from March to August. The display features items such as the 1823 engraving of the Declaration of Independence, the 1774 Articles of Association, oaths of allegiance from 1778, the 1783 Treaty of Paris, a draft Constitution, and the 1787 tally of votes, with free admission and tickets via each museum.
A watchdog group, American Oversight, is urging Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche—Trump’s designated representative to the National Archives—to step aside as gatekeeper to Trump’s presidential records, citing a potential conflict from his attorney‑client relationship with the former president as large portions of first-term records approach public release under the Presidential Records Act.
A federal watchdog is investigating how the National Archives improperly released nearly un-redacted military records of Democratic candidate Mikie Sherrill to an ally of her Republican opponent, Jack Ciattarelli, amid New Jersey's gubernatorial race.
An investigation is underway into the alleged illegal and politically motivated release of Rep. Mikie Sherrill's military records by the National Archives, which was inadvertently made public due to a staff error, raising questions about potential political motives and transparency.
The NJ gubernatorial race was impacted after the National Archives mistakenly released unredacted military records of Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill, including her Social Security number, prompting calls for investigation and legal action amid accusations of political weaponization and privacy violations.
House Minority Leader Jeffries calls for a criminal investigation into the unauthorized and potentially illegal release of Rep. Mikie Sherrill's military records by the National Archives, amid concerns over privacy violations and political implications in a closely watched gubernatorial race.
A significant privacy breach occurred when the National Archives released an almost unredacted version of Rep. Mikie Sherrill's military records to her opponent's ally, raising concerns about violations of privacy laws and the mishandling of sensitive information during a heated political campaign in New Jersey.
A lost 1642 will related to William Shakespeare's final home, New Place, has been rediscovered in the National Archives after 150 years, shedding new light on a legal dispute over the property between Shakespeare's family and Thomas Nash, Shakespeare's granddaughter's husband.
Two climate activists, Donald Zepeda and Jackson Green, were sentenced to prison for defacing a display case containing the U.S. Constitution at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. Zepeda received a two-year sentence, while Green received 18 months, both followed by two years of supervised release. They are also required to pay over $58,000 in damages. The incident, which did not harm the Constitution itself, led to increased security at the museum. The judge criticized their actions as ineffective and unrelated to climate issues.
The National Archives has provided the House Oversight Committee with nearly 6,000 pages of emails from President Biden's time as vice president, as part of the Republican investigation into the Biden family's foreign business dealings. The agency is conducting a "rolling notification process" to provide unredacted records to the committee, but has also highlighted the need to protect personally identifiable information. House Republicans have been pushing for more documents, with some members considering criminal referrals to the Justice Department instead of pursuing articles of impeachment against President Biden.
The National Archives released nearly 6,000 pages of emails to House Republicans as part of their probe into President Biden's family business dealings, including communications with Hunter Biden. Despite ongoing efforts by House Republicans to find evidence of wrongdoing, no smoking gun proving criminality against the president has been found. The release is part of a larger effort by the National Archives, which has so far released over 20,000 pages of emails and 75,000 more pages of records to the House GOP. Hunter Biden is currently facing felony tax fraud charges related to revelations from his abandoned laptop.
The National Archives has handed nearly 6,000 pages of documents to the House Oversight Committee as part of its impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, including drafts of a speech he gave to the Ukrainian legislature in 2015 and communications involving Hunter Biden and his business associates. The committee has received thousands of pages of documents in various batches in the past several months and continues its investigation into Biden and his family’s business dealings, inviting Joe Biden to testify publicly before the committee as the inquiry continues.
Archivists at the National Archives in the United Kingdom have opened parcels from the Anne-Marie cargo ship, seized by the British Navy in 1807, revealing well-preserved items including a 200-year-old red sweater, fabric samples, stockings, silver coins, and letters. The sweater, shipped from the Faroe Islands, was accompanied by a letter from the sender to the recipient in Copenhagen. The ship's cargo and mailbox were taken by the British navy, and the archivists plan to digitize the letters and contents of the packages. This discovery adds to recent findings of historical artifacts from shipwrecks, including the British HMS Erebus and a Dutch warship.
Two climate activists have been charged with felony destruction of government property after allegedly dumping red powder over the US Constitution's display case at the National Archives. The activists, members of the Declare Emergency climate protest group, have been involved in previous high-visibility protests regarding climate change. The incident is part of a trend of vandalism targeting iconic artwork and historical documents as part of climate protests. The attack cost over $50,000 to clean up and closed the Rotunda for four days, and one of the activists has been ordered detained while awaiting trial due to posing a risk to the integrity of historical artifacts and government property.