While browsing at a local public library, I came across this book. It was published in 2009 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the National Archives.
The book is set up in chronological order with photographs of mostly two-dimensional objects from the National Archives. It covers everything from the American Revolution to the election of Barack Obama. One of the highlights for me was an image from 1918 of five women holding baskets of fruit stones and nut shells standing next to a large pile of shells and stones with a soldier standing on top of it, the flag in the background. From this, I learned that during World War One, the government encouraged the public to save the pits of prunes, apricots, dates, cherries and peach stones, among others as well as the shells of walnuts, butternuts and hickory nuts for their use in making gas masks for the soldiers at the front.
Also included are photographs of original documents such as George Washington's first inaugural address, written in his hand. The Treaty of Paris is also included, which ended the American Revolutionary War as well as signed Oaths of Allegiance by Marquis de Lafayette, George Washington, Benedict Arnold and Alexander Hamilton. There are hundreds of other photos of original images and documents in the book. As I looked through it, particularly at the images of the founding documents of the United States, it really drove home the value of keeping original records rather than reproductions in another format. Even an exacting reproduction wouldn't be the same. The documents themselves, as much as the words hand-written on them, say something about who we are as a country and where we came from.
No comments:
Post a Comment