Archival Research Catalog (ARC)

Historical Documents Online: Search Hints for Selected Topics

American History

  • Selected Documents from the General Records of the United States Government, 1722 - 1996
    179 multi-paged documents from these records have been digitized from Record Group 11 - General Records of the United States Government. The documents include laws and Presidential proclamations, including acts concerning fishery zones, 6 Indian treaties, 14 Enrolled Acts and Resolutions of Congress, 8 Presidential documents, and 4 presidential proclamations. Included among the Enrolled Acts and the Resolutions of Congress are the Servicemen's Adjustment Act of 1944 (the GI Bill of Rights), the European Recovery Act(the Marshall Plan), and the Act of July 2, 1862, (the Morill Act) which established land grant colleges. Among the Presidential Proclamations are the Emancipation Proclamation and President Woodrow Wilson's Mother's Day Proclamation of May 9, 1914, and an amendment to authorize the commissioning of male persons in the various military nurse corps. These materials are held by NARA's Old Military and Civilian Records (Washington, DC).

    Search Hint: To retrieve the Ratified Amendments, 1795 - 1992:

    1. Go to http://www.archives.gov/research/arc/.
    2. Press the Yellow search button to go to the Archival Descriptions Search screen.
    3. To search only for archival descriptions that have digital copies, click the Digital Copies search button at the top of the ARC pages.
    4. Enter Ratified Amendments in the Keywords box.
    5. Select the limit results radio button for 100.
    6. Press the Go button.
    7. When hits are returned for your search, view the full result of your hit by selecting the Title link.

    Search Hint: To retrieve the Indian Treaties, 1722 - 1869:

    1. Go to http://www.archives.gov/research/arc/.
    2. Press the Yellow search button to go to the Archival Descriptions Search screen.
    3. To search only for archival descriptions that have digital copies, click the Digital Copies search button at the top of the ARC pages.
    4. Enter Indian Treaties in the Keywords box.
    5. Select the limit results radio button for 100.
    6. Press the Go button.
    7. When hits are returned for your search, view the full result of your hit by selecting the Title link for Indian Treaties, 1722 - 1869 .
    8. Scroll down to the part of the description that says Includes 5 items. Click on that link to view the hit list for all items.

    Search Hint: To retrieve the Perfected Treaties, 1778 - 1945:

    1. Go to http://www.archives.gov/research/arc/.
    2. Press the Yellow search button to go to the Archival Descriptions Search screen.
    3. To search only for archival descriptions that have digital copies, click the Digital Copies search button at the top of the ARC pages.
    4. Enter Perfected Treaties in the Keywords box.
    5. Select the limit results radio button for 100.
    6. Press the Go button.
    7. When hits are returned for your search, view the full result of your hit by selecting the Title link.

    Search Hint: To retrieve the Enrolled Acts and Resolutions of Congress, 1789 - 1996:

    1. Go to http://www.archives.gov/research/arc/.
    2. Press the Yellow search button to go to the Archival Descriptions Search screen.
    3. To search only for archival descriptions that have digital copies, click the Digital Copies search button at the top of the ARC pages.
    4. Enter Enrolled Acts and Resolutions of Congress in the Keywords box.
    5. Select the limit results radio button for 100.
    6. Press the Go button.
    7. When hits are returned for your search, view the full result of your hit by selecting the Title link for Enrolled Acts and Resolutions of Congress, 1789 - 1996.
    8. Scroll down to the part of the description that says Includes 143 items. Click on that link to view the hit list for all items.

    Search Hint: To retrieve the Presidential Proclamations, 1791 - 1991:

    1. Go to http://www.archives.gov/research/arc/.
    2. Press the Yellow search button to go to the Archival Descriptions Search screen.
    3. To search only for archival descriptions that have digital copies, click the Digital Copies search button at the top of the ARC pages.
    4. Enter Presidential Proclamations in the Keywords box.
    5. Select the limit results radio button for 1000.
    6. Select the Location filter marked Old Military and Civil Records.
    7. Press the Go button.
    8. When hits are returned for your search, view the full result of your hit by selecting the Title link for Presidential Proclamations, 1791-1991.
    9. Scroll down to the part of the description that says Includes 43 items. Click on that link to view the hit list for all items.

    Search Hint: To retrieve the Executive Orders, 1862 - 1991:

    1. Go to http://www.archives.gov/research/arc/.
    2. Press the Yellow search button to go to the Archival Descriptions Search screen.
    3. To search only for archival descriptions that have digital copies, click the Digital Copies search button at the top of the ARC pages.
    4. Enter Executive Orders in the Keywords box.
    5. Select the limit results radio button for 100.
    6. Press the Go button.
    7. When hits are returned for your search, view the full result of your hit by selecting the Title link.

    From the Collection:

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    ARC Identifier: 300009, Title: "Executive Order 9981 dated July 26, 1948 in which President Harry S. Truman bans the segregation of the Armed Forces., 07/26/1948"

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  • Berryman Political Cartoon Collection, 1896 - 1949
    100 political cartoons have been digitized from this series. Clifford K. Berryman, the Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist, is best known for his cartoon, "Drawing the Line in Mississippi" showing President Theodore Roosevelt refusing to shoot a bear during a bear-hunting expedition in Mississippi. These materials are held by NARA's Center for Legislative Archives (Washington, DC).

    Search Hint: To retrieve the 100 digitized cartoons:

    1. Go to http://www.archives.gov/research/arc/.
    2. Press the Yellow search button to go to the Archival Descriptions Search screen.
    3. To search only for archival descriptions that have digital copies, click the Digital Copies search button at the top of the ARC pages.
    4. Enter Berryman in the Keywords box.
    5. Select the limit results radio button for 100.
    6. Press the Go button.
    7. When hits are returned for your search, view the full result of your hit by selecting the Title link.

    From the Collection:

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    ARC Identifier: 306110, Title: "To the Woods!, 11/01/1906"

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  • Photographs of FBI Personnel and Activities, Taken during the Tenure of J. Edgar Hoover, 1935 - 1972
    4 photographs have been digitized from this series. They include images of J. Edgar Hoover, G. Gordon Liddy, Carl Maydns, and Margaret O'Brien. These photographs are held by NARA's Still Picture Records(College Park, MD).

    Search Hint: To retrieve the 4 digitized documents:

    1. Go to http://www.archives.gov/research/arc/.
    2. Press the Yellow search button to go to the Archival Descriptions Search screen.
    3. To search only for archival descriptions that have digital copies, click the Digital Copies search button at the top of the ARC pages.
    4. Enter Photographs of FBI Personnel and Activities in the Keywords box.
    5. Select the limit results radio button for 100.
    6. Press the Go button.
    7. When hits are returned for your search, view the full result of your hit by selecting the Title link for Photographs of FBI Personnel and Activities, Taken during the Tenure of J. Edgar Hoover, 1935 - 1972.
    8. Scroll down to the part of the description that says Includes 4 items. Click on that link to view the hit list for all 4 items.

    From the Collection:

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    ARC Identifier: 518186, Title: "A Special Agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation taking the one hundred millionth fingerprint, represented by Miss Margaret O'Brien, a movie star., ca. 1947", Local Identifier: NWDNS-65-HN-2401

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  • Miscellaneous Subjects, Staff and Stringer Photographs, 1961 - 1974
    85 photographs relating to the 1963 Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C. have been digitized from this series. Other events and subjects covered by this series are Presidential visits abroad, such as President Kennedy's visit to Vienna to confer with Khrushchev in 1961, advanced research conducted at the National Institutes of Health, the signing of the historic Nuclear Test Ban Treasury of 1963, views of the Kennedy Space Flight Center, President Johnson's 1966 trip to confer with SEATO leaders and his 1967 Guam meeting with South Vietnamese leaders and Gerald Ford's assumption of the presidency after Nixon's resignation are examples of subjects covered in this series. These materials are held by NARA's Still Picture Records(College Park, MD).

    Search Hint: To retrieve the 85 digitized photographs:

    1. Go to http://www.archives.gov/research/arc/.
    2. Press the Yellow search button to go to the Archival Descriptions Search screen.
    3. To search only for archival descriptions that have digital copies, click the Digital Copies search button at the top of the ARC pages.
    4. Enter Civil Rights March on Washington in the Keywords box.
    5. Select the limit results radio button for 100.
    6. Press the Go button.
    7. When hits are returned for your search, view the full result of your hit by selecting the Title link.

    From the Collection:

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    ARC Identifier: 542061, Title: "Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C. [Actors Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, and Charlton Heston.], 08/28/1963", Local Identifier: NWDNS-306-SSM-4D(99)22

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  • Curtis C. Flood vs. Bowie K. Kuhn, et. al., January 16, 1970 - August 25, 1970
    20 multi-page documents have been digitized from this court case. This landmark case paved the way for free agency in professional sports. These materials are held by NARA's Northeast Region (New York, NY).

    Search Hint: To retrieve the 20 multi-page digitized documents:

    1. Go to http://www.archives.gov/research/arc/.
    2. Press the Yellow search button to go to the Archival Descriptions Search screen.
    3. To search only for archival descriptions that have digital copies, click the Digital Copies search button at the top of the ARC pages.
    4. Enter Curtis Flood in the Keywords box.
    5. Select the limit results radio button for 100.
    6. Press the Go button.
    7. When hits are returned for your search, view the full result of your hit by selecting the Title link.

    From the Collection:

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    ARC identifier: 278308, Title: "Original complaint filed by Curtis C. Flood in his effort to overturn the reserve clause that bound professional baseball players, 01/16/1970"

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  • Selected Publications of the Government Printing Office
    31 documents, including some multi-page documents have been digitized from a selection of publications of the Government Printing Office. The digitized documents include War Department Public Relations Division General Publications; Department of State East Asian and Pacific Series; and selections from Department of State Inter-American Series. Subjects include Cuba, Guatemala, the Panama Canal, Southeast Asia, Vietnam, and the Argentine Situation. Also included are Department of the Army Technical Manuals and educational pamphlets, Federal Civil Defense Administration general publications, as well as Department of Agriculture Program Aids. These materials are held by NARA's Center for Legislative Archives (Washington, DC).

    A few titles of these publications include:
    • List and Index of War Department Publications
    • Personnel Separations, Enlisted Personnel
    • Annual Report of the Light-House Board of the United States to the Secretary of the Treasury
    • Congressional Directory for the Second Session of the Thirty-Seventh Congress of the United States of America
    • Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Wanted Poster of John Dillinger

    Search Hint: To retrieve the 31 digitized documents:

    1. Go to http://www.archives.gov/research/arc/.
    2. Press the Yellow search button to go to the Archival Descriptions Search screen.
    3. To search only for archival descriptions that have digital copies, click the Digital Copies search button at the top of the ARC pages.
    4. Enter Government Printing Office in the Keywords box.
    5. Select the limit results radio button for 100.
    6. Press the Go button.
    7. When hits are returned for your search, view the full result of your hit by selecting the Title link.

    From the Collection:

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    ARC Identifier: 306713, Title: "Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Wanted Poster of John Dillinger, 06/25/1934"

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  • Selected Documents from NARA's "American Originals" Exhibit December 1996 - December 1997
    74 documents have been digitized from the National Archives and Records Administration's "American Originals" exhibit.   These materials are held by NARA's Old Military and Civil Records (Washington, DC), the Center for Legislative Archives (Washington, DC), and the Special Access/FOIA staff (College Park, MD).

    Some of NARA's most interesting and famous documents are presented as part of this exhibit collection including the Articles of Confederation, various U.S. treaties including:
    • the Louisiana Purchase Treaty
    • Amistad Supreme Court documents
    • a photostat of the Zimmerman Telegram
    • a marriage announcement of Napoleon, Emperor of France, to Arch duchess Marie-Louise of Austria
    • the journal of Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon
    • the Richard M. Nixon resignation letter
    • the letter from Frederick Douglass to Secretary of State James G. Blaine, accepting the appointment as U.S. Minister to Haiti
    • United States Evidence Files concerning Axis criminality
    • George Washington's Revolutionary war account book
    • Robert E. Lee's amnesty oath
    • Robert E. Lee's resignation letter from the U.S. Army
    • the Police Blotter Listing the Assassination of President Lincoln
    • the Draft Payment for the purchase of Alaska
    • various women's suffrage petitions
    • Letter from Fidel Castro, Age 12, to President Franklin D. Roosevelt
    • Brown v. Board of Education documents
    • Watergate documents

    Search Hint : To retrieve the 74 digitized documents:
    1. Go to http://www.archives.gov/research/arc/.
    2. Press the Yellow search button to go to the Archival Descriptions Search screen.
    3. To search only for archival descriptions that have digital copies, click the Digital Copies search button at the top of the ARC pages.
    4. Enter American Originals in the Keywords box.
    5. Select the limit results radio button for 100.
    6. Press the Go button.
    7. When hits are returned for your search, view the full result of your hit by selecting the Title link.

    From the Collection:

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    ARC Identifier: 542472, Title: "Peary Sledge Party and Flags at the Pole, 04/07/1909", Local Identifier: NWDNS-401-XPS-17(11)

    See Also:

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The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration
8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD 20740-6001
Telephone: 1-86-NARA-NARA or 1-866-272-6272