On October 26, 1881, a 30-second gunfight became the stuff of legend. Today marks the 130th anniversary of the shoot-out at the O.K. Corral, and to commemorate the occasion, Katie Beaver, a summer intern in textual processing, wrote the following post. One of the most well-known stories of the “Wild West” comes from Tombstone, Arizona: [...]

Today’s post was written by Katie Beaver, who spent her summer interning with textual processing. The latter half of the nineteenth century is notorious among American historians for shady and tumultuous politics, particularly during presidential elections. The U.S. Marshal Service during this time was charged with monitoring polls on election days to ensure that the [...]

Today’s post was written by Katy Berube, who spent her summer interning in textual processing. A U.S. President’s signature, Civil War veterans, and a 19th Century labor strike…oh my!  Box 273 of the Appointment Files for Judicial Districts 1853-1905 (National Archives Identifier 734590) was the last box I examined for possible records of interest to digitize [...]

This post was written by Katy Berube, who was a summer intern in textual processing. When Deputy Marshal Bass Reeves began to sing softly to himself, people who knew him ran for cover.  An uncommon reaction, you might think, but from many accounts it was best to steer clear of a singing Bass Reeves as [...]

This post was written by Katie Beaver, a student intern working with civilian records.  It is a follow-up to A few good lawmen and is based on documentation found in  ”Appointment Files for Judicial Districts, 1853-1905.” The American South was a particularly tumultuous area after the Civil War and during the occupation of the U.S. Army. Slaves became [...]

This post was written by Katy Berube, a student intern working in civilian processing.  It is a follow-up to the post A few good lawmen.  Documentation for this post can be found in the series “Appointment Files for Judicial Districts, 1853-1905.” As guns unloaded into British subject and cattle investor, John H. Tunstall, in the [...]

Today’s post is written by Denise Henderson. A few months ago, I was asked to locate a record about Pat Garrett, the famous sheriff who killed Billy the Kid in 1881 when cowboys and cattle thieves made the West wild and dangerous and a place in serious need of law enforcement.  Understanding the index to, [...]