Horse Power
In recognition of National Day of the Horse, today we are sharing this photograph of horses drinking from a stock trough on the Pala Reservation. Horses have contributed profoundly to the making of America - economically, culturally, etc. Not only have horses pulled plows to till the land, rounded up herds of sheep and cattle, and served as couriers in the Pony Express; they have always provided a special joy to their riders, and continue to provide a deep connection as a source of strength.
For more information on equine advocacy, please visit the American Horse Council’s website.
On Monday, the Electoral College will meet to select the President and Vice President of the United States. If you would like to know more about the Electoral College and the process, please visit this National Archives website.
National Miners’ Day
In celebration of National Miners’ Day, we bring you material from our holdings of a man not famous for being a miner, but nevertheless spent a large portion of his life doing just that. Wyatt Earp, known for his gunslinging, mined for most of his later years. He mined claims in Arizona, Alaska, and California. Here’s a little ditty we put together a few years back about his mining exploits in Arizona along with some of his kin.
“Wyatt Earp didn’t arrive in Tombstone to bring law and order to the town. He arrived like so many others, to seek riches in the mining boom. Wyatt and his brothers Virgil, and James Earp arrived in Tombstone in December 1879. Virgil and his wife had been living in the Arizona Territory town of Prescott and wrote to the brothers about the “booming” mining town of Tombstone. The brothers and their wives joined Virgil and his wife in Prescott, and travelled down to Tombstone together. Virgil was appointed Deputy U.S. Marshal for the Tombstone area, James became a saloon keeper, and Wyatt worked as a hired gun for the stage and ran a gambling establishment. The brothers also purchased shares into a few established mines in the area. After reacquainting themselves with Robert Winders, a former friend from Texas, the brothers and Winders submitted a mining claim of their own. The claim for the First North Extension of Mountain Maid mine was 17.41 acres and was just north of the Tombstone townsite. The three Earps and Winders paid $40.00 and submitted a request for survey on November 9, 1880. The four men began the process for a land patent. The final certificate was issued by the Bureau of Land Management’s General Land Office on November 15, 1882, nearly six months after the Earps left Tombstone.”
Earp later goes on to mine in the boomtown of Nome, Alaska, and establishes several mines along the Colorado River on the Arizona/California border. #wildwest #miner
Series: Letters Sent, 1871-1923. Office of the Surveyor General of Arizona. Record Group 49, Records of the Bureau of Land Management.
Try out this 1932 oatmeal cookie recipe which was found on “The Women’s Page” of The Mission Indian newsletter, Vol. 1, No. 5. These newsletters have been digitized and are are available in the Catalog.
Nothing says Christmas like fresh baked ornaments straight out of the archives catalog. Archives Technician Aaron located a delightful holiday picture with Betty Ford and her daughter Susan transforming cookies into Christmas ornaments. It seems once the cookies are out of the oven they are decorated and they go straight to the White House tree. I remember when I was a young sprout baking and decorating cookies for the tree. I also remember they had a special coating to make them last for years. Did you have a similar holiday tradition?
For more information about the Gerald Ford Presidency check out the Ford Presidential library and museum. https://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/
Cookies!
Today in celebration of National Cookie Day, which coincides with the #ArchivesHashtagParty #ArchivesBakeoff, we are sharing this image, taken 10 years ago this week, of White House pastry chefs decorating cookies shaped like Bo, the Obama family dog, for holiday receptions at the White House. Cookies are the most common home-baked product in the United States and half of those are chocolate chip cookies. What’s your favorite kind of cookie?
For additional holdings in the National Archives Catalog related to cookies, including many recipes, click here.
Photograph of Florence Stewart’s New Stucco House Near Completion
Now available online!
Photographs, 1936-1942, compiled by the Mission Indian Agency in the mid-1930s. Today, enjoy this image taken on the San Pasqual Indian Reservation in southern California. Community members! Please join our Citizen Archivist Mission and tell us about the people and places in these images.
Photograph of a Woman Holding a Baby Among Produce Grown at Rincon
Now available online!
Photographs, 1936-1942, compiled by the Mission Indian Agency in the mid-1930s. Today, enjoy this image taken on the Rincon Indian Reservation in southern California. Community members! Please join our Citizen Archivist Mission and tell us about the people and places in these images.
The National Archives has launched a new web-based finding aid featuring digitized historical photographs from the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) records. There are currently over 18,000 photographs included in the finding aid, and there will be more to come, as our staff digitizes and makes available more of these unique historical images. This new finding aid allows the user to sort by Tribal Nation, by state, and by topic. Visit this wonderful new resource here and let us know what you think about it!