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National Archives
The United States National
Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an independent agency
of the United States government that has been charged with saving
and documenting the government's and historical records, as well as
increasing the public's access to those marvelous documents. It is
officially responsible for keeping and publishing the legally
authentic and authoritative replicas of the acts of Congress,
executive orders, federal regulations and presidential
proclamations. The head administrator of the department, the
Archivist of the United States, doesn't just maintain the official
documentation of passage of the amendments to the constitution by
state legislatures, but also has the authority to say when the
constitutional threshold for passage has been achieved and thus,
when the act has then become an amendment. This department also
works closely with the scholars to add to their studies. In the
beginning, every branch and agency of the government was responsible
for taking care of their own documents, which sometimes caused the
loss or destruction of those records. Therefore, in 1934, Congress
initiated the National Archives Establishment to bring all those
records and documents together in one place and made the Archivist
the chief administrator. It was incorporated into the GSA in 1949,
but in 1985, it again became an independent agency, known as the
National Archives and Records Administration or NARA. The majority
of the documents that are in the archives are public domain, since
the works of the government are excluded from copyright laws. There
are some documents that have come under the care of the NARA, from
other sources, that could be protected by copyright or donor
agreements. A lot of the most requested documents are used for
genealogy, that includes census records from 1790 up to 1930, and
passenger lists and naturalization records. The NARA maintains the
Presidential Library System that include the Hoover, Roosevelt,
Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan,
Bush Sr., Clinton and Bush Jr libraries. Some of the most requested
records or documents include; military service records, recovering
from disaster, Declaration of Independence, genealogy/getting
started, Constitution of the United States and WWII photos. Some of
the famous historical documents that are held by the archives
include; Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation,
Constitution, Bill of Rights, Louisiana Purchase, List of Lewis'
purchase, Emancipation Proclamation, District of Columbia, Abolition
of Slavery, Check for Alaska, Edison's light bulb patent, Zimmerman
telegram, Women's Right to Vote, Social Security Act, FDR's Day of
Infamy speech, Brown vs. Board of Education, letter from Jackie
Robinson, Voting Rights Act, Apollo 11 Flight Plan and Elvis' letter
to President Nixon.
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