Schools in DC

Dunlap Broadside- the first printed Declaration, made July 4, 1776

Entrance into the Public Vaults- the permanent exhibit of the Archives

Ammendment repealing Prohibition

Bill of Rights

Signatures of the 56 Framers of the Constitution

"We the People..."

The Constitution of the United States

The Actual Declaration of Independence

Rotunda at the National Archives

The Magna Carta

The past two days have been so busy at the Archives. Some people have requested that I take pictures of where I work in the Archives, so they are added below.

Thursday was a trip outside the office, to the Charles Sumner School for the district competition of We the People. There were four different schools represented there, which is double the amount from last year. All of the schools were from the northern part of DC except for Cesar Chavez, which is in the Southeast section and is often times thought of as being one of the worst places to live in DC. These were also the students who I judged last week at their school competition. I sat in on all 6 units of We the People, and got a really good overview of the program. I wish I had a chance at this when I was in high school (and if there are any government teachers reading this, I highly recommend it!). Mary Beth Tinker, who was part of a Supreme Court trial on student's rights had lunch with us, and the representative from DC, Eleanor Holmes Norton, spoke to the students about taxation withouth representation. The best part of the day came when awards were handed out, and Cesar Chavez won, and are going to nationals in April! This is such a wonderful award for them and after seeing their presentations, they deserve it after all the work they put into it. I'm excited to see them compete in April!

On Friday, a new exhibit open at the Archives about Japanese Americans and WWII. We had a lot of people wonder into the ReSource Room asking about it, and especially the Japanese surrender papers. I felt like today was also the beginning of the semester, when you are assigned all your projects for the next three weeks. I have a lot of research and catalouging to do, along with presentations and curriculum building, but it is going to be fantastic.

Friday afternoon I went up into the Treasure Vaults of the Archives, which is where the most important and valuable documents are kept. I was in the Legislative vault, which had been opened for some members of the House Appropriations committee. I saw the first pages of the House journal, which tallies the electoral votes for George Washington, and keeps track of the first details of the House. I saw two of the State of the Union addresses, impeachment papers, poilitical cartoons, the first set of MAD comic books, and some petitions sent to the House. It was the highlight of a great week, and I hope I will be able to go back up there and see a few more things.

Today it is snowing, and people are freaked out about it! I plan on sitting back and watching how the South handles the Northern cold.... :)

So, There's a lot of large buildings around here...

Well I'm halfway into my second week in my internship and finally getting into the life of a city girl. This past weekend I spent a lot of time at the Smithsonian Musuem of American History, which houses some of the more famous pieces the Smithsonian holds. There's Judy Garland's ruby slippers, Kermit the Frog, the flag that inspired the Star Spangled Banner, and many of the first ladies' inagural ball gowns. I've added some pictures below of what I took, but there are so many more (and probably better quality) at the Smithsonian website.

~Abe Lincoln's Hat

~Kermit

~Trying to be President. It didn't go so well...

~Helen Taft's inaugural ball gown

~ Outside the Museum. The Washington Monument is so close!

Monday morning came soon enough and it was back to the Archives. This week I am wrapping up my orientation meetings and finally getting started on projects. I was in the Resource Room and Learning Lab so far this week, helping students find research pertaining to their interests or a school project. On Tuesday morning, a group of students came in and looked at documents that are from the Treasure Vaults of the Archives. These are originals that are very influential or highly sensitive and are only taken out a few times a year. Some of these include the note that impeached President Andrew Johnson, a working copy of the 13th Ammendment, and the Electoral College votes for the election of 1876. They were amazing and the students were just as intriguied as I was with the documents.

~This is one of the documents we got to see up close!

On Tuesday, I went to the second large facility in the DC area that the National Archives has. It's located about 40 minutes north of downtown DC, on the campus of the University of Maryland at College Park. It is the second largest government office building in the country, and is full of almost 600 miles of record storage shelves! I will be working here (also known as AII) once a week, helping out with archiving and the volunteer program. I went back into the "stacks" and just didn't know where to start! There are so many papers and topics that draw my attention that it might be hard to narrow down to just a few. Once again, I've added some pictures for this, but this time they are courtesy of Google.

~Exterior of Archives II at College Park. It was built around 15 years ago, and unlike Archives I, it was built for this purpose.

~Inside the Archives, in the research rooms

Today was a field trip day again, and this once focused on the military. We visited the Pentagon, and had a tour of the building. It is the largest office building in the US, which makes perfect sense if you have seen it before. Since we could not take any pictues on the premises of the Pentagon, mine come from Google again.

~This is as close of a picture you can get, because of all the security there.

Tomorrow I head back out into the DC schools to help with the district competition of We the People... I'm excited to see what the students have put together and whether they can handle the test of a congressional hearing...

Intern Introductions

Well the past three days at the National Archives have been such a whirlwind. Case in point, It's not even eight, and I'm yawning and have bags under my eyes. Anyway, I have done a lot over these days, so here are the highlights:

-First I got the grand tour of the place, which includes a brand new National Archives Experience, that houses the Public Vaults, Learning Lab, Resource Room, and other gallery and movie space. This is the place where I will be spending most of my time, if not in my office.

-I had many other tours, ( I think it's around 5 in three days), each led by a different member of the Ed team. It's so interesting to hear each of them speak, as they point out different aspects of the Archives. Hopefully, I will have my unqie tour down soon.

- Orientation, Orientation, Orientation. I have a feeling this will be a long process. Since I am going to be there for an extended period of time, I will be in Orientation awhile. I am almost through it, but next week is still full of it. Most of it involves learning about what the Archives holds, how we get it, where it came from, and what we keep. There are also many building tours, talks with different departments in the building, and computer instruction.

Today was my first day I guess of actually getting to help others and make a difference. This morning I visited the Cesar Chavez Public Charter School for Public Policy up on the Hill. I was there to help judge a competition/ mock congressional hearing that the high school students put on. Using their resources from the Center for Civic Education and their textbooks, each group prepared a four minute presentation about an aspect of the Constitution, and then were grilled by the judges in six minutes in a question and answer session. It was such a joy to see these students use their knowledge and be EXCITED about using it and sharing it with 0thers. This is one of my passions in life and it is thrilling to see it be lived out. Some of these students moved on to the district competition also being hosted in DC next week. I am excited to see these students, as well as others from across the district share their knowledge and young expertise to all of us.

The rest of my day was spent in the ReSource Room, a place for anyone to come and do research on the documents we have on display at the Archives. I had a few families wander into the room and look through our resources. Most seemed to be overwhelmed and not sure where to begin, but one little boy just jumped the gun and followed me around the room for the quite awhile. It was so awesome showing him all the cool things that we have, and I think his parents were thankful for coming in. This is what we do at the Archives and what I have learned this first week: we are here to preserve the nation's history and to share it with others in the hopes that they will find something that will light up their eyes just like that little boy did today.

DC Field Trip- National Building Musuem, Library of Congress, US Capitol

Today was the first of many weekly field trips into DC. My morning started with my second class, Art and Architecture of Washington DC. We visited to National Building Museum during class to get a good introduction into to the planning, set up, design, construction, and even controversy in DC architecture. The National Building Museum is the old Civil War Pension office, which makes it one of the oldest buildings still standing in DC today. It is also one of the largest, since its purpose involved bringing in many men into the office. The pictures below are of the interior and exterior of this building.

Following our morning class, I went off to the Library of Congress, since it is so close to the NBM, and the Capitol, which was our official field trip of the day. This is such a wonderful building set right behind the Capitol and next to the Supreme Court (hence those pictures are in here too!). The library contains the remains of Jefferson's library (some 7,000 books) as well as exhibits, a main reading room, and some colorful murals and frescoes. One of my favorites, the Gutenberg Bible, is located here, as well as thousands of other books below the library in tunnels.

Our final stop for the day was at the US Capitol. What a great tour! We visited the old House, Senate, and Supreme Court chambers, all which were still decorated in their republican glory. The rotunda, completed just after the Civil War, was also a stop along our tour. Of course, we were bumping shoulders with some of the big whigs in from Congress, and even a few govenors! After our general tour, we visited the public galleries of the House and Senate. What an experience it was to see and hear our representatives in action making the laws that govern our nation. Of course, it was also interesting to see all the design and style that is in these rooms, and to think that a week from today, President Obama will be delivering his State of the Union address to these men and women in the room I just visited.

The rest of the week is back at the National Archives. Hopefully by the end of the week, I will have a better grasp on what my duties are as an intern.

Old Senate Chambers

Capitol Rotunda- It contains six different murals depicting the founding of the US.

Rotunda Ceiling- US Capitol

First chambers of the US Supreme Court

Entrance into the new Capitol Visitors Center.

Main gallery of the Library of Congress

US Supreme Court- Notice the Lawyers waiting for court to reconvene.

US Capitol

National Building Museum- Former Pension Offices

Inside the National Building Museum

Welcome to DC!

Well, I'm alive and officially a city girl! I arrived here in Rosslyn (where LCWS is located) on Saturday afternoon. I was nervous about flying out here all on my own, but was pleasantly surprised to find that Megan and Alex, who are also from Concordia, were on the same flight as I was. We also met four fellow students from Luther College in Iowa, who were also on our flight out to DC. Out of there seven of us, all but two have been out to DC before. This was so helpful, especially when it came to the Metro. Once we landed in DC, we had to navigate ourselves from the airport to our apartments. I was nervous about doing this, and I've only been on public transportation once in my life, so Steven took control and helped all of us get on the Metro. The trick, though, was that we had our luggage, which was so bothersome to carry around! After some wrong directions, we finally found LCWS (located at River Place in Rosslyn) and made our way to our apartments. After being up the entire day, I unpacked and went to bed!

The next day we had to ourselves. It was raining out (so strange for a MN girl) so my roommate Karmen and i decided to go shopping. We braved the rain ( and the Metro again) and went to Pentagon City, where there is a great mall. We also decided that groceries were a high priority, since we hadn't gone shopping yet. After 2 hours of shopping (with Viking score updates by grocery store employees) our hands were full. This is the problem with grocery shopping in DC; you have no car, so buying in bulk is not the best thing. So we caught a taxi back to our apartment and managed to make it back without losing or breaking anything.

Later that night, we got to meet all the students that we would be taking classes and living with during the next 14 weeks. There are 34 of us ( a smaller group for the program), which I hope will make us all bond well!

The bonding continued the next day with a touristy day around DC. We packed a lot into our day and the pictures below tell of where we went. It was nice to get out into the sun and get to know everyone a bit more.

Just as we are getting settled into our lives here in DC, our internships start. Stay tuned to hear about all the adventures that come with your first week as an intern. It should be interesting...

Korean Memorial

Concordia Kids!- Alex, Megan, Beth

World War II Memorial

The Capitol

Washington National Cathedral

Blog Post #1- Introduction

This is partially a test run for my blog for the next few months, and partially an introduction about my travels. I will be spending just over the next three months interning in Washington DC with the National Archives. I am a part of the education team there, and will be one of three interns there for the spring. My duties will include creating curriculum and projects for all groups of people to learn more about the Archives and their importance to our nation. More specifically, I will be working closely with the US Constitution, and leading groups of students through an interactive exhibit that teaches them about it.

The Archives holds millions of documents about the formation and history of the US, and many families come to the Archives to learn about that history and how their family specifically fit into the nation's story. I will be guiding these families through the process of finding this information, and helping them fill in the blanks.

Students each spring across DC come together to celebrate National History Day, and the Archives plays a huge role in preparing this event, and also helping students get access and interpret the information that they will use in their projects.

My final task is to do a bit of research on my own. I am not sure if this will be on a large topic in American history, or if it will be something small and perhaps more personal, but I will have so many resources at my fingertips, that they are just itching to get back into history and I am sure to come across something fascinating!

My internship is not the only thing I will be doing in DC. I am a part of a program through Concordia College that allows me to take classes at the same time I will be interning. One of these classes is about the Supreme Court's upholding of the US Constitution, which will correlate nicely with my internship. The other class looks at art and architecture in Washington, and how our nation's capital was deliberatly built with the designs and enginuity that stands there today.

Of course, being in the nation's capital, I will be taking all that it has to offer. This includes visiting other museums and monuments in DC, getting in on some fantastic arts performances and viewings, seeing the culture close up, watching our government function daily, both in the White House and Capital, and giving back to the community by volunteering.

This semester looks to be quite an adventure...stay tuned to see how it turns out!