While serving in office from 1933-1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, often referred to as "FDR",
inventoried the vast quantities of
papers and other materials he and his staff had accumulated. Up to
that time, many Presidential papers and records had either been lost,
destroyed, sold for profit, or ruined by poor storage conditions.
President Roosevelt
sought a viable solution. Advised by a number of noted historians
and scholars, he established a public repository to preserve the
evidence of the Presidency for future generations.
In
Roosevelt’s own words: “To bring together the records of the past and to
house them in a building where they will be preserved for the use of men and
women of the future, a Nation must believe in three things. It must believe in the past. It must believe in the future. It must, above all, believe in the capacity
of its own people to learn from the past so that they can gain judgment in
creating their own future”.
Prior to the establishing of the National
Archives, records created by the Federal Government lacked a stable and secure
environment and were not easily accessible to the public. In 1926, during the Presidency of Calvin Coolidge, the US Congress
passed the Public Building Act, providing for the construction of several government
buildings including "a National Archives".
Architect John Russell Pope was selected to design
the building, and ground
was broken on September 5, 1931, during the Presidency of Herbert Hoover. On February 20, 1933,
President Herbert Hoover laid the building’s
cornerstone.
In 1934, after Franklin D. Roosevelt had been elected President, the US Congress voted to establish the National Archives to preserve and care for the records of the U.S. Government. Prior to that time,
Federal records were kept in various basements, attics, abandoned buildings,
and other storage places with little security or concern for storage
conditions. On June 19, 1934, with the building’s construction well under way, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed legislation creating the National Archives and authorizing it to collect, care for, and make available Federal Government records.
President Roosevelt appointed Robert D.W. Connor as the first Archivist of the United States, and 80 staff members moved into the nearly-completed building in the Fall of 1935, ready for the daunting task of surveying and restoring historical Federal records.
The agency’s first order of business was locating records. Archives staff surveyed records located in the Washington, D.C. area, while the Works Progress Administration (WPA) workers surveyed Federal records nationwide. The following year, in 1936, the first batch of Federal records were transferred to the new National Archives Building in Washington, D.C.
Staff found records in basements,
attics, carriage houses, abandoned buildings, and alcoves. Many records had
suffered from neglect, infestations, water damage, and even theft. Records
transferred to the National Archives initially went to the Document
Conservation Lab to be fumigated. Thereafter, they were cleaned with
specially designed air guns.
The sheer volume of Federal records being located was massive. Almost as soon as the National Archives building had opened, it required renovation to make room for the influx of records. The inner courtyard was altered and filled with stacks -- doubling the records
storage space.
The architect Pope had specifically designed the National Archives’ 75-foot-high
“Exhibition Hall” to display the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution. The Hall included large murals by artist Barry Faulkner
depicting the creations of these documents, and a “shrine” designed to hold the original
documents. Despite this, however, the Charter documents remained located at the Library of
Congress for almost 20 more years.
Finally, in April of 1952, the US Congress ordered that the originals of the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution
be moved to the National Archives. These "Charter Documents" were transferred in a solemn public ceremony, pictured here, on December 13, 1952, and unveiled to the public on Bill of Rights Day, December 15, 1952.
Falling under the umbrella of the National Archives are most of the Presidential Libraries, with the exception of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois, which is run by the State of Illinois.
In
1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed the very first Presidential Library, to be built with private funds, containing all the records of his
administration, and to be run by the National Archives. Congress approved FDR’s plan,
and his Library opened during his Presidency in 1941 in Hyde Park, NY.
All of FDR’s Presidential successors, as well as his immediate
predecessor, Herbert Hoover, have perpetuated this tradition. Because the original legislation approved by Congress had pertained only to FDR,
Congress passed the Presidential Libraries Act in 1955, paving the way for Presidential libraries, papers, and memorabilia to
be allowed to be transferred to the National Archives.
 |
President Harry S. Truman
at Truman Presidential Library
Independence, Missouri |
 |
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Presidential Library
Abilene, Kansas
|
 |
Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library
Austin, Texas
|
 |
Ronald Reagan Presidential Library
Simi Valley, California
|
 |
Herbert Hoover Presidential Library
West Branch, Iowa |
After Watergate and
President Richard Nixon’s resignation in 1974, the US Congress passed legislation seizing
Nixon’s materials and mandating that the National Archives process them for
public access.
Congress
later passed the 1978 Presidential Records Act, which designated Presidential papers as "government property that must be transferred to the National Archives at the
end of an administration". Ronald
Reagan was the first President required to comply with the Act.
Most
recently, President Barack Obama created a new model for his library whereby
NARA will not administer a Museum nor a traditional Presidential Library, but will instead focus on preserving and making accessible Obama’s Presidential
records digitally.
Over the years, the
National Archives gained new responsibilities relevant to current as well as historical Federal records, leading to its name eventually being changed
to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).
From one building on Pennsylvania Avenue back in 1935, the National Archives now oversees more than 40 facilities nationwide.
Today, the mission of
the National Archives is to provide public access to Federal Government records
in its custody and control. In the furtherance of this mission, the Archives state: “Public
access to government records strengthens democracy by allowing Americans to
claim their rights of citizenship, hold their government accountable, and
understand their history so they can participate more effectively in their
government”.
===================================
(Primary Research Source: The National Archives and Records Administration)
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Getting these cattle to market was a real challenge, though, as some one thousand miles of dangerous wilderness stretched out between Captain King’s cattle and the midwestern railheads where they could be sold.
King's Running W brand was first registered in 1869. Some have said that it represents one of the ranch’s many diamondback rattlesnakes or the Santa Gertrudis Creek, while others are sure it signifies the sweeping horns of a Texas Longhorn bull. 
During the early 1900s, King Ranch made its name in animal husbandry. By crossbreeding Brahman bulls, native to India, with British Shorthorn stock, the ranch produced the Santa Gertrudis, recognized as the first American breed of beef cattle and the first cattle breed to be recognized in the world in more than a century. This breed of cattle continues to be recognized throughout the world for its fine beef quality and ability to withstand arid climates. Today, the Santa Gertrudis is the most prevalent cattle breed in Australia.
