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From Sunday, December 30, 2012 through Tuesday, January 1, 2013 the National Archives is celebrating the 150th Anniversary of the Emancipation Proclaimation with a special display in the East Rotunda Gallery.

Local history isn't just for authors and documentary filmmakers. It's great fodder for artists, too! Just ask playwright Jacqueline Lawton who is currently working on a drama production entitled OUR MAN BEVERLY SNOW, inspired by the 1835 race riot in Washington, D.C.

A street confrontation on April 13, 1832 turned violent when former Congressman Sam Houston savagely cane‑whipped Representative William Stanbery after bitter accusations about Indian affairs.

On January 13, 1982, a blizzard‑choked afternoon in Washington, D.C., turned catastrophic. Immediately after takeoff from National Airport, Air Florida Flight 90 plunged into the frozen Potomac River and clipped the 14th Street Bridge. Just minutes later, a Metro train derailed beneath the National Mall.

In 1873, the Kölnische Zeitung (Cologne Daily News) asked German anthropologist Friedrich Ratzel to take a trip to the United States and write a series of articles about life in America. He reached Washington in the winter of 1874 and, as a scientist, was particularly interested in the Smithsonian building.