Did you know that Memorial Day was originally called Decoration Day? Shortly after the Civil War, a group of Union veterans called for a day to decorate the graves of fallen soldiers with flowers on May 30. The date was perhaps selected because flowers were in bloom all across the U.S. by late May. In 1888, Congress declared Decoration Day a federal holiday in the District of Columbia so that veterans in federal employ could honor their fallen comrades and not lose a day’s pay. Decoration Day gradually became known as Memorial Day as the holiday expanded to commemorate veterans of all wars. In 1968, Congress passed a law that named and moved several federal holidays. Included in H.R. 15951 was the official declaration of Memorial Day as a national holiday to be celebrated on the last Monday of May. H.R. 15851, 05/10/1968, Records of the U.S. Senate
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Did you know that Memorial Day was originally called Decoration Day? Shortly after the Civil War, a group of Union veterans called for a day to decorate the graves of fallen soldiers with flowers on May 30. The date was perhaps selected because flowers were in bloom all across the U.S. by late May.

In 1888, Congress declared Decoration Day a federal holiday in the District of Columbia so that veterans in federal employ could honor their fallen comrades and not lose a day’s pay. Decoration Day gradually became known as Memorial Day as the holiday expanded to commemorate veterans of all wars.

In 1968, Congress passed a law that named and moved several federal holidays. Included in H.R. 15951 was the official declaration of Memorial Day as a national holiday to be celebrated on the last Monday of May.

H.R. 15851, 05/10/1968, Records of the U.S. Senate

Happy Fourth of July!  We hope you have a fun and safe holiday celebrating the 236th birthday of our great nation! This 1914 cartoon by Clifford Berryman shows that we’ve been worrying about firework safety for well over a century! Here, Berryman is commenting on the annual fireworks display in Washington, DC. The week before the 1914 celebration, the Commissioners of DC issued an official proclamation that, for safety reasons, no fireworks were to be set off within city limits without written permission. D.C.- “Yes, Willie, there is just as much patriotism as ever, but with fewer sacrifices,” by Clifford Berryman, 7/4/1914, U.S. Senate Collection (ARC 6011056)
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Happy Fourth of July!  We hope you have a fun and safe holiday celebrating the 236th birthday of our great nation!

This 1914 cartoon by Clifford Berryman shows that we’ve been worrying about firework safety for well over a century! Here, Berryman is commenting on the annual fireworks display in Washington, DC. The week before the 1914 celebration, the Commissioners of DC issued an official proclamation that, for safety reasons, no fireworks were to be set off within city limits without written permission.

D.C.- “Yes, Willie, there is just as much patriotism as ever, but with fewer sacrifices,” by Clifford Berryman, 7/4/1914, U.S. Senate Collection (ARC 6011056)

todaysdocument: Photograph of 5 year old Willie (William Frederick Tear, 490 Louisiana Ave.) one of Washington’s youngest news-boys. He is a kind of free-lance, helps other boys out, and roams around the city on his little velocipede, with all the recklessness of extreme youth. Gets lost occasionally. He was so immature that he couldn’t talk plain, and yet he was pretty keen about striking people for nickels., 04/16/1912 Lewis Hine, Photographer.  From the records of the Congressional Committee on the District of Columbia
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todaysdocument:

Photograph of 5 year old Willie (William Frederick Tear, 490 Louisiana Ave.) one of Washington’s youngest news-boys. He is a kind of free-lance, helps other boys out, and roams around the city on his little velocipede, with all the recklessness of extreme youth. Gets lost occasionally. He was so immature that he couldn’t talk plain, and yet he was pretty keen about striking people for nickels., 04/16/1912

Lewis Hine, Photographer.  From the records of the Congressional Committee on the District of Columbia

todaysdocument: “I allus axes em fer nickels”  Photograph of Louis Gabriel (13 years old) and brother Eddie (10 years old) and Johnnie (7 years old). The photographer found Louis and Eddie selling after midnight on April 17 with about fifty papers left on their hands. Eddie says he is often up until 9 or 12 P.M. and sometimes up at 4 A.M. Sunday. They said they make several dollars some days, “Wid de tips.” The younger ones were very voluble about tips. “I allus axes em fer nickels” Johnnie said. The two older boys, Louis and Eddie, are on probation at Juvenile Court. Family is well known to charities. Father taken into court for non-support. Has deserted. 04/10/1912 Lewis Hine, Photographer.  From Papers Accompanying Specific Bills and Resolutions of the 63rd Congress Committee on the District of Columbia, 04/07/1913 - 03/03/1915 Visit our image gallery to see more Lewis Hine photographs and other documents relating to child labor.
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todaysdocument:

“I allus axes em fer nickels” 

Photograph of Louis Gabriel (13 years old) and brother Eddie (10 years old) and Johnnie (7 years old). The photographer found Louis and Eddie selling after midnight on April 17 with about fifty papers left on their hands. Eddie says he is often up until 9 or 12 P.M. and sometimes up at 4 A.M. Sunday. They said they make several dollars some days, “Wid de tips.” The younger ones were very voluble about tips. “I allus axes em fer nickels” Johnnie said. The two older boys, Louis and Eddie, are on probation at Juvenile Court. Family is well known to charities. Father taken into court for non-support. Has deserted. 04/10/1912

Lewis Hine, Photographer.  From Papers Accompanying Specific Bills and Resolutions of the 63rd Congress Committee on the District of Columbia, 04/07/1913 - 03/03/1915


Visit our image gallery to see more Lewis Hine photographs and other documents relating to child labor.

todaysdocument: Spring flowers arrived early in Washington, DC this year. This photo from the Records of the Environmental Protection Agency depicts the US Capitol Building in early April 2005. Has spring sprung earlier than usual in your neck of the woods? We love this picture of the Capitol from the Records of the Environmental Protection Agency! Has spring sprung earlier than usual in your neck of the woods?
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todaysdocument:

Spring flowers arrived early in Washington, DC this year. This photo from the Records of the Environmental Protection Agency depicts the US Capitol Building in early April 2005.

Has spring sprung earlier than usual in your neck of the woods?

We love this picture of the Capitol from the Records of the Environmental Protection Agency! Has spring sprung earlier than usual in your neck of the woods?

todaysdocument:

Based on ideas introduced in a speech by Senator Henry Clay on January 29, 1850, the Compromise of 1850 was actually a series of bills passed mainly to address issues related to slavery. The bills provided for slavery to be decided by popular sovereignty in the admission of new states, prohibited the slave trade in the District of Columbia, settled a Texas boundary dispute, and established a stricter fugitive slave act. This featured document is Henry Clay’s handwritten draft.