====================== HES POSTING ==================== From: Walter Hill <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Special issue of Prologue, on African American Historical Research The summer issue of Prologue, Quarterly of the National Archives, has as its theme "The Impact of Federal Records on African American Historical Research." The issue is scheduled for release in mid-June 1997. Established in 1934, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is the depository for the permanently valuable records of the Federal Government. NARA holdings consist of records that extends from colonial times to the present. While the records are arrange according to the filing schemes of the individual government agencies, they contain valuable subject matter histories. The staff of the National Archives have created finding aids and guides to these records. Five broad categories of National Archives contain information on African Americans: civil, military, legislative, judicial, and Presidential. The records are in textual(paper) and non-textual (photos, film, video, maps, electronic) format. Researchers visiting the National Archives come from a variety of backgrounds, and the largest constituency group are genealogists. Prologue, Quarterly of the National Archives, is the journal devoted to promoting the records of the National Archives. Writers who are interested in historical subjects, and who have used the records of the National Archives publish essays in the journal. Prologue was established in 1969 to inform the American people, especially those interested in the history of the Nation, of the valuable records of the National Archives. Volume 29, Number 2, Summer 1997, will be a special issue devoted to African American historical research. While past issues have contained over thirty full-length essays on African Americans, and numerous references to records relative to African Americans, this will be the first issue exclusively devoted to discussing Federal records and African Americans. This issue pursued the theme "The Impact of Federal Records on African American Historical Research" for several reasons. The history of the relationship between African American and the Federal government is unique. Federal records contain an enormous amount of documents that are extremely important in the researching and writing of African-American history. They have broaden the parameters for historical research, they enhance research in non-federal sources. This special edition of Prologue hopes to: further establish the usefulness of Federal records, and why they continue to be an important source for history; meet the needs of scholars and other researchers by identifying and improving access to records that are useful for explorations of Afro-American history; and inform NARA's constituents, libraries, universities, archival repositories, and the American public that Federal records document the relationship of African Americans and the Federal Government from colonial times to modern times. The issue will cover Civil War and Reconstruction, labor issues, Civil Rights, Pictorial Histories of African Americans, research aids, and genealogy. The sixteen essays written by NARA archival staff members and scholars all will enhance our knowledge of Federal records and Afro-American history. To find out more information about the issue and to order it, please contact: http://www.nara.gov./exhall//prologue/prologue.html Walter B. Hill, Jr. Senior Archivist Subject Area Specialist in Afro-American History and Federal records <[log in to unmask]> ============ FOOTER TO HES POSTING ============ For information, send the message "info HES" to [log in to unmask]