The National Archives of the United States is the repository of historical documents that range from the Declaration of Independence to transcripts from the Nuremberg Trials. This building does not, by itself, contain every single meaningful or historically significant document or artifact known to historians or Americans. In a warehouse system in suburban Maryland and in presidential libraries nationwide reside parchments and reliquaries of American history the likes of which the average American will likely never lay eyes on.
The Archives are open to the public and you can see, behind gas-filled, bulletproof glass in vaults that are raised each morning from their basement repose, the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and the Magna Carta. On July 4th every year, the Founders of our nation gather on the steps of the Archives and there read to the assembled public the declaration that resulted in America's independence from the sovereign rule of England.
Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential (Janet M Kincaid, 07/07)
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