National Archives Celebrates 75th Anniversary

By Susan Logue Washington 15 June 2009

Before the National Archives was founded, many governmental records were kept in poor conditions.

On June 19, 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the legislation creating the National Archives. "There was a recognition by historians, by public officials and others that the history of the nation was being lost," says assistant archivist Michael Kurtz. "Records were kept by the agencies that created them. Fires, floods and other disasters really ate away at the nation's documented heritage."

A visitor to the National Archives examines the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution

Seventy-five years later, it is home to some of the most treasured documents in the United States.

Every day, visitors fill the rotunda of the National Archives to get a glimpse of the documents that are the foundation of the United States government: the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. But there is much more to the National Archives than just the so-called Charters of Freedom.

More than 9 billion records preserved

Since 1934 it has been responsible for all official governmental historical records: judicial, legislative and executive. Of course, not every government document is saved. Only one to three percent are deemed valuable enough to permanently archive. But, as Kurtz explains, that still adds up to more than nine billion records. While the paper records are vast, there are records in other formats as well including video, film, and digital.

"You have wikis and blogs, digital e-mail, all capturing government business," says Kurtz. He notes they present new challenges to the Archives. "Preserving them is not like having temperature- and humidity-control vaults for paper records, which will ensure the paper records last for hundreds of years. Digital media is much more fragile."

On the other hand, Kurtz says, the digital age has presented some opportunities for the National Archives, which can provide access to holdings to people who will never be able to come to the National Archives in person.

Basketball shoe and bathtub on display

The National Archives is celebrating its 75th anniversary with lectures and panel discussions, screenings of films, and an exhibit called "Big!," featuring some of its more unusual holdings.

"The original premise was to showcase some unique items that normally don't get displayed because of their size," says exhibits specialist Jennifer Johnson.

A replica of the "pond-like" bathtub created for President Taft

Those items include a Civil War-era battlefield map of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, that measures four meters square and a bathtub modeled after the one made for President William Howard Taft, the largest U.S. president. He weighed about 145 kilos (320 pounds). "There were a series of items that were custom made for him, including his bed," says Johnson. "We have a telegram where it is asking for a bathtub, listing the dimensions and describing it as 'pond-like.'"

When the exhibition, Big!, closes next January, Shaq's shoe will go to the George W. Bush presidential library. Presidential libraries are also part of the National Archives

There is also a shoe that belonged to basketball star Shaquille O'Neal, which was given to President George W. Bush, and a casting of dinosaur footprints. Johnson says that was presented to Richard Nixon by two boys who discovered the fossilized prints in New Jersey. "When they discovered these footprints they petitioned Nixon to preserve that area of land so they could study it, and he did. So they gave him a casting of the footprints." Today, she notes, one of those boys is one of the leading paleontologists in the U.S.

There are also more conventional records in the exhibit, illustrating big events and big ideas in American history, like the lunar landing and D-Day, the Normandy invasion that led to the Allied victory in World War Two.

Exhibits like "Big!" give visitors a glimpse of the vast holdings of the National Archives, but the stars of the collection remain the Charters of Freedom

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Murphy's Law Rules Vegas Bachelor Party in 'The Hangover'

By Alan Silverman Hollywood 22 June 2009

Four friends travel to the gaming and carousing center of Las Vegas to give one of them a bachelor party on the eve of his wedding. What could possibly go wrong? As it turns out, just about everything does in a bawdy but very funny new film. Here's a look at The Hangover.

It's a road trip from Los Angeles to Las Vegas where best friends Stu and Phil along with future brother-in-law Alan plan to give Doug a rousing celebration just before he gets married.

It starts with the promise of fun and maybe even a bit of debauchery as they raise their glasses in a toast to the groom; but things are quite different the next morning. Their hotel suite looks like a tornado has ripped through it: broken furniture, torn curtains, holes in the wall and, for some reason, a chicken cackling and strutting about.

Justin Bartha,Zach Galifianakis, Bradley Cooper and Ed Helms in scene from The Hangover

The three of them have no recollection whatsoever of the night before. Three of them? One is missing: the groom!

So now they have to retrace their steps, figure out what happened, find Doug and get him back home in time for the wedding, which is to take place that afternoon.

The ensemble cast of The Hangover features Justin Bartha as the misplaced groom and he says the comedy gets more and more outrageous as the friends learn about their wild-and-crazy night.

Justin Bartha as groom, Doug Billings in The Hangover

"There are definitely moments where you say 'this is shocking' and hilarious. This movie has a ton of those moments. It really does," Bartha says."There's a naked gangster that jumps out of a trunk onto someone's shoulders, beats them up and then runs away. I've never seen that in a movie …and I always have wanted to."

Ed Helms plays Stu who is a dentist so when he wakes up with a tooth missing he knows strange things must have gone on.

Ed Helms as Stu Price in The Hangover

"A lot of things in the script were initially not explained and it's so much fun to portray the aftermath of this night and let the audience try to put pieces together with our guys as they move through the story," says Helms.

Among those pieces: Stu, who has a fiancée back in Los Angeles, has somehow married a cheerful exotic dancer named Jade played by Heather Graham.

Heather Graham as Jade in The Hangover

"I actually thought it was fun to play such a colorful character and not just the 'sidekick' to the guys," Graham says. "I got to be this quirky character on my own and I made up my own back-story where I was a spiritual new age stripper just trying to share my sexuality with the world for the great goal of spirituality."

Bradley Cooper is Phil, the groom Doug's best friend and organizer of the bachelor party, which turns into a frantic mystery.

Bradley Cooper as Phil Wenneck in The Hangover

"That's the cool part of the movie," Cooper says. "If you like these three guys together and you care about what they're doing then you're going to go on the ride because you are in the exact same head space that the guys are in.

Rounding out the quartet is Zach Galifanakis as the groom's quirky future brother-in-law. A veteran improvisational comic, Galifanakis says some of the funniest scenes were not originally in the script.

"The outline of the movie was a very good blueprint, but any comedy director wants you to improvise and we did improvise a lot," he says. "There were a lot of lines that were fine in the script but things change when you shoot so you kind of go with the flow."

The director is Todd Phillips, whose previous films include the hit Old School - another 'buddy' comedy - and he says it was important to make the real Las Vegas environment part of "The Hangover" story.

Director Todd Phillips on the set of the movie

"I just think comedy plays so much better when it plays against reality, so I always want it feel as organic as possible. If we're going to shoot in Caesars Palace [hotel] I'd like to cut inside and be in the Caesars lobby," Phillips says. "I'd like to be shooting at Caesars pool or their valet (parking area). All of that stuff is really important."

The Hangover also features a cameo by boxer Mike Tyson along with several prominent Las Vegas celebrities.

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