Hi, folks! Once again, summertime, and all of the wonderful things that go along with it, is here! It’s time for lazy days, barbecues, outdoor fun, and, of course, a SUMMER ROADTRIP!
Over the next few weeks of summer, the Special Media Division here at the National Archives will be taking a virtual road trip across the United States with “stops” along the way to highlight some truly unique places and records associated with the locations.
Among the locations that we will visit are College Park, Maryland (home to Archives II), Richmond (VA), Raleigh (NC), Charleston (SC), Memphis (TN), New Orleans (LA), Houston and Ft. Worth (TX), Albuquerque (NM), Las Vegas (NV), Death Valley (CA), the Badlands and the Continental Divide just to name a few.
The map below, an annotated version of the RG 30: Series 10, Records of the Bureau of Public Roads, 1982-1972. Series: Map of Proposed Express Highways, shows the planned route, starting in College Park, MD and initially continuing south and west. After reaching the West Coast, we will turn back towards the east in Washington State and travel across the Midwest before returning to College Park, MD. Of course we may take a few detours along the way, so our route is subject to change! The original map and details about it’s background can be found in a blog post entitled, “Hiding in Plain Sight: The FDR Interstate Highway Map”, June 26th, 2018. https://unwritten-record.blogs.archives.gov/2018/06/26/hiding-in-plain-sight-the-fdr-interstate-highway-map/.
This trip will feature records from the Cartographic branch, the Still Pictures branch, and the Motion Pictures branch. So, sit back, buckle up and get ready for a wild ride!
RG 30: Series 10, Records of the Bureau of Public Roads, 1982-1972. Series: Map of Proposed Express Highways. ANNOTATED.
It’s a 1926 Department of Agriculture map depicting the recently numbered U.S. highways in existence, hastily overdrawn with blue pencil by President Roosevelt in 1938, showing proposed interstate highways, as he envisioned them. The map measures about 2×4 feet.