United States House of Representatives: History, Art, & Archives
Search the website

Blog Search

Reset filters

People & Places

Institution & Events

Primary Sources

Special Topics

Authors

Publication Date Range

to
Reset filters

“The House of Representatives, in some respects, I think, is the most peculiar assemblage in the world,” Speaker Joe Cannon of Illinois once observed. Behind the legislation and procedure, House Members and staff have produced their own institutional history and heritage. Our blog, Whereas: Stories from the People’s House, tells their stories.

Learn More >

Displaying 37–41 of 41 results

Sort: Date Descending Date Ascending Title Most Recommended

Leave No Forwarding Address: When Congress Almost Abandoned D.C.

by History on October 16, 2014
Admiral George Cockburn
It was a low moment. When the 13th Congress (1813–1815) trickled into Washington, D.C., in September 1814 for a third session, they found a terrorized community, most public buildings destroyed, and a humiliated army on retreat. Once the grandest building in North America, the unfinished Capitol resembled a charcoal briquette. And though the invading British forces had departed more than three weeks previously, the damage they inflicted—both physical and emotional—very nearly convinced the shocked legislators to abandon Washington for good.
More >
Categories: Practice & Customs, Legislation, War

Hoist the Colors!

by History on September 16, 2014
Captain Samuel C. Reid
Tasked with updating the American flag following the War of 1812, New York Representative Peter H. Wendover sought the advice of Captain Samuel C. Reid, one of America’s most famous privateers. After privateering under the star-spangled banner, what fresh ideas could Reid bring to the much-needed new design?
More >
Categories: Legislation, War

Tax Reform with a Side of Margarine

by History on July 29, 2014
Representative William S. Cowherd

Nineteenth-century tax policy was hardly as dry as plain toast. Congress returned to the margarine debate again and again for nearly 65 years.

More >
Categories: Legislation

“The City Scavenger Butters Your Bread”

by History on July 18, 2013
What piece of legislation best illustrates the tensions facing Congress when it attempts to regulate the diverse U.S. economy? One about butter: the Oleomargarine Act of 1886.
More >
Categories: Legislation

Out of the Blue: UFOs and the Freedom of Information Act

by Archives on June 13, 2013
The existence of UFOs may seem like the exclusive domain of science fiction, but as Representative John Moss of California laid the groundwork for legislation that eventually became the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in 1966, he didn’t discriminate in his pursuit to open as much government information as possible to the public.
More >
Categories: Members of Congress, Legislation, Committees, Records & Research
Office of the Historian: history@mail.house.gov
Office of Art & Archives, Office of the Clerk: art@mail.house.gov, archives@mail.house.gov