We start off this week with the news that the National History Center is now accepting applications for the 2010 Decolonization seminar. Then, check out an article on Paul Jennings, a slave in James Madison’s White House who wrote a memoir on his experiences there. From the blogs, NARA has joined the blogosphere and is already generating discussions, while the Library of Congress recently used its blog to report on new discoveries in its archives.  Finally, speaking of archives, check out Google’s newspaper archives, which recently quadrupled in size.  And take a look at Kate T.’s Archives 2.0 wiki, a new source for lists of online archives and more.

News

• 2010 Decolonization Seminar Applications Now Being Accepted
  The the National History Centeris now accepting applications for the fifth international summer seminar on decolonization in the 20th century, which will be held for four weeks, from Sunday, July 11, through Saturday, August 14, 2010, in Washington, D.C.  The deadline is November 2, 2009.
• Madison and the White House, Through the Memoir of a Slave
  New research has uncovered more about the life and recollections of Paul Jennings, an African American slave in James Madison’s White House, and sheds light on the life of the president and his family as well.

Blogs

• NARAtions – A new blog from the National Archives
  The National Archives and Records Administration has a new blog, NARAtions, “about online public access to the records of the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).” So far the blog has just two entries. But the second entry, asking “Should we allow the public to tag descriptions in our online catalog?” has generated over 25 comments.
• Cataloging for Gold
  The Library of Congress blog details the discoveries their 47 Library of Congress Junior Fellows have made over the last 10 weeks while cataloging collections.

Archives

• Extra! Extra! Updates from our growing newspaper archives
  According to the Google News blog, Google has quadrupled the number of articles now available in its News Archive Search.
• It’s not really ready, but here’s the Archives 2.0 Wiki . . .
  Kate T. at ArchivesNext blog writes about the still-in-progress Archives 2.0 wiki a new source for lists of “archives, special collections, and historical societies who have implemented Web 2.0 technologies.”

Contributors:  David Darlington, Miriam Hauss Cunningham, Elisabeth Grant, and Vernon Horn

This post first appeared on AHA Today.